Proverbs has always been one of the my favorite books of the Bible. Its also a very challenging one to read. Too many of the verses describe me...not as the wise man but as the fool!
It was through reading the book of proverbs that Ben Carson was convicted of his sin, and eventually became a Christian. As a young man, growing up in Philadelphia, he had joined a gang of thugs to feel important. At one point, they had decided to get into a rumble. He was a very young teen at this point. One of the gang leaders handed him a knife, and ordered him to go and kill another young member of the rival gang. During the gang fight, an opportunity came for Ben to stab the other child, and he did so...only to have the knife strike his opponent’s belt buckle and snap.
Suddenly, horrified by what had happened, he ran to his grandmother’s house. He found solace there by taking up his grandmother’s bible, and found himself reading the book of proverbs.
Proverbs was written primarily to young men. But it certainly has many wonderful points for the ladies as well. Everyone should find plenty of things to put salt in his wounds...yeah it hurts at first. But salt heals too.
My Bible reading today was in proverbs 18-20. These are hard chapters for me. There are lots of verses here about the mouth and the tongue. “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” That was one verse that told me that I need to listen more than I speak. Sometimes we need to be more ready to hear than to say. Too many people feel they need to have many opinions, and spend much of their time voicing them. Understanding comes by hearing what others have to say, too. Communication does have to be “two way…” Unfortunately the temptation for us, as fools, is to make it one way...My Way! Better, (15b) “...the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Not the mouth, but the ear!
“A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare for his soul (18:7).” I think most of us fools can relate to experiences where our mouths got us into situations that were beyond our capabilities. A later verse adds (21) “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” We have a saying, “What does around comes around,” and how we use our words do come back to us, either as a bane or a blessing depending on how we use them.
Here is an old favorite of mine (19:19): “Let a hot tempered man pay the penalty. If you rescue him you will just have to do it again.” As a recovering fool with a hot temper, I can tell you that the burned hand teaches best. I am convinced I once gave myself a fracture on my finger because I lashed out in anger against, of all things, a truck. Yes, a truck. If you punch a truck, who is going to win? That little incident told me I had to do something about my temper before I got into real trouble. Letting a person feel the pain of their bad choices may be the only way to stop a person prone to temper. This verse cautions us against be enablers.
The verse before it goes with this same principle (18): “Discipline your son, for there is hope. Do not set your heart on putting him to death.” Yes, kids hate that verse. Quite frankly, when I consider the teaching of Hebrews 12:
“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom [his] father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons”
then I have to admit that I don’t care for the idea so much myself! After all, who likes discipline? Discipline is intended to keep us from making bad choices. Bad choices lead to destruction. If we do not discipline our children, we are telling them, “make bad choices. Go ahead, destroy yourself.” In our sanitized society, we really believe that children, and people in general, are basically good, and that bad consequences are not normal. Wrong on both counts. Bad consequences are normal, and people are not basically good. When we fail to tell kids “no” and fail to teach them that there are bad choices and bad consequences that follow, we are fundamentally denying reality. This is yet another reason why I have so little patience for post modern culture. It fundamentally denies reality. There are, in fact, moral absolutes and moral laws, and to live in defiance of them is to invite destruction.
Many verses in this passage teach about gaining wealth and its right use. Many that remind us that wealth is quickly bled dry (18:24). Its not built by the lazy (19:16) and constant effort and vigilance are required for success (20:4). We are to be generous with the poor. “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord. He will repay him for his deed (19:17).
Liberal use of your pen is encouraged when you read proverbs. And have a few note cards handy so you can write down verses that speak to you so you can commit them to memory and be blessed by them.
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