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JANUARY 10
3 My soul also is greatly troubled; 4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no
But You, O LORD—how long? one; but go your way, show yourself to the
priest, and offer the gift that Moses com-
4 Return, O LORD, deliver me!
Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake! manded, as a testimony to them.”
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5 For in death there is no remembrance Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum,
of You; a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him,
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In the grave who will give You thanks? saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home
paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.”
Proverbs 3:1–4 7 And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal
him.”
3 My son, do not forget my law, 8 The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I
But let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life am not worthy that You should come under
And peace they will add to you. my roof. But only speak a word, and my ser-
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vant will be healed. For I also am a man under
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; authority, having soldiers under me. And I say
Bind them around your neck, to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another,
Write them on the tablet of your heart, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do
4 And so find favor and high esteem this,’ and he does it.”
In the sight of God and man. 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and
said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say
to you, I have not found such great faith, not
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even in Israel! And I say to you that many will
3:3 neck…heart. The virtues of mercy (the come from east and west, and sit down with
Hebrew word for lovingkindness and loyal Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of
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love) and truth that come from God are to heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be
become part of us—outwardly in our behav- cast out into outer darkness. There will be weep-
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ior for all to see as an adornment of spiritual ing and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said
beauty and inwardly as the subject of our to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you
meditation (Deut. 6:4–9). Such inward and have believed, so let it be done for you.” And
outward mercy and truth is evidence of New his servant was healed that same hour.
Covenant salvation (Jer. 31:33,34). 14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter’s
house, He saw his wife’s mother lying sick
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Matthew 8:1–17 with a fever. So He touched her hand, and the
fever left her. And she arose and served them.
When He had come down from the moun- 16 When evening had come, they brought to
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8 tain, great multitudes followed Him. And Him many who were demon-possessed. And He
behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, say- cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all
ing, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which
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me clean.” was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:
3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched
him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” “He Himself took our infirmities
Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And bore our sicknesses.”
DAY 10: How can we study and apply some of the Proverbs if we don’t understand them?
More often than not, those Proverbs that at first seem unclear or contradictory turn out,
instead,to be elusive and deep.Proverbs sometimes do state obvious truths.Their meaning is crys-
tal clear:“A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him”(17:25).But many
proverbs require thoughtful meditation:“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from
the LORD”(16:33) or “There is a way that seems right to a man,but its end is the way of death”(16:25).
The fact that we may have to search the rest of the Scripture or work at thinking ought to make
Proverbs dearer to us.If God has chosen this unusual approach to help us grow,why would we hes-
itate to give our full attention to Proverbs?
Given the context that surrounds Proverbs—the rest of God’s Word—a student’s failure to
grasp a proverb ought not to lead to the conclusion that there’s something wrong with this book.
A better conclusion would be that the student doesn’t know enough yet or hasn’t paid enough
attention. A wise person puts an elusive proverb on hold for further understanding rather than
rejecting it as useless. God’s further lessons in that person’s life may well cast a new light on parts
of the Bible that have been difficult to interpret.

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