Proverbs 20:4

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about the sluggard:

Proverbs 20:4 (NASV)

The sluggard does not plow after the autumn,

So he begs during the harvest and has nothing.

Proverbs 20:4 (NIV)

A sluggard does not plow in season;

so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.

Proverbs 20:4 (ESV)

The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;

he will seek at harvest and have nothing.

It is not hard to find people who beg.  In communities they stand on corners.  In churches they sit in pews.  In families they make calls to other family members.   They often, if not always, have great stories of why they are in great need.  There stories are believable and, typically, accurate.  But, they are not always complete.  In the above proverb we see Solomon is giving us one possible variable to help us complete their story.  He tells us how those in poverty often got to the place that they are in need.  While others are out working and planting when it is time to work and plant the sluggard is doing nothing.   Remember, Solomon is talking about the “sluggard.”   There are certainly people in need who are NOT sluggards.  This proverbs is not speaking to them.   Solomon must have seen a numerous about of “sluggards” in his day.  He even wrote this:

Proverbs 24:30-34 (ESV)

I passed by the field of a sluggard,

by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,

and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;

the ground was covered with nettles,

and its stone wall was broken down.

Then I saw and considered it;

I looked and received instruction.

A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest,

and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.

As a result their lazy approach to life, the sluggard begs later.    They don't want to do some type of work.  Or, they don't want to do work at a particular time.  Or, they don't want to work at all.  Whatever the reason the sluggard begs in the community, the church and the family.    They find nothing as a result of their work so they are left to beg.   The sluggard would rather play, rest or think.  As long as they don't have to work.  But, they also will beg when everyone else is reaping.

Proverbs 19:6

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about wealth and friends:

Proverbs 19:6 (ESV)

Many seek the favor of a generous man,

and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts.

Rich people have lots of friends. Build a pool and see how many people come over. Buy a boat and see how many people want to go to the lake. Be generous and you'll find someone suddenly hungry and want to go to dinner. When someone is truly generous with others they will have many “others.” Many will seek their "favor." Perhaps this why so many people with money don't act generously? Riches seem to draw others. The power and prestige that comes with riches seems to be attractive to others. Many desire to be rich. And, when you think of it, being rich only matters if others know. Most people want others to know they have money. When you show others that you have wealth you will draw many to you. So, beware of trying to accumulate wealth. You will not only get money you will get many who want to share in it.  The second line in this proverb talks about how people are attracted to free stuff.  They want to know when someone is going to give them a gift.   The proverb is not saying we should not be wealthy.  It is not saying we should not be generous.   What it is saying is that wealth and generosity attracts others.  We need to be aware of that.   We don’t have to stop doing what we do, but we do have to beware of the possibility that others may be coming to us only because we have wealth.  Although the “proverbs” are not written and compiled interrelated as other chapters in the Bible, note what the very next proverb of Solomon states:

Proverbs 19:7 (ESV)

All a poor man's brothers hate him;

how much more do his friends go far from him!

He pursues them with words, but does not have them.

Friends can be fickle!!

Proverbs 18:17

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about first impressions:

Proverbs 18:17 (ESV)

The one who states his case first seems right,

until the other comes and examines him.

When you are working through a dispute, no one wants to go through an inquire.   Questions seem intrusive when you are pleading your case.   We don't want to be interrupted, we want to be believed.  When you are telling your side of the story you want others to know your version.   Yet, what Solomon is telling us in this proverb is that inquiry is the key to finding truth.   Those who want truth have no need to fear of questions and investigation.   When we examine both sides of the issue we find the truth.  Plodding through the evidence we need to find the truth.   If we don't examine the "stories" we will tend to believe the first thing we hear.  Most of the "first time stories" seem right.  It is only after investigation that we find truth.  So, don't be lead astray by the sound of the first story.   Take time to examine the facts.  Seek truth.  Let truth be found.   Don't resists examination.

Those who refuse to examine themselves are destined to failure.   Socrates is credited for saying, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”    But, Solomon may have said it a few hundreds before Socrates:

Lamentations 3:40 (ESV)

Let us test and examine our ways,

and return to the LORD!

It is only examining ourselves for the purpose of returning to the Lord that makes life worth living.   Paul would go on to say it again to the first century church:

1 Corinthians 11:28 (ESV)

Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

We are examine ourselves before we come to God in worship.    Failure to examine can be meet with disqualification.  Paul would go on to say to this same church:

2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV)

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Proverbs 17:9

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about gossips:

Proverbs 17:9

He who conceals a transgression seeks love,

But he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.

Proverbs 17:9 (ESV Strong's)

9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love,

but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

Have you ever been approached with a "Did you know ..." or "Did you hear ..." comment?   There are people who begin ever meeting or conversation with that phrase (in life we often call them journalist ... they believe their job is to tell others what happened with others ... we have other names for them, but let's stick with professional terms).  When Elisha was going to be given the same spirit as Elijah in 2 Kings 2 we read about the "sons of the prophets" who came to him with a "Did you hear ..." line.    He told them, politely, to "be still" (in the Hebrew the word means "Chill out guys").   In this proverb Solomon is speaking to these type of people who have nothing better than to repeat a matter.   People love to repeat what they have heard and not seen or experienced.  They repeat it and, as Solomon states, it separates good friends. Too many times we don't heed this warning. If we "conceal" a matter it is often seen or characterised as not being "transparent."  Another Hebrew word here ... Hogwash!   Solomon tells us that love seeks to conceal.   See Proverbs 10:12; James 5:20 and 1 Peter 4:8 for further support of Solomon's claim. It is easy to repeat a matter.   It is easy to relay what you don't know ... profound as that statement may be. Like runners on a track relay team we hand the baton of false statements from one to another hoping to get to the finish line.  In reality we just run around the track of falsehood, destroying relationships as we go. Transparency is not repeating everything you know and making it available to all you know.  Transparency is seeking purity by covering sin with God's love.

Proverbs 16:2

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about purity: 

Proverbs 16:2 (ESV)
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the LORD weighs the spirit.

When you and I measure our goals, purpose and desires of life we might view them through our own rose colored glasses. We might look at what we do and why we do things with a bent of purity and a mind of piety. We typically would use the measuring stick of the man next door. Since we are better than the neighbor to the left we must be really good. And if the neighbor to the left is actually better than us, we simply use the neighbor to the right, or someone else of lower stature. But, we are not the measurement. God is the measurement. His standards are what is on the other side of the scale. So, even though we might look good to others, let us remember that God is weighing out our spirit and our real motives. We might look awful humble but He sees the wicked pride underneath. Let Him be our measurement! And, let's rejoice in the fact that God places Jesus Christ on our side of the scale to even things out. Now that is a new way to weigh things.

Proverbs 15:28

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about pondering how to answer:

Proverbs 15:28 (ESV)

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,

but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

I need to follow the truth in this proverb.  When we have been declared righteous we need to remember that God gives us, with that, the Spirit of God who produces self-control, patience, and many more fruit in our lives.  Instead of just blurting out responses and reactions and rebuttals the proper response is to "ponder" how to answer.   When we have the Wisdom of God indwelling us (1 Corinthians 2), we have the ability, through faith, to ponder.   We may not think so, but we do.  We may not believe so, but we should.   Moses had the same thoughts we do ... "I can't do it!"   God sent him a "helper" in the form of his brother who was a "type" of the Spirit.   Aaron was there to speak for and with Moses.   So, too, the Spirit for us.  Don't just blurt out.   The mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.   The mouth of the righteous doesn't.

Proverbs 14:14

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about the faithless:

Proverbs 14:14 (NASV)

The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied with his.

Proverbs 14:14 (NIV)

The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good man rewarded for his.

Proverbs 14:14 (ESV)

The backslider in heart will be filled with the fruit of his ways,

and a good man will be filled with the fruit of his ways.

Satisfaction and reward await everyone; just not in the same way or with the same spirit.   It is obvious that Solomon is telling us that both the foolish and the wise will be rewarded.    However, the approach he uses to tell us this should be noted.    Both will find a full reward for their approach to life.    Faithless people get rewarded but the reward is hollow, like their lives.   The good man, or faithful, will also be rewarded but that reward will be something that satisfies him.    Paul tells us in Galatians that "we reap what we sow."   He may have been reading Solomon's words in this proverb when he penned those words.    When we lose faith in God and act like "Lot" we fall into certain peril and receive a reward worthy of having no faith.    But, when we continue to believe like Abraham we receive a reward from God for that faithfulness.   We are all rewarded.   It just may mean different rewards.  See how Solomon further develops this thought a couple of proverbs later:

Proverbs 14:18

The simple inherit folly,

but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

We reap what we sow ... Sow faith!

Proverbs 13:6

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about the power of righteousness:

Proverbs 13:6 (NASBStr)

Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless,

But wickedness subverts the sinner.

Proverbs 13:6 (ESV)

Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless,

but sin overthrows the wicked.

How many times have you ever been protected by "righteousness?"  This proverb helps us understand the value of faith and the protection of God.  When we have faith in God, He gives us righteousness.  We are "clothed" with righteousness.   Notice how Paul instructs the Ephesian believer with similar words:

Ephesians 6:14 (NASBStr)

Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

God's righteousness, that we earn by faith in Christ, is our breastplate.   Our vital organs are protected by it.   The same is not true for the wicked.   The wickedness of the wicked will undermine the sinner.   The word here is "subvert", or, in the NIV, "overthrow."   Wickedness eventually brings the wicked down.  We might not be around to see it.  In fact, we might actually see them prosper.  However, the wicked WILL fall into the pit they dug for others (see Proverbs 26:7).   Righteousness not only changes our nature it protects our nurture.   Righteousness is provided to us to reach our final destination but to also keep safe on the journey.    The next time you are protected from evil and its fruit remember that righteousness was the guard of your life.   Christ died for our sin.   He gave us righteousness and peace.  Notice how Paul states that peace, also, guards us:

Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God guards us.   God keeps us from harm.

Proverbs 12:7

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about stability: 

Proverbs 12:7 (ESV)

The wicked are overthrown and are no more,

but the house of the righteous will stand.

Stability in this world is a blessing, not an entitlement.   Even though the constitution of these states talks about our safety and security, it cannot guarantee stability.   Recently in our country the hurricanes on the south and east have demonstrated to us the inability for us to live in total security.   Even the strongest of fortresses is not immune from blast or blight.  Think of Solomon's day!   To live in a time when animals roamed the streets at night and murderers and marauders controlled the highways, would be to appreciate any hope for stability.   That is what makes Solomon's statement in the above proverb so compelling.  The house of the righteous will stand!  That is a fundamental hope and desire for all those who live in a land of sinkholes and mortgage collapses.  The righteous (those who put their faith in the risen God who provides righteousness and wisdom) can rejoice in this proverb.  The wicked do not.   The wicked put their hope in the finances, their influences, their possessions, their positions and their false beliefs.    But, they are "no more!"   Stability is a blessing that comes from God not a state you achieve through effort.  It is a gift of faith, not a benefit of works.

Proverbs 11:3

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about gaining more and more insights from God:

Proverbs 11:3 (ESV)

The integrity of the upright guides them,

but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.

This proverb appears in the section where a number of antithetical parallelisms occur. An antithetical parallalism is a Hebrew poetry where the second line contrast the first line. If you read Proverbs chapters’ ten and eleven you will find most of those proverbs are antithetical in nature. Solomon is drawing a contrast between wisdom and folly in these chapters. He wants to inspire the reader to choose, by faith, the right path in life, one directed by wisdom. This proverb is telling us that those who have Godly "integrity" (a completeness) will be guided by that same integrity. In 13:6 we see a similiar verse saying:

Proverbs 13:6 (ESV)

6 Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless,

but sin overthrows the wicked.

In this verse we read that the "righteousness" of the man with integrity will guide them. The "crooked" are not as fortunate. The "crookedness" leads into the path of destruction; further destruction. When we seek wisdom God gives us more and uses what we have to lead us into light of an even better path. When we refuse wisdom we are left in the dark because we refuse to ponder the way we take:

Proverbs 5:6 (ESV)

she does not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.

So, continue to follow integrity (doing what is right) and it will show you more right to follow.

Proverbs 10:30

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about being stable or shaken:

Proverbs 10:30 (NASBStr)

The righteous will never be shaken,

But the wicked will not dwell in the land.

Proverbs 10:30 (NIV1984)

The righteous will never be uprooted,

but the wicked will not remain in the land.

Proverbs 10:30 (ESV)

The righteous will never be removed,

but the wicked will not dwell in the land.

In order to do anything great you must be in a place you can do something.  In the above proverbs we see that those who seek God will be around to do some great things for God.  On the other hand those who reject God (the wicked) will not remain in the land, which limits them from being successful or sustainable in their endeavors.   The fact that the righteous will not be moved by the rush and push of life, they can settle on mission and on glorifying God in all that they do.   When we know that we have sustainability we know that we can have long lasting endeavors that matter to God.  No matter where we are planted God assures that only He will uproot us.   The wicked have no such assurance.  They have only their own security in their riches, position, pride to trust.   In Psalm 1 we read that God allows those who trust in Him to grow in their season.   

Psalms 1:3 (ESV)

He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

This proverbs is simply echoing the same truth of Proverbs 10:25.   

Proverbs 10:25 (ESV)

When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more,

but the righteous is established forever.

God is serious about His care for us.   That care is based upon our faith in Christ who declares us righteous (Romans 5).