Archive for the ‘Proverbs’ Category


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 17:01 – Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife. 

It is nice to get off at times and be by yourself.  How many of us married folk don’t take time out for each other because of the distractions of this world, friends, work, kids, pets, in-laws and cell phone. Sometime we need to send the kids off, get rid of the pets, turn the cell phone off, cut the in-laws out for a while, and go take a ride somewhere just to get some quietness and rest.  If it’s just going out on the patio, or going for a walk, tell your spouse to “Come on out here, and let’s sit down together and get acquainted with each other.  Some of us been married for a long time, and it’s time we get re-acquainted.  It’s a good thing for us to do.  God wants us to have times like that.  They are very important for our spiritual refreshment.


Under Gods Command

Samson and Delilah

Judges 16:20 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.  And his strength left him. 

Delilah was a deceitful woman with honey on her lips and poison in her heart.  Cold and manipulative, she toyed with Samson, pretending to love him while looking for personal gain.  How could Samson be so foolish?  Four times Delilah took advantage of him.  If he didn’t realize what was happening after the first or second experience, surely he should have understood the situation by the fourth time!

Lets Bring it Home: We think Samson is foolish, but how many times do we allow ourselves to be deceived by flattery and give into to temptation and wrong beliefs?  Avoid falling prey to deceit by asking God to help you distinguish between deception and truth.


Under Gods Command

Samson and Delilah

Judges 16:16-17 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.  So he told her everything.  “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth.  If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

Delilah kept asking Samson for the secret of his strength until he finally grew tired of hearing her nagging and gave in.  This was the second time that Samson allowed himself to be worn down by constant nagging (14:17).  What a pitiful excuse for disobedience.

Lets Bring it Home: Don’t allow anyone, no matter how attractive, persuasive, or persistent-to talk you into doing wrong.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 16:7 When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him. 

We want other people to like us, and sometimes we will do almost anything to win their approval.  But God tells us to put our energy into pleasing him instead.  Our effort to be peacemakers will usually make us more attractive to those around us, even our enemies.  But even if it doesn’t, we haven’t lost anything.  We are still pleasing God, the only one who truly matters.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. 

People with tunnel vision, those who are locked into one way of thinking, are likely to miss the right road because they have closed their minds to any new options. We need the help of those who can enlarge our vision and broaden our perspective.  Seek out the advice of those who know you and have a wealth of experience.  Build a network of advisers.  Then be open to new ideas and be willing to weigh their suggestions carefully.  Your plans will be stronger and more likely to succeed.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 14:04 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. 

When a farmer has no oxen for plowing, his food trench for the animals will be empty.  The only way to keep your life free of people problems is to keep it free of other people.  But if your life loses its meaning.  Instead of avoiding people, we should serve others, share the faith.  And work for justice.  Is your life clean, but empty? Or does it give evidence of your serving God wholeheartedly.

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 13:09 The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out. 

Living right is like posting a guard for your life.  Every choice for good sets into motion other opportunities for good.  Evil choices follow the same pattern, but in the opposite direction.  Each decision you make to obey God’s Word will bring a greater sense of order to your life, while each decision to disobey will bring confusion and destruction.  The right choices you make reflect your integrity.  Obedience brings the greatest safety and security.


Under Gods Command

 Proverbs 9:1-5 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars.  She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.  She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city.  Let all who are simple come in here! She says to those who lack judgment. Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. 

The banquet described in this chapter has some interesting parallels to the banquet Jesus described in one of his parables (Luke 14:15-24).  Many may intend to go, but they never make it because they get sidetracked by other activities that seem more important at the time.  Don’t let anything become more important than your search for God’s wisdom.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:1-5 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “you are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

Sons often neglect their father’s instructions and warnings. If they forget them, they will not be ready, when temptation is in their eyes, ears, heart, and loins. And the temptation here is dangerous and powerful – a beautiful and skilled adulteress (7:5-27). The same lesson applies to young women, when they are infatuated with a handsome man. Solomon begins and ends his warning with appeals to remember his advice (7:1-4,24).

The dangers of not remembering are great. How will a young man resist, when his eyes are full of her beauty, his ears full of her flattery, his heart full of her offered love and submission, and his loins full of desire (5:3;6:24-25; 7:13-21)? How will a young woman resist, when her eyes are full of his manliness, her ears full of his flattery, her heart full of his attention and affection, and her body craves his full embrace (Gen 34:1-3)?

By nature, a son does not value his father’s warnings. He deceives himself to believe that his father is out of touch with the world, that his father overstates the danger, that his father wants to deprive him of pleasure, that his father never met a desirable woman, that his father did not have sexual lusts, or that he can escape the consequences his father describes. All these are damnable lies from a foolish youthful heart and the father of lies.
Sons must trust fathers and esteem their advice and warnings. Every father was once a young man with the same desires and temptations. But a father has survived youth and reflected much on what is best for his son. He has long-term success in mind, not short-term pleasures that will ruin his life! Fathers love their sons more than any woman will ever love them, even a virtuous wife! Young man, keep your father’s commandments!

Young men must resist the attraction and temptation of a whorish woman by having their minds firmly established in their fathers’ commandments long before they encounter this very dangerous creature. Once they are even slightly captivated by the appearance, flattery, or offers of a seductress, it becomes almost impossible to recall any warnings. But what will a young man do, whose father does not teach or warn him about such a woman? He will be helpless before the drawing power of her body and wiles. Such fathers are accomplices in the destruction of their sons! Though he may have advised and warned about many dangers, he neglected the most harmful. Fathers, save your sons!

Reader! God your Father has given His commandments and law to you. Do you keep them as the apple of your eye? Do you read them daily? Do you meditate upon them? Do you tremble before their warnings and rejoice at their instruction? Or do you deceive yourself that you can forget or neglect them and survive? Do not be a fool!


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 6:1-5 My son, if you have put security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another, If you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!  Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.  Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. 

These verses are not a plea against generosity, but against overextending one’s financial resources and acting in irresponsible ways that could lead to poverty.  It is important to maintain a balance between generosity and good stewardship.  God wants us to help our friends and the needy, but he does not promise to cover the costs of every unwise commitment we make.  We should also act responsibly so that our families do not suffer.