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APRIL 8
them and went aside privately into a deserted And they said, “We have no more than five
place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food
But when the multitudes knew it, they fol- for all these people.” For there were about
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lowed Him; and He received them and spoke five thousand men.
to them about the kingdom of God, and healed Then He said to His disciples, “Make them
those who had need of healing. When the sit down in groups of fifty.” And they did so,
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day began to wear away, the twelve came and and made them all sit down.
said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two
they may go into the surrounding towns and fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and
country, and lodge and get provisions; for we broke them, and gave them to the disciples to
are in a deserted place here.” set before the multitude. So they all ate and
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13 But He said to them, “You give them some- were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover
thing to eat.” fragments were taken up by them.
DAY 7: How do the Proverbs apply to specific life decisions and experiences?
Proverbs are divine guidelines and wise observations that teach underlying principles of life
(24:3,4).They are not inflexible laws or absolute promises.This is because they are applied in life sit-
uations that are rately clear-cut or uncomplicated by other conditions.The consequences of a fool’s
behavior as described in Proverbs apply to the complete fool. Most people are only occasionally
foolish and therefore experience the occasional consequences of foolish behavior. It becomes
apparent that the proverbs usually do have exceptions due to the uncertainty of life and the unpre-
dictable behavior of fallen people.
The marvelous challenge and principle expressed in 3:5,6 puts a heavy emphasis on trusting
the Lord with “all your heart”and “in all your ways [acknowledging] Him.”Even partly practicing the
conditions of those phrases represents a major challenge.Because of God’s grace,we don’t have to
perfectly carry out the conditions in order to experience the truth that “He shall direct your paths.”
God does not guarantee uniform outcome or application for each proverb. By studying them
and applying them, a believer is allowed to contemplate God’s mind, character, attributes, works,
and blessings.In Jesus Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are only
partly expressed in Proverbs (Col. 2:3).

April 8 but all the people born in the wilderness, on
the way as they came out of Egypt, had not
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been circumcised. For the children of Israel
walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the
Joshua 5:1–6:27
people who were men of war, who came out of
So it was, when all the kings of the Egypt, were consumed, because they did not
5 Amorites who were on the west side of the obey the voice of the LORD—to whom the
Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites LORD swore that He would not show them the
who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had land which the LORD had sworn to their
dried up the waters of the Jordan from before fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing
the children of Israel until we had crossed
over, that their heart melted; and there was no
spirit in them any longer because of the chil-
dren of Israel.
2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make 5:2 circumcise. God commanded Joshua to
flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the see that this was done to all males under 40.
These were sons of the generation who died
sons of Israel again the second time.” So in the wilderness, survivors (see vv. 6,7) from
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Joshua made flint knives for himself, and cir- the new generation God spared in Numbers
cumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the 13 and 14.This surgical sign of a faith commit-
foreskins. And this is the reason why Joshua ment to the Abrahamic Covenant (see Gen.
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circumcised them: All the people who came 17:9–14) had been ignored during the wilder-
out of Egypt who were males, all the men of ness trek. Now God wanted it reinstated, so
war, had died in the wilderness on the way, the Israelites would start out right in the land
after they had come out of Egypt. For all the they were possessing.
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people who came out had been circumcised,
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