Tag Archives: Proverbs 18-21

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2023 Bible Study — Haste Makes Waste

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 18-21.

Today’s passage continues the collection of short proverbs.  It continues to give examples of the importance of controlling both your temper and your tongue.  It also reiterates that we make plans, but only those plans which fit into God’s purpose will come to fruition.  Today’s passage contains several proverbs which speak to me.  He tells us that a good wife is a gift from God.  Every time I read this passage I am reminded to thank God for the wife He gave me.  For me, the writer’s exhortations for patience runs right into that, as it took me a long time to find my wife.  However, seeking a life mate is only one area where patience is essential.  The proverb writer warns that being hasty leads us to make poor decisions.  Seek counsel and patiently consider your options before making any important decision.  The proverbs in today’s passage cover many more subjects.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2022 Bible Study — Be Careful About Which Words You Speak And Which Words You Heed

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 18-21.

Like yesterday, today’s passage contains many short sayings which sum up complex wisdom in short, pithy phrases.  Since these proverbs have many different themes I will focus on just a couple of things which feel the most important of these today.  The writer tells us about the importance of words, both those we choose to speak and those to which we choose to listen.  If we take more pleasure in listening until we understand than in telling others our opinions we both gain wisdom and demonstrate that we have it.  But when we listen we need to listen with discernment and be careful not to believe rumors of which appeal to our prurient interests, but otherwise have little value.  Even worse than listening to such rumors is succumbing to the temptation to spread them.  It feels good to be “in the know”, but the damage done is never worth it.

 

The writer also tells us how wealth brings friends.  He offers both a simple description of how things are and a warning, actually, two warnings.  First, he warns us that many of those we think of as friends will be nowhere to be found when we need them most.  Second, he warns us to not allow ourselves to only help those who can help us.  God rewards those who provide assistance to those who can never repay that aid.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2021 Bible Study — Trust In The Lord, Not In Wealth

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Proverbs 18-21.

Like yesterday, I pulled out a few of these proverbs to focus on, but there are many more which are worth thought.  The first two I want to look at are chapter 19:10-11.

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
    the righteous run to it and are safe.

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;
    they imagine it a wall too high to scale.

It is easy to read these and overlook how they fit together because of the way so many of today’s proverbs are just little tidbits mostly independent of the one before and the one after.  In fact, I had not realized before today that these two go together.  There are numerous proverbs which refer to how the wealth of the rich protects them.  But in this case, the proverb warns rather than declares.  The righteous run to the name of the Lord and ARE SAFE. On the other hand, the rich IMAGINE their wealth a wall too high to scale.  So, we are warned to put our trust in God, not in our wealth, no matter how much of it we have.  I am tempted here to discuss how this applies to things which are going on in society around us, but instead want to focus on making it personal.  I must not allow the wealth I accumulate, however limited it may be, to replace God in my life.

There were some other proverbs in this passage which I had pulled out to possibly write about., But I am going to include just one more:

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan
    that can succeed against the Lord.

I think this relates to my first paragraph.  No matter how much wealth you accumulate, how wise you are, and how carefully you plan, only by doing as the Lord wills can you succeed.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2020 Bible Study Do Not Be a Chatterer Or a Gossip, And Do Not Spend a Lot of Time With Those Who Are

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 18-21.

As I wrote about yesterday’s passage, today’s passage also consists of individual proverbs strung together which makes it hard to write a blog entry about.  However, some of today’s proverbs continue the theme about the importance of watching what you say.  Today, the proverbs put more emphasis on not talking too much.  Whereas yesterday’s put more emphasis on being careful in what you say.  Although both contain references to both.  Really, today’s focus comes down to the fact that, no matter how carefully you try to choose your words wisely, if you say too much you will say something which you should not have said.  It also warns against hanging out with people who gossip and talk constantly.  In both cases, if you spend too much time with such people you will say something to them which when told to someone else will put you in a bad light and such people will, sooner or later, tell those things to someone else.

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2019 Bible Study — Plan Before You Act, And Get Advice Before You Plan

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 18-21.

I love reading Proverbs, but dislike trying to figure out what to write about them.  Today’s passage continues to remind us of the importance of choosing our words with care.  It extends that care to our actions as well.  The wise think and plan before they act.  The writer also reminds us that enthusiastically pursuing a project without knowing what you are doing benefits no one.  Hurrying leads to mistakes.  Take the time to do the project right.

The writer also revisits another theme from yesterday: the wise embrace correction and discipline while the foolish reject it.  He expands on this theme in two directions.  Offer discipline and correction to wise people in order for them to get better and wiser, but punish the foolish to change the behavior of others.  Speak in private to those who take correction to heart.  Punish in public those who do not respond to such discipline.  The writer also tells us that the wise seek correction and advice. 

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2018 Bible Study — Know The Full Story Before Reaching a Conclusion

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 18-21.

    Again today’s passage contains many unconnected proverbs. However, there are several themes which are touched on from different perspectives by different proverbs. The writer repeatedly comes back to the importance of being careful in what we say. In today’s passage his emphasis is on more than just being careful about what words we choose. He emphasizes the importance of actually knowing what we are talking about. when we argue/debate with others we should be seeking to deepen our understanding of the situation, not just to express our opinion. To that end we need to seek to learn all of the facts before we form an opinion, let alone express it. The writer does not stop there, he points out that we need to listen to both sides of the story before we come to a conclusion. Even if person A is being completely honest with us, it is possible that there are aspects of the situation which they do not know. Which will result in their interpretation being incorrect.

    Something I had never noticed, or perhaps, just never made the connection: If you wish to teach someone not to do wrong, tell them that they have done wrong. Those who are wise enough will change their ways. Those who do not respond to instruction will not learn from punishment. Punish those who failed to learn from instruction in order to teach others. You do not punish someone in order to teach them not to do wrong: you punish them in order to teach others not to do wrong. Understanding this should inform both our criminal justice system and how we deal with subordinates in the work place (or anyone else over whom we have power).

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2017 Bible Study — Words Matter

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 18-21.

    Today’s passage is a continuation of the series of one or two sentence sayings of wisdom. I had a friend who commented on Facebook that he despised certain parts of Proverbs because they blame the poor and the sick for their condition. I know the proverbs to which he was referring, but I believe that reading them as blaming the poor, or the sick, for their condition is a misreading of their intent. While there are many proverbs in this book which talk about how if you do “x” or “y” you will end up poor, or sick in other cases, there are also many, such as Proverbs 21:13, which instruct us to care for the poor and the sick. Based on that fact, that the proverbs which say that poverty results from certain actions and sickness from others are interspersed with proverbs condemning those who fail to care for the poor and the sick, I am convinced that the former are warnings about behaviors which will inevitably lead one to poverty or sickness. One of my favorite authors had one of her characters say, “Actions have consequences. So, if you desire a particular consequence, choose the actions which have that consequence.” I believe that the writer(s) of Proverbs would heartily agree with that statement and included references to consequences which are to be avoided even more fervently than poverty. That is, it seems to me that the writer tells us that sometimes the actions which will lead us to wealth include consequences which are less desirable than poverty. Sometimes the poor, and the sick, are where they are because they have chosen not to take such actions.

    There are many snippets of wisdom in this passage which stand alone and I cannot cover them all. One example is Proverbs 18:10

The name of the Lord is a strong fortress;
the godly run to him and are safe.

Many of them deserve full blog entries on their own (and perhaps one year, I will pick one or two such and make that my post for the day). But one theme which runs through many of these is the importance words, both for good and for evil. If you take them all together you learn that you should be careful to speak words which are beneficial, and avoid listening to those who spend their time saying things which are not. You learn that you should think before you speak, do not become enamored of the sound of your own voice. Being a person of few words will bring greater rewards than talking all of the time.

Daily Bible Study

July 14, 2016 Bible Study — Wait For All of the Facts

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 18-21.

    Today’s passage contains many nuggets of wisdom. I do not have time to point all of them out. However, I will touch on the things which stood out to me, because they either spoke to my own weaknesses/temptations or I thought they addressed things going on in the news today.

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    The writer reminds us in many ways about the dangers of being lazy. Paying attention to what the writer is saying reveals that for many people laziness causes them to be poor. Laziness leads to poverty in two different ways. First, a lazy person fails to work when the time is optimum for gathering wealth (whether that is the lazy farmer who does not harvest when the crops become ripe, or the person who does not plan for the future). Second, laziness will cause us to fail to maintain things which we possess or are responsible for. Over time, if we do not spend the time maintaining things, they will be destroyed. Laziness can have results every bit as bad as outright destructiveness.

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    The writer warns us against reaching conclusions before we hear all of the facts about a situation. If you look at the world around us you will see that time after time people have reached the wrong conclusion because they did not follow that advice. There are really two parts to the writers warning. We need to recognize that it takes time for all of the facts to be collected and that as a situation is examined initial appearances may prove to be deceiving. In addition, we need to be aware that the first person to speak up may have their own agenda leading them to leave out (or distort) facts which will not support the conclusion they wish you to reach. We should be shamed by speaking out on something before we have listened to what everyone has to say because, by doing so, we have revealed ourselves to be foolish. The writer even reveals why many people speak before hearing all of the facts. They do so because they are more interested in broadcasting their opinion and advancing their agenda than they are in knowing what really happened.