Daily Devotional
Don’t generalize relationship!
Text: Proverbs 25:19 “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.”
Message
A careful look at the history of coups in Nigeria will show that the inner masterminds are usually people who are very close to those in power and targeted to be toppled. They play the role of biblical Ahithopel in the modern day.
Conspirators or those who will betray a man have something in common. They are supposed friends and know their victims’ secret.
Not many calling to help have a bandage to cover your injury.
Watch those you depend on and don’t generalize relationships. Samson learnt this in an unreversibble way to show us that no one in the lap of a Delilah is entitled to retain his power or wake up in the palace (Judges 16).
Many who generalize relationship live in regret not for what happened but for who they later found out as the architect of their woes! Ask King David. He will tell and show you the scar his son Absalom left on him.
While it is good to have a number of friends and love everyone, everyone should not occupy the same space in your life.
There must be a reason for you to consider some people as important people in your life.
The reason includes respective biological or spiritual contributions in your life, their dependability as friends to you, and the level and magnitude of committal of their resources; time, money, advice, prayers, counsels, etc and their being always there for you in good or bad weather in your life.
Make up your mind to invest in these relationships. Invest in them as you will in diamonds and golds.
For other relationships, watch them and their reasons with a distance.
Why?
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
Some came to your life for selfish purposes. They use you as toilet tissues. Be sure they will throw you away as soon as they achieve their aims. In doubt, ask innocent Tamar how Ammon his half-brother raped her! (2 Samuel 13).
Some are there to destroy your dream and ensure you never manifest. That’s what Joseph brothers did to him when they sold him into slavery.
Some are there to snuff life out of you. Remember Cain killed Abel, who was his junior brother. Also, Joab called Abner his fellow military commander aside and killed him.
Some are with you to avenge your past. Absalom killed Ammon in revenge for defiling Tamar, his sister.
Remember that King David sent Uriah to war front with his death warrant in his hand, bit out of patriotism he refused to visit Bathsheba, his wife at home at a time Israel was at war (2 Samuel 11, 12; 1 Kings 1, 2).
Remember that there is no free lunch in relationships. Watch the gifts you receive. The word Greek may be its prefix. John the Baptist lost his anointing to a woman in the palace and had his head chopped. In contrast, Joseph refused the off er to sleep with Portiphars wife, thereby preserved his destiny!
Proverbs 25:19 says, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.”
The reference to “time of trouble” is key; when one is in a crisis, it can be tempting to take risks. That might include putting trust in someone known to be a liar, fraud, or traitor. In those moments, it’s important to keep that risk in mind: trusting those who can not be trusted can lead to disaster.
Remember that Judas still went betraying Jesus, not withstanding that he was Jesus Treasurer.
God will save and deliver us from every unfriendly friend. He will repair and restore us our losses in Jesus’ name.
Amen