Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways (דֶּרֶךְ - deh-rech) please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
A young reporter approached an old man on his 100th birthday. "Happy birthday, kind Sir! Can I bother you to answer one question? In all your years, of what are you most proud?" he asked.
"Well," said the man, "I don't have a single enemy in the world."
"Really?!" shouted the reporter, "That's just incredible -- how inspiring to us all!"
"Yep," added the centenarian, "outlived every darn one of 'em."
Sadly, each of us has acquired an enemy or two in our lives. While it's our human nature to find fault in others and make an occasional unnecessary enemy, sometimes it has nothing to do with us! I mean, you wouldn't believe the kind of hate mail we get from people we've never met! What can we do to make peace with enemies like those?
"He" is the operating word in the verse above. Did you catch that? He, that is, the Lord, makes even [a man's] enemies be at peace with him. All we have to worry about is making sure that our ways are pleasing to the Lord and He will do the rest!
The word "deh-rech" in Hebrew, is 'way' in the verse above. Derech can also mean journey or path. When our path is straight, and God is the focus of our journey, then our ways will please Him and He will make even our enemies be at peace with us. Let's rededicate our lives to the Lord again today and see Him bring the victory.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]
While I was in the States, I read several stories about Ronald Reagan that made me appreciate him as a person and as a leader. But one amusing story really caught my attention and made me smile. When he was a young man, Reagan worked at a radio station and sometimes played records of sermons. His shift at the station was a one-man operation and so, on occasion, Ron would set the record playing and then sneak out for a cup of coffee. One day he got a call while he was at the coffee shop from the station’s owner, ordering him back to the station, and then … he received his termination notice. He’d returned to the station finding the record skipping at a particular point in the sermon…
Having spent over 20 years living in Israel’s Negev Desert, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of salt in maintaining proper hydration. “What in the world does salt have to do with grace and truth?”, you ask. Well, I’ll tell you.
During the first great awakening, revivalist George Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England. He asked one man, “What do you believe?” “Well, I believe the same as the church.” “And what does the church believe?” “Well, they believe the same as me.” Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, “And what is it that you both believe?” “Well, I suppose the same thing.”
The Great Wall of China is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It stretches over 4,000 miles (6,400 KM) and was built to protect China from the barbaric hordes to the north. The designers of the wall made it so high that it could not be scaled, so thick that it could not be penetrated, and so long that no one could go around it.
In today’s news, Bloomberg reported that according to a recent study, Americans can add as many as two years to the nation’s life expectancy if they stand up more often and watch fewer hours of television. What a concept — move around and you’ll live longer!
The word verily, in this verse, is the Hebrew word “emunah” (em-oo-nah). It also means faith or faithfully. When we trust in the Lord, He declares that He will faithfully feed us. How will we be fed?
A young couple was visiting a renown jewelry store in New York City. They browsed through cases of magnificent diamonds with their gleaming yellow light along with many other splendid precious stones. Among those beautiful stones, one in particular caught his wife’s eye.