Tag: Proverbs

Five friends laughing together at an outdoor café table with phones and drinks

How to Make Your Community Better

Leave a comment

“When the wicked person dies, his expectation comes to nothing, and hope placed in wealth vanishes. The righteous one is rescued from trouble; in his place, the wicked one goes in. With his mouth the ungodly destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued. When the righteous thrive, a city rejoices; when the wicked die, there is joyful shouting. A city is built up by the blessing of the upright, but it is torn down by the mouth of the wicked.” (Proverbs‬ ‭11‬:‭7‬-‭11‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

I remember when Osama Bin Laden was the world’s number one villain. Or at least, it felt that way. He was the ultimate mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attack against American civilians. Hunting him down and bringing him to justice was our nation’s number one international geopolitical goal for a very long time. And then we got him. There’s a whole movie about the effort and the mission it produced called Zero Dark Thirty that is worth seeing if you haven’t. As soon as the news was announced, there were spontaneous celebrations in the streets as people rejoiced that one of the century’s most evil men had been temporally punished for his crimes and could now face the cosmic justice he was due. Solomon said something like that would happen when people like him died. Let’s talk about that and more in this next group of proverbs.

Read the rest…
Senior women learning computer skills during a digital literacy workshop

In Which Direction Are You Heading?

Leave a comment

“The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the honorable, but destruction awaits evildoers. The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not remain on the earth. The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is appropriate, but the mouth of the wicked, only what is perverse.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭28‬-‭32‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Jesus once described the person who heard His teaching and put it into practice to be like a wise person who built a house securely on a good foundation. When the storms of life arose and brought all their chaos to that person’s life, they were not moved because they had a secure foundation. As well versed in the Scriptures as Jesus was, I suspect He had the proverb in the middle of this last set from chapter 10 in mind. Let’s see what else Solomon has to say here about wise living.

Read the rest…
Artisan shaping a heart model beside a sign reading Project: The Unbreakable Heart

The Worth of Doing Good and Godly Work

Leave a comment

“The Lord’s blessing enriches, and he adds no painful effort to it. As shameful conduct is pleasure for a fool, so wisdom is for a person of understanding. What the wicked dreads will come to him, but what the righteous desire will be given to them. When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭22‬-‭27‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

When the first man and his wife ate fruit from the tree God told them not to eat from, thus introducing sin into the world, God took some time after their disobedience was revealed to tell them about exactly what they had unleashed on themselves. One of the things He said specifically to the man was that sin was going to bring futility to his work. He would spend his life working the ground by painful effort. What was once a purely joyful activity was going to become hard for the sake of being hard. Now, anytime work is experienced as the joyful effort God created it to be is a blessing. Solomon reminds us of that here at the beginning of this next batch of proverbs. Let’s talk about that and some others today.

Read the rest…
People engaging with a mural reading “Our words make the world better.”

How to Have Words of Worth

Leave a comment

“The reward of the righteous is life; the wages of the wicked is punishment. The one who follows instruction is on the path to life, but the one who rejects correction goes astray. The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool. When there are many words, sin is unavoidable, but the one who controls his lips is prudent. The tongue of the righteous is pure silver; the heart of the wicked is of little value. The lips of the righteous feedmany, but fools die for lack of sense.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭16‬-‭21‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Jesus’ half-brother, James, said that the tongue is the single most difficult thing in the world to control. We have managed to take all sorts of beasts and even to harden ourselves against various natural disasters to a certain extent. But full control of our tongues continues to elude us. This is not, however, for a lack of trying or a lack of counsel on the matter. The proverbs in particular continue numerous and sometimes repeated bits of wisdom for taming our tongues as well as warnings on the consequences of failing to do so. We see several of those in these next few proverbs. Let’s take a look.

Read the rest…
An open, ancient Bible resting on a weathered wooden surface, bathed in warm, directional light streaming through a window. The light illuminates the pages with a sense of truth and clarity. The mood is contemplative and honest — neither overly dramatic nor soft. Subtle dust particles float in the beam of light. The image conveys candor, trustworthiness, and the weight of timeless words. Photorealistic style.

Telling It Like It Is

Leave a comment

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses. Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of the one who lacks sense. The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of the fool hastens destruction. The wealth of the rich is his fortified city; the poverty of the poor is their destruction.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭11‬-‭15‬ ‭CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things we expect from the Scriptures, is for them to tell us how the world should be. The world isn’t that, and they give us guidance on how to get from here to there. Of course, there are plenty of passages that tell us how and why we are wrong. We naturally expect to find those there as well. And, all of this, of course, falls under the heading of judgment. One of the things we don’t expect to find in the Scriptures, though, are verses that simply tell us without judgment how the world is. While there are many proverbs that point us toward bringing our lives more in line with God’s righteousness, there are a few that simply describe the world as it currently exists. We find one of those in this next group of proverbs. Let’s take a look together.

Read the rest…