Proverbs

Proverb for the Day 17:13 — Sad…Sadder…Saddest…Hope!

Evil will never leave the house of one who pays back evil for good

This wise saying discusses “evil,” its consequences and long-term impact. The Hebrew term here for “evil” is the general word found throughout the Old Testament — encompassing everything wicked, bad and harmful.

The initial action in the scenario of this verse is at the end — “one who pays back evil for good.” A man or woman, to whom someone else has done something good, “pays back” to them “evil” in some form. That’s sad!

Such an action has been described as violating the universal concept known as the “ethic of reciprocity.” I learned it as the Golden Rule many years ago in elementary school — a take-off from something Jesus said (Matthew 7:12).

But even sadder than paying back evil for good is the conclusion of our proverb — “evil will never leave the house” of the one who does this. The bad thing this person did to another, he or she will have to live with at home for the rest of their lives.

And, maybe saddest of all — this verse doesn’t say it was an evil person who did this! It could have been anyone — including a nice person who just got caught up in some very inappropriate emotions.

Since “evil will never leave the house,” this person — and their loved ones(!) — will carry the consequences of such a choice around with them everywhere they go.

We all know something about lasting consequences and we do have to live the rest of our lives with certain consequences of past decisions. BUT I can decide I don’t want to continue being that person anymore.

I can be different! And my new choices will help mitigate the impact of some really bad old ones!

Proverb for the Day 14:15 — Felix, Oscar & the Serpent in the Garden?!?

The simple believe anything, but the prudent give thought to their steps

 Both “the simple” and “the prudent” are regular characters in Proverbs. But this is the first of four times they’re directly contrasted — the second being verse 18 of this same chapter.

“The simple” are naive, immature, easily persuaded and without discriminating judgement. In Hebrew, this noun comes from the verb “to be open or spacious.” You get the picture!

“The simple believe anything” may not sound bad…but it is. While “the simple” aren’t necessarily doing anything evil, they set themselves up to be taken advantage of by lots of people who are.

These folks are contrasted with “the prudent.” I like to call them “street smart” because the same term (“prudent”) has both a positive and negative connotation — including the “crafty” (same term) serpent in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1)!

So, “the prudent” are not automatically good, but they do have the ability to look a situation over, draw on their experience and make their own deliberate choice.

These two characters are totally opposite. One is swayed by anything and the other makes choices based on their own experience, knowledge and understanding.

They’re light and darkness…day and night…Oscar and Felix! Neither is necessarily intrinsically bad, but their qualities can sure get them — and others — into a lot of trouble.

The situation of these two may sound a lot like people we know…or even us! Not bad people, they just seem to take things in the wrong direction.

Good news…they (we!) can change — but they’ll need some divine guidance (available) and some good human support (equally available)!

Proverb for the Day 13:16 — Act with Knowledge vs. Expose their Folly…Our Choice!

All who are prudent act with knowledge, but fools expose their folly

This proverb is about two very different characters and their lifestyles — “all who act prudent” and “fools.” 
The “prudent” are those who have a sense of what’s going on. I like to call it “street smarts.”

This verse notes these “street smart/prudent” folks “act with knowledge” — suggesting they’ll tend to make good choices.

On the other hand, while those men and women are making some appropriate decisions, “fools expose their folly.”

“Fools” aren’t people who are mentally deficient. The Biblical term represents moral deficiency.

Admittedly, no one’s perfect — including “prudent” people — but “fools” are those who’ve made a conscious decision to go their own way. And, thinking like that, it’s not hard to see how they’ll end up speaking and acting according “their folly.”

The good news is that we don’t have to stay that way. After all, such were some of us!

Once we realize where our own best thinking always gets us…we can decide to start thinking differently. And, if we think differently, we will begin to feel, speak and act differently.

“Act with knowledge” vs. “expose their folly.” Sound like a no-brainer to me!

Proverb for the Day 12:13 — Just Stop Talking…and Escape!

Evildoers are trapped by their sinful talk, and so the innocent escape trouble

Typical lines of parallel Hebrew poetry, this wise saying contrasts “evildoers” and “the innocent.” But, as is frequent in Proverbs, words are at the center of this story.
Here it’s the “sinful talk” of “evildoers” that has “trapped” them. Their own inappropriate words — no one else’s — become a trap in which they get caught, themselves.

These “evildoers” didn’t necessarily plan this trap for someone else, it’s just that they talked themselves into a trap. They created their own trap, apparently because they just wouldn’t stop talking!

On the other side is the “innocent” — actually, the standard Hebrew term for “righteous.” While “evildoers” trap themselves by their own mouths, the “innocent/righteous” constantly “escape trouble.”

Being “righteous” in thoughts and attitudes suggests a couple of things. First, they probably don’t create a bunch of problems for themselves.

And, secondly, when “trouble” does come — from elsewhere — both their “innocent/righteous” thinking and their “righteous” God keeps them from getting all caught up. That spells “escape” every time!

Proverb 11:10 — They’re Watching Us!

When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy

Here, again, are two of the most frequently mentioned and contrasted characters in Proverbs — “the righteous” and “the wicked.” The focus of this wise saying is what others think and feel about them and their choices.

By definition, “the righteous” are those whose thinking and choices lead to right actions and activities. And, while it’s not automatic, such a way-of-life tends toward doing pretty well — they will “prosper.”

This proverb says that “when the righteous prosper,” themselves, “the city rejoices.” Because they think and operate as they do, the righteous make a positive impact on all those around them.

On the other hand, “the wicked” are those who make decisions based on selfish desires without concern for those around them — even to the detriment of others. So, “when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.”

As all of us go through life every day — simply doing what we do (good or bad) — we generally don’t realize the impact we’re having on others. But, as we do what we do, each of us will be of help or support, even guiding to a better way…or not!

They’re watching and they do have feelings about it all. So let’s decide to make an impact…for the good!

Proverb for the Day 10:16 — Take It to the Bank!

The wages of the righteous is life, but the earnings of the wicked are sin and death.
Here is another wise saying contrasting “the righteous” and “the wicked.” But these two parallel lines of Hebrew poetry also offer a contrast between “wages” vs. “earnings” as well as “life” vs. “sin and death.”
The term “wages” involves both the effort to do something and what it produces. This is not handed out freely, but that which someone earned. 
Here, what “the righteous” have earned “is life.” I’ll suggest this isn’t eternal life – that can’t be earned (see Romans 3:23)!

But right thinking and good choices can produce an abundant everyday “life to the full” here and now (John 10:10).

It’s the “so I may be reasonably happy in this life”-line of the Serenity Prayer, not the “supremely happy with you forever in the next”-line (see https://helpingupmission.org/serenity-prayer). 

We can take that to the bank!
“The earnings of the wicked” also refers to increase for which they have worked — but the product of being “wicked” isn’t pretty. What they can expect as earning for their thinking and choices is “sin and death.” 
If we want to be this guy or gal, we have the right to do so — and we’ll live with the consequences! But it doesn’t have to be that way.
There’s a well-known principle throughout Scripture – Old and New Testament – that we reap (harvest) what we sow (plant). If we plant watermelon seeds, we can’t expect tomatoes!
So, we get to choose — every day — what we want to earn that day. And there are just two basic options — life or sin and death!

Proverb for the Day 7:24-27 — Don’t Think It…Won’t Do It!

24 Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. 25 Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. 26 Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. 27 Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death. 

The final four verses of chapter 7 are best viewed together and represent father’s final words to his sons about immoral women. Written in typical Hebrew poetry, they’re a series of complimentary parallel statements.

Verses 24 and 25 give two sets of commands, beginning with “my sons” — a familiar refrain in the first part of Proverbs.

Dad says “listen to me; pay attention to what I say” (:24) because he has some life experience that can be helpful to his boys — especially in the context of immoral women.

Verse 25 is crystal clear. “Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths.” He doesn’t tell his sons what to do…but how to think — “your heart.”

These first two verses (:24-25) are quite similar to 5:7-8. We sons had better start paying attention!

The next two verses suggest why we should listen. Verse 26 discusses this woman, her “victims” and “her slain!”

Verse 27 indicates “her house” is “a highway to the grave, leading to the chambers of death.” It’s quite similar to 2:18-19 — discussing another immoral woman.

Dad’s message is straightforward – pay attention to what I’m saying and it’ll help you to make good choices. And we can change the focus here from immoral women to anything else that keeps us from being the person we’re supposed to be.

Today’s verses offer a continual reminder that we need to “pay attention” because there are plenty of distractions out there. If we’re ever going to do right on a continuous basis, it will have to start in our hearts — in our minds, our thinking.

Right actions always begin with right thinking!

Proverb for the Day 6:9-11 — Ouch!

9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest — 11 And poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. 

These three verses continue the theme of verses 6-8 — laziness — and both sections are directed specifically at “you sluggard” (:6, 9)!

Verse 9 consists of two rhetorical questions addressing the ongoing pattern of lying down and sleeping — “how long will you lie there…when will you get up from your sleep?”

This is not the picture of a hard working person taking a break — but habitual laziness and inactivity. With no discipline or initiative, there’s honestly little about this lifestyle that sounds meaningful or attractive to me.

The next 2 verses (:10-11) are identical to 24:33-34. They discuss the consequences of this “lazy bones” lifestyle. It leads to “poverty…and scarcity.”

And while it may take a minute, when “poverty…and scarcity” come, it will be as painful and unsettling as being accosted by “a bandit” or roughed up by “an armed man.”

Admittedly, laziness is a persistent problem for many and, apparently, God wants us to understand where it will lead. It’s so important, He says it to us twice!

Of course, I don’t have to be this kind of person. Having something meaningful in my life — something that matters to me — can go a long way in helping motivate me to get up and get going.

The truth is, this is all about me — on the inside. And if I don’t do something about it, things will get difficult and painful!

Proverb for the Day 5:21-23 — We Don’t Have To Live That Way!

21 For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. 22 the evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. 23 He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly. 

This entire chapter is instruction from a father to his son about the value of marriage and the folly of infidelity. These are the last three verses of the chapter and offer a bottom line perspective.

In the end, “a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths.” God sees and knows all we do (:21). This verse goes both ways — He’s watching the good we do…and the bad!

Based on the message of this chapter, He is now going to address the bad. “The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast” (:22). We’ll suffer the consequences of our own stupid decisions and have no one else to blame.

Even worse, “he will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.” Our demise won’t be due to our lack of knowledge or understanding, but our lack of discipline (:23).

Yet, we don’t have to live this way! While no one’s perfect and we all make bad decisions, we certainly don’t have to spend a lifetime doing evil deeds and living wickedly.

The LORD calls us to simply man-up to our shortcomings — past and present. We need to honestly admit our inappropriate attitudes and actions and then let them go. He’ll meet us right there!

We can be free from the guilt and shame of past and present decisions. but He’ll also give us the supernatural empowerment to begin experiencing a whole new and much more meaningful way of life…one day at a time!

Proverb for the Day 4:20-22 — Did You Hear That?!?!

20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body

For the third time in this chapter (see also :1, 10) father addresses son — and this one’s very similar to the first two. To a young guy, I’m sure it sounds like a broken record!

“Pay attention to what I say, listen closely to my words,” dad said this time (:20). And to be sure his son clearly understood, he adds, “Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart” (:21).

Admittedly, this is just not easy for a young guy to hear — but it is a good idea!

After these two verses of “encouragement” to listen to him, dad offers a correlating benefit — a promise. His words “are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body” (:22).

It’s an invitation to just imagine all the good things that would come to this young guy — or “whoever will find them” — if they were just willing to follow this advice. Very cool!

And, I’ll add, consider all the bad things that might happen to him if he doesn’t!

What a great opportunity for a young guy or gal to get the most out of life — with the least difficulties along the way. Even better, it’ll work for anyone not doing well or happy with their life — young or old.

We all have this opportunity. Hope we’re listening!