February 20, 2023 7:00 pm
Hungarian-born mathematician Abraham Wald lent his skills to the World War II efforts after coming to the United States in 1938. The military was looking for ways to protect its aircraft from enemy fire, so Wald and his colleagues at the Statistical Research Group were asked to figure out how to better protect military aircraft to defend against enemy fire. They began by examining returning aircraft to see where they were most damaged. But Wald is credited with the keen insight that damage on returning aircraft represented only where a plane could be hit and still survive. He realized that areas most in need of additional armor would be found on planes that had crashed. Planes hit in the most vulnerable part—the engine—had gone down and therefore couldn’t be examined.
Solomon teaches us about protecting our most vulnerable part—our heart. He instructs his son to “guard [his] heart” because from it everything else flows. (Proverbs 4:23) God’s instructions guide us through life, steering us away from poor decisions and teaching us where to focus our attention.
If we armor our heart by heeding His instructions, we’ll better “keep [our feet] from evil” and remain steadfast in our journey with God (v. 27). We venture into enemy territory every day, but with God’s wisdom guarding our hearts we can stay focused on our mission to live well for God’s glory.
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Welcome to today's reading from the Our Daily Read Devotional.
I'm Kirsten Holmberg, and I titled this encouragement Protect Your Heart. Hungarian-born mathematician Abraham Wald lent his skills to the World War II efforts after coming to the United States in 1938. The military was looking for ways to protect its aircraft from enemy fire, so Wald and his colleagues at the Statistical Research Group were asked to figure out how to better protect military aircraft to defend against enemy fire. They began by examining returning aircraft to see where they were most damaged. But Wald is credited with the keen insight that damage on returning aircraft represented only where a plane could be hit and still survive. He realized the areas most in need of additional armor would be found on planes that had crashed.
Planes hit in the most vulnerable part, the engine, had gone down and therefore couldn't be examined. Solomon teaches us about protecting our most vulnerable part, our heart. In Proverbs 4, he instructs his son to guard his heart because from it, everything else flows. God's instructions guide us through life, steering us away from poor decisions and teaching us where to focus our attention. If we armor our heart by heeding his instructions, we'll better keep our feet from evil and remain steadfast on our journey with God.
We venture into enemy territory every day. But with God's wisdom guarding our hearts, we can stay focused on our mission to live well for God's glory. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Proverbs 4, verses 20-27. My son, pay attention to what I say, turn your ear to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity, keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left, keep your foot from evil. Let's pray. God, please protect our hearts from the threats against it. May we hide ourselves in you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. My name is Kirsten Holmberg and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-02-20 20:18:51 / 2023-02-20 20:20:14 / 1
