Day 158.  Reading Proverbs 13 – 15

Read Today’s chapters.

Pithy, sharp, and true truths, which stood out to you?

Proverbs 13.

Four times in this chapter, Solomon says that when “whoever” (not the righteous or wise and not the foolish) but whoever does a particular thing (good or bad), that person experiences a matching result. Then, in the second part of the verse, the opposite is shown.

Check out Verses 3, 13, 20, and the familiar, 24

• verse 3 – WHOEVER guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
• verse 13 – WHOEVER despises the Word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.
• verse 20 – WHOEVER walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
• verse 24 – WHOEVER spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

ANY OF SOLOMON’S READERS, then and now, can fall into these traps of 1) not guarding our speech, 2) despising (being offended by) the Word, 3) congregating with fools, and 4) not disciplining our children.

I am a “whoever,” and you are a “whoever,” too.   May we heed Solomon’s wise warnings.

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Proverbs 14.

There are several familiar quotations in Chapter 14.

When my husband and I ran a horse-boarding business, verse 4 became a humorous, oft-quoted saying between us.  Twice daily, we had to clean out and carry away the muck of nine horse stalls.  We would remind ourselves…

• “Where there are no oxen (horses), the manger is clean, but abundant crops (our earnings) come by the strength of oxen (boarding horses).”  In essence, “dirty” stalls equaled money.

And verse 12 is often quoted when we share the Gospel of Christ with people who think they don’t need the Lord Jesus to get to heaven. They can manage okay on their own good works…

• “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

And in patriotic meetings or on holidays, we quote verse 34.

• “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

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Proverbs 15.

• “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  and  “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.”

Have you seen this happen?  Have you ever heeded this good advice of a ‘soft answer’ and being ‘slow to anger’ in a situation?  What happened?

LORD, help me remember these “better” truths when I wish I had more “stuff.”

• “BETTER is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it.”  and  “BETTER is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fattened ox and hatred with it. 

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LORD, I love how these pithy and even humorous proverbs convict us when we let the truths sink in. YOUR WORD, is truly “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.”