For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
I do not think there is anything I can add to either of these proverbs. Both make a very good point. The truly wise are able to learn from such distilled wisdom without repeating the mistakes that taught this lesson to someone else.
If you want a life filled with joy seek the Lord. Do not compromise with evil, do not seek the lesser of two evils. Rather seek that which is truly good by consistently following God’s commands. This entire psalm is about the joys and benefits which come from listening to God. The joy does not come because we are obeying arbitrary commands. The joy comes because those commands instruct us how to get the most of this life by being who and what God designed us to be.
James warns us against allowing ourselves to believe that our wealth will save us, or even provide us shelter on the day of judgment. If we have failed to use our wealth to serve others, or even worse, if we have acquired wealth at the expense of others, that very wealth will testify against us on the day of judgment. It would be better to impoverish ourselves in service to God and others.
Let us patiently wait for God to act. Let us avoid grumbling about those who take a different approach to serving God than we do, or who seem to be blessed while doing things we are called not to do. Instead, let us patiently serve God in the way in which He has called us, even when we suffer as a result while others seem to glide through life. Most importantly let us live our lives with such honesty that we will never feel the need to emphasize the truth of what we say with an oath.
When things are going badly, pray! When things are going well, sing praises! These are two different forms of the same thing. We must never forget the power of prayer, especially the prayer of a righteous person. I am reminded once more that I do not pray as much, nor as deeply, as I ought. If you doubt the power of prayer, consider Elijah. He prayed that it would not rain and it did not rain until he prayed again asking for it to rain. If you want to change the world, pray. I am not saying that all you need to do to change the world is pray, but I am saying that it will take prayer to do so.
This is a bit of a stretch, but it is where the Holy Spirit (or perhaps just my mind) went today. Ezekiel discusses the return of God’s glory to the Temple. In it he discusses how the people of Israel had defiled the Temple before the Exile by worshiping idols and venerating their kings with only a thin wall between their idolatry and the presence of God. In the New Testament it refers to our bodies and our minds as the new Temple. How often do we do something similar to what the pre-Exile Israelites did? Worshiping God with one part of our mind while reserving a place in our minds for things He detests (pornography, greed, selfishness, envy). If we put such things aside He will live within us forever.