Posts Tagged ‘king solomon’


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 22:09 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

Generosity guarantees blessings. Here is priceless wisdom. Do you look for opportunities to give? Do you give liberally? Do you get excited about giving? God loves generous givers. If you pity the poor, you lend to Almighty God, and He repays well (Pr 19:17)!

This financial secret is unknown to the world. No business school in the world teaches it. You will get ahead farther and faster by giving money away to God-approved needs than saving and investing. Guaranteed! King Solomon proved it (Pr 11:24-26; 28:8,27).

God will bless the man who gives eagerly and generously. God looks out for the poor, because He withheld from them abilities and opportunities He gave others. It is not enough to think kindly about them; you must actually give (II Cor 8:11; Jas 2:16). He is pleased to see a successful man giving cheerfully and liberally to help those in trouble.

Who could you give to today? Who has a legitimate need due to an act of God in his or her life that you could help? Get excited about the opportunity to make a poor person happy, make God happy, and give a boost to your assets and income. It is called win-win-win. When you do things God’s way, there are many more winners than even those listed.

Solomon wrote about caring for the poor elsewhere (Pr 14:21,31; 19:17; 21:13; 28:8,27). Charitable thinking and giving is a key part of godly wisdom that makes a few people more noble and virtuous than the rest. Compassion and love are traits of Christianity, so the true children of God and followers of Jesus Christ give mercifully and bountifully.

Solomon also wrote about financial returns to generous men, “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Pr 11:25). Contrary to math and man’s thinking, giving money away is a simple way to get ahead. Give, and it shall be given back to you in equal or greater degree, so give generously (Luke 6:38).

The LORD Jehovah provided for the poor in the Law of Moses, when He commanded Israel to keep their hearts tender and their hands open wide to any brother in need (Deut 15:7-11). And there also He promised a blessing on those who would give. Job knew these principles well, and he appealed to his careful attention to the poor (Job 31:16-23).

David described many blessings on those who help the poor. Consider them. He wrote, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness” (Ps 41:1-3).

David also identified giving to the poor as a mark of a righteous man (Ps 112:1-9), which will bring many and precious rewards on a man and his family and descendants. Isaiah warned that the true worship of God required mercy on the poor, and he promised many wonderful blessings for the effort (Is 58:7-12). God is well pleased with such sacrifices (Heb 13:16), and He is able to repay in proportion to a man’s liberality (II Cor 9:6-11).

Capitalism motivates the most to produce the best for the highest standard of living, while punishing the foolish and lazy. Yet God warns against charging whatever price the market will bear, if you control a needful commodity or service (Pr 11:26). God and men will reward fairness and liberality, though free market economics may allow gouging.

Mathematics and personal finance are only true to a point. If you withhold money that you could give to someone in need, you are heading to poverty. If you scatter your money to godly charitable causes, you are heading toward increase (Pr 11:24). Though you cannot calculate it or explain it, giving money away without worrying works (Ec 11:1-6).

How about a long life and good life? The surest and fastest way is to honor your parents (Eph 6:2-3), and verbal respect and birthday cards are not enough. Full honor includes financial honor, or giving money to provide for them or make their lives comfortable and pleasant (I Tim 5:3-4). To not do this is to deny the religion of Jesus Christ and be worse than an infidel (I Tim 5:8). If your parents are in need, have a bountiful eye to them.

God loves liberal thinking – and He does not mean politics! He loves creative thoughts of generous things to do for those in need. Listen to the prophet Isaiah, “But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand” (Is 32:8). Generous persons think about generous giving, and God commits to bless them in this life and the next.

Such giving proves eternal life. Paul told the rich to be “ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” By so doing, they could lay “up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life” (I Tim 6:17-19). Jesus Christ will remember any act of charity done to the least of His brethren (Matt 25:31-46).

God’s rules for giving start with your family (Pr 13:22; I Tim 5:8), then the poor in your church and your faithful pastor, if you have one (Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-37; Gal 6:6), then the poor in other true churches (Rom 15:26), and then the poor God puts in your ordinary course of life (Luke 10:25-37). You need not look for poor outside these places, and giving to the money-begging televangelists is cursed (Pr 22:16; Luke 14:12-14).

Who can you generously help? Think hard. It ought to be a priority of your life to help those in need. It should be exciting! God has not charged you to help all the world’s poor, but He will bring opportunities your way (Luke 10:25-37). And He loves a cheerful giver, so be sure you do not begrudge the giving at all (II Cor 9:7; Acts 20:35; Rom 12:8).

The most bountiful eye in the universe belongs to the blessed God of heaven, the LORD Jehovah. He sends sunshine, rain, and fruitful seasons on all men, even His enemies (Matt 5:45; Acts 14:17). The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all His works (Ps 145:9). But far beyond daily natural blessings, He gave His only begotten Son to die for those who had no strength to help themselves (Rom 5:6; II Cor 8:9; 9:15).


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 5:3-11 The lips of a seductive woman are oh so sweet, her soft words are oh so smooth. But it won’t be long before she’ gravel in your mouth, a pain in your gut, a wound in your heart. She’s dancing down the primrose path to Death; she’s headed straight for Hell and taking you with her, She hasn’t a clue about Real Life, about who she is or where she’s going. So, my friend, listen closely; don’t treat my words casually, Keep your distance from such a woman; absolutely stay out of her neighborhood. You don’t want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted, why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you? You don’t want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, “Oh, why didn’t I do what they told me?

Whores are expensive! At best, they want you and your money; at worst, they want your money without you. Even when they do not take your assets or income directly, they are expensive to entertain and support. If you needed another reason to avoid them, here it is.

King Solomon in this proverb gave his son another reason to stay away from the strange woman (Pr 5:3), which is any woman he had not married – whether prostitute, whore, or adulteress. It costs a lot to buy their favors or keep them happy; his assets and income would go to those outside his family, even though they do not provide any lasting benefit.

Here is the wisdom of God! To combat the powerful lusts in a young man and warn him thoroughly of the folly of fornication and adultery, you need to say more than, “Flee fornication,” (I Cor 6:18) and, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Ex 20:14). There are many other threats and warnings you can give to help him defeat this powerful lust.

You would hope and wish a young man could be kept sexually pure simply by knowing God has forbidden such sins, like Joseph was with Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:9). But that is neither realistic nor wise. Many young men are not even born again to have a heart that fears God, and those that are may not be at Joseph’s level of spiritual maturity and zeal.

Most of Proverbs shows the natural consequences of sins. While some of God’s laws are stated and applied, much of the book is observations of pain and suffering caused by sin. Wise parents will take note. They can do a much more thorough job of training their children, if they follow Solomon’s lead and explain all the painful consequences of sin.

Fornication and adultery have painful consequences, no matter what the world may say positively about casual sex. Solomon knew about the costs: he had witnessed them in his father’s life after adultery with Bathsheba. He warned often against this destroyer of young men (2:16-19; 5:1-23; 6:23-35; 7:1-27; 9:13-18; 22:14; 23:27-28; Eccl 7:26-29).

Whores are expensive! If a young man foolishly visits a prostitute, the price is very high for mere seconds of pleasure. She gives no discount for guilt, a grieved conscience, or an STD! His hard earned money is split between a woman who does not care about him and her pimp, who is the lowest scum of the race. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! If a young man foolishly takes an adulteress, he must give gifts, since she expects liaisons that flatter her, or he must outdo her husband. Caught in the deceitful trap of imagined and feigned love, the young fool will do all he can to pamper this wicked and unfaithful wife, forgetting that she is taking his living with no commitment, while staying married to another man! Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! Other young men choose the party scene of clubs and bars, where they must maintain a successful image or lose popularity and draw. Expensive cars, clothes, accessories, housing, entertainment, and lifestyle – all for merely an appearance of prosperity and power to seduce women with a soul no deeper than a dollar bill – will eventually put a man in the poor house. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Think, young man! What if your wife, friend, and lover worked with you to build a family estate of children and property, instead of taking your assets and income for the estates of others? What a difference! Solomon wrote you about it in the context (Pr 5:15-19). Think how much faster you would get ahead, how much farther you would get ahead, and how much more secure you would have. Wake up, young man! Marry a godly woman and make love freely every night with your best friend and perpetual companion.

Whores are expensive! Even pornography can rob a man, for whores and publishers, whether in magazines or the Internet, want a return for their destructive wickedness. Many visual and mental adulterers have squandered money and time, let alone peace and happiness, by funneling money to whores at a distance and/or losing their professional zeal and productivity by the distraction of the addicting and consuming iniquity.

Build your own estate, young man, rather than another’s. Love the wife you have, and be satisfied with her breasts and ravished by her love (Pr 5:19). Do not even think about dipping into a sexual cistern or well that does not belong to you (Pr 5:16). Have children, legitimate children, and a lot of them, and rejoice with your wife, as your family tree becomes a happy and powerful influence in the earth (Pr 5:17-18; Ps 127:3-5; 128:1-6).

For the man who has already fallen like a fool to a Delilah, save your life, and revive your soul, by running far from her and repenting like David did (II Sam 11:13; Ps 51:1-19; 32:5). There is mercy with the Lord of heaven, even for men foolish and wicked enough to chase whores of any variety. Repent! God is faithful and just to forgive those who truly repent, no matter the greatness of the crime (Pr 28:13; I Jn 1:9; Job 33:27-28).

Let every reader consider the application of this proverb to spiritual adultery. Any man or woman commits spiritual adultery when they befriend false religion or the world. Your affection, attention, time, energy, emotion, and/or money are then given to another god or entity that is an enemy of the true God of heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible is full of warnings about God’s great jealousy and His severe judgment of those who take what belongs to Him and give it to others (Jas 4:4; Ezek 16:1-59; II Cor 11:1-4; etc.).

 


Under Gods Command 

Proverbs 26:18-19  Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!” 

Deceiving those who trust you is a horrible crime. Neighbors, employers, and others trust your integrity. You are close enough to take advantage of them, so they must trust you to not use that nearness against them. It is your duty as a Christian to live honestly with all men, but especially those nearest to you.

Jesting (Joking) is not convenient – appropriate, proper, or suitable. It causes confusion, pain, and trouble. It destroys confidence and security. This is especially true when you joke with those who trust you. Truth is a wonderful thing, and it should not be mocked. Your neighbor trusts you – be worthy of it. King Solomon had no use for profane individuals who play tricks on others for profit or pleasure and excuse their wickedness by calling it a game or a joke.

Deceiving those who trust you is a horrible crime. Neighbors, employers, and others trust your integrity. You are close enough to take advantage of them, so they must trust you to not use that nearness against them. It is your duty as a Christian to live honestly with all men, but especially those nearest to you.

Covering and excusing sin by lightly claiming it was just a joke reveals a very profane character. Such persons have no conscience; they laugh at sin; they do not comprehend the pain their deception causes others. We oppose this folly by keeping and requiring a sober and serious approach to all relationships.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 26:18-19 Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”

Deceiving those who trust you is a horrible crime. Neighbors, employers, and others trust your integrity. You are close enough to take advantage of them, so they must trust you to not use that nearness against them. It is your duty as a Christian to live honestly with all men, but especially those nearest to you.

Jesting (Joking) is not convenient – appropriate, proper, or suitable. It causes confusion, pain, and trouble. It destroys confidence and security. This is especially true when you joke with those who trust you. Truth is a wonderful thing, and it should not be mocked. Your neighbor trusts you – be worthy of it. King Solomon had no use for profane individuals who play tricks on others for profit or pleasure and excuse their wickedness by calling it a game or a joke.

Deceiving those who trust you is a horrible crime. Neighbors, employers, and others trust your integrity. You are close enough to take advantage of them, so they must trust you to not use that nearness against them. It is your duty as a Christian to live honestly with all men, but especially those nearest to you.

Covering and excusing sin by lightly claiming it was just a joke reveals a very profane character. Such persons have no conscience; they laugh at sin; they do not comprehend the pain their deception causes others. We oppose this folly by keeping and requiring a sober and serious approach to all relationships.