The Last Sluggard

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE LAST SLUGGARD

Prov 26:16

16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly.

NIV

This sluggard is something else. How in the world can the sluggard think of himself as wise? But then he has everyone hand feeding him, doing all the work while he sits around enjoying the fruit of everyone else’s labor. He has devised all sorts of excuses why he cannot work. He has come up with the most innovative ways to get stuff for free. He has worked the system until the system provided all he ever needs. Nobody said the sluggard was stupid, just lazy. So maybe he is smarter as he thinks he is. However this idea that he is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly smacks a little like something we saw before. The number seven represents the totality of man, the whole of mankind, and so not just seven men. This would mean the sluggard in his own little world, not being a productive member of society, but withdrawn comes to the conclusion he is the wisest of all. He says, "Let those fools work and do all the labor while I enjoy myself and still get stuff for free". This certainly does not describe the believer as we are an industries people, working one hundred percent as onto the Lord.

Col 3:22-25

22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

NIV

Replace slaves with employees and masters with employers and we are in this present age. The believer works with all his efforts, doing the best possible work for the benefit of his employer. This is the instruction from God, not men. So there is no way a believer could ever be a sluggard, except possibly when it comes to spiritual matters, or we could also say religious or church matters. We already dealt with this, but it bears thinking about again. We cannot simply be a part of the body of Christ and do nothing for the benefit of the body and think just because we are a part we are fine. When we labor in the service of the Lord we are also to do it as if we are working for the Lord, for indeed we are and we should be doing so for his benefit. This means in all we do we should not look for any applause from men. Surely when we work for our employer they reward us with a wage, a paycheck to compensate us for our labor. Other believers cannot compensate us for our service to God, but he can and does. So then if we do nothing, but simply attend church, we can expect very little in the way of compensate from the Lord. Sure we might get to heaven, but we also might live a really meager life, almost a crippled life in the here and now. But then maybe that is being wise in our own eyes, thinking we are still getting to heaven just because we believe. No, we are intended to be a part of a body that does our function, whatever part God has intended us to be, and work our part well, doing the best we can, as we rely on him to give us the wisdom and strength to do what he intends for us to do. Again, as we have said before, there is no room for sluggards in the kingdom of God. 

Real food

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

REAL FOOD

Prov 26:15

15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.

NIV

This is as close as the same words as possible to proverb 19:24 which we dealt with in some detail. Not sure what more can be said. The one difference between the two is in the Hebrew. In 19:24 the word translated lazy is not there. It is translated in the interlinear as grieve. So then the sluggard, the slothful person actually grieves over then idea of working for his sustenance. This translation uses that word to mean too lazy. But we are wondering if this person actually grieves over the idea of labor. Would he rather someone spoon feed him? Although we stayed the course in 19:24 regarding labor, and dependence upon others and how some would rather create a whole social group of dependent people in order to have power over them, there is now another thought which comes to us. If we were to approach this from a spiritual point of view we might see this sluggard is so lazy, it actually grieves him to study the scriptures for himself. He would rather be hand feed the truth by someone, like the pastor, or a Sunday school teacher, or bible study leader. He might say, it is too difficult to understand, give me the meaning. If we were to see it in light of Jesus being the bread of life, this sluggard cannot even find it within himself to reach out to accept Jesus. He might remain grieving over the fact he thinks his sins are too great to be forgiven. So he just keeps his hands, his heart hidden in his dish, or bosom, as the Hebrew can also imply. In either case laziness is just not an acceptable excuse. We are to both labor diligently to provide for our food, although God is the source, and labor diligently studying the word of God, seeking his truth for and in our lives. To be a sluggard is also disrespectful of others, not being a part of the greater unit. This applies to the body of Christ. Each person has a function in the body, all working together for the benefit of the whole, Jesus being the head of course. When one member fails to do its part the body suffers in some way. Just as when the heart fails the whole fails. We might also think of other parts which are needed in order to function as God intended. The body of Christ has no place for the sluggard, he is not only useless, but he drags the rest down. Just as a pair of oxen is only as strong as the weakest member, so is the body of Christ. If there is a sluggard among the body, it might be possible we are so busy trying to feed him, we are not doing our part. Let us make sure we are not that sluggard and be about what it is the Lord has called us to be, to do within the body. That does not imply we stay in the body as in church and only serve each other. Some members, many members, we might even say all members in addition to their individual functions are still all one body which is called to share the message of hope to a world full of hopelessness. The sluggard just not only refuses to feed himself, he surely refuses to feed anyone else with the bread of life. Let us be about feeding the poor who have not yet tasted the bread of life, the real food. 

Asleep

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

ASLEEP

Prov 26:14

14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.

NIV

Well it seems we have left the fool behind and are now spending some time with the sluggard. In fact the next several sayings have to do with this sluggard. All make some comparison to show his character. The last one shows us the sluggard was afraid to leave his house and go into the streets. Now we see the sluggard does indeed move. The door moves to either the open or closed position, but it moves on its hinges that are fixed to one place. Thus the sluggard stays upon his bed, simply rolling over from one side to the other, but still never gets up to do something. Again this could relate to doing something to earn a living to sustain himself. But why would God want to teach us about that? Of course that is what we are supposed to do. Once Adam sinned and ate from that tree of knowledge of good and evil he was banned from the paradise of the Garden of Eden. He was instructed, as a curse, that he would have to work by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life for his sustenance. It would make perfect sense then we too, being his descendants, being under the same curse, must work all the days of our lives for our sustenance. The sluggard fails to understand that and refuses to work, refuses to obey the command of God. But is there also a spiritual application to this saying? Do we as believers simply turn over in our beds rather than getting out in the streets. We saw this in the last proverb about being afraid of the lion. How can turning over in our bed relate to that? Maybe just doing things within the church is the same as turning over form one side to the other. Maybe we spend too much time in one ministry than another which only serves others in the church and does nothing out in the streets to share the message of Jesus. However it is true we are to encourage one another.

1 Thess 5:11

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

NIV

But the whole of this idea is followed up with spurring one another unto good works.

Heb 10:23-25

23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

NIV

Some would say, Aha, here are the good works we are to be doing, we need to do good works. Yet the word translated work, directly means to be employed in business. The same word is used by Jesus in telling the parable about the man who left his servants in charge until he came back. They were to stay employed watching over his business. We could relate this to the message of salvation. We should be employed, in charge of his message, making it profitable for him, until he returns.

Mark 13:34-37

34 It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back — whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!'" 

NIV

If all we do is stand at the door and keep watch for the return of Jesus and do nothing either to obtain our sustenance or spread the message to those in the streets, we are but turning from one side to the other in our bed, asleep. This could also apply to our own spiritual walk with the Lord. We cannot simply turn from side to side and not get up and advance in our faith, advance in the streets with the message. We cannot just stay in bed spiritual, we have to get up and eat food, work out our salvation, study the word, understand how we are holy and blameless in his sight because of his work on our behalf. We have to learn as much about him and that all things are for him, through him and about him. We are his handiwork, his glory, his inheritance. We cannot just stay in bed asleep. 

Afraid

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

AFRAID

Prov 26:13

13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!"

NIV

We saw this same concept back in 22:13 and we entitled it “excuses”. The sluggard will find any excuse to keep from doing any kind of business or labor to earn his own keep. Goodness sake, I can’t go out there and labor in the field or for someone, the lion is roaming around looking for food and I might be his meal. Laziness finds all sorts of reasons, excuses to not do what needs to be done. The Hebrew word translated sluggard means to be slack, to lean idly. It is said idle hands are the devils workshop. When we are not actively engaged in the affairs of life, whether they be working for our sustenance, as ordained by God due to the sin of Adam, as well as our own, being his descendants, or in our mission as a member of the body of Christ, we might fall prey to the one who is like a roaring lion roaming the world to see who he can devour. The devil has a field day with idle hands. Now on the flip side of that coin, we might also see this as a paralyzed believer, or an idle believer who never pursues being an active member of the body of Christ. This would be due to their fear of Satan making a greater effort to snare them in some trap to silence or make their voice ineffective. An example of his attacks on some of the more famous or once famous multi-media evangelists who now are seen as compromised because of their public humiliation due to being caught in sin. Satan had his best foot forward for those people and they stumbled on it. We might have that kind of mentality, thinking we should not get too public with our missionary efforts for surely our sin will fine us out. Who of us is without sin? Is there a degree of sins? Satan would like nothing more to keep us hiding in the house, even the house of God, rather than having us take the message into the streets. Satan loves a sluggard, a lazy witness for God. The possible problem why some would not leave the house to go out into the streets with the message of the Gospel is because they are fearful Satan will humiliate them in public about their sin, as he did with those evangelists. However the main reason they were and we could be humiliated is due to presenting an image of perfection to the world. We believers do not want the sinners to think we sin. Because we are born again we have no more sin. We are perfect, holy, sanctified, and so if we are caught in some error, some fault, some failure, a little white lie, or whatever we think, our message is compromised. Satan has won the battle and silenced our voice. We have become the sluggard hiding in the house, not willing to leave because we are afraid. 

Wise Guy or Humility

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

WISE GUY OR HUMILITY

Prov 26:12

12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

NIV

Humility is the key word missing in this saying, yet it is the whole of the message. Who likes a know-it-all? There are phrases which point to this man who is wise in his own eyes. When we hear them say, “The point of the matter is” or “Let me tell you” or “The truth of it is”, we know we are encountering a person wise in their own eyes. Certainly there are people who have a far greater knowledge of things than we do. Surely there is no reason to ever think more highly of ourselves then we should.

Rom 12:3-4

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

NIV

God continues through Paul to give us the picture of one body, each having it particular function which benefits the body as a whole, which in the case of the body of Christ, he is the head. Yet we might be tempted to consider some parts more important. We should not think our part is. But there are those who have the idea the more education or knowledge that has been gained in the standard of the world are better equipped to explain the truth of God. That may be a form of looking wise in their own eyes. We cannot ever think we know more than anyone else otherwise we may run the risk of closing off new insights into the word of God. True, we have formed our faith based on our own reading and understanding, being led by the Spirit into all truth, just as every believer is able to do. However, there are people who have insights we may have not considered and that just might be the Spirit inspiring them to express that insight to others. Surely we would have to think the local Pastor spends a great deal of time listening to the Spirit in preparation for his sermons. But we do need to be aware of the know-it-all, including any preacher who thinks he has the only handle on the truth. This might be the ultimate cause of denominationalism. Someone thinking they have a better understanding then the church they attend and go off to form a whole new church with different views. This too might apply to all who attend a certain denominational church, thinking we have the right insight, and those others are off base on their beliefs. If we think like that, we might just be thinking ourselves wise in our own eyes. Yes, there are some major differences. But still we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we should. Who is to say, we are right and they are wrong? Maybe they are right and we are wrong? But with so many difference we would have to conclude some are not being led by the Spirit, for he brings all into the unity of the faith.

2 Chron 30:12

12 Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.

NIV

It is the hand of God which brings unity of mind, it is the people who separate themselves from unity, thinking themselves wise in their own eyes. So then someone is not listening to the Spirit. We are admonished to make every effort to have unity.

Eph 4:1-6

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit— just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

NIV

Humility is the key here, we cannot think prideful of ourselves at all, for we are but sinners saved by grace, being led by the Spirit to live a life worthy of our calling. Let us live according to the measure of faith God has given to us, but do it in humility. 

Vomit

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

VOMIT

Prov 26:11

11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

NIV

Clearly we are still with this fool. It seems a little crude to think of a dog returning to its vomit. But it does give us the picture of just how crude a fool repeats the same mistakes over and over again. We would think we learn from our mistakes and not make the same one twice, yet even as believers it seems we do. How is that possible that we could be anything like a fool? The fool is the silly or stupid one who refuses to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. We, on the other hand, have accepted Jesus and as thus we are the righteousness of God in Christ.

2 Cor 5:21

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

NIV

 Therefor we are truly righteous. We have been made holy.

Col 3:12

12 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience

NIV

So we are really already holy. He also made us complete or have complete fullness.

Col 2:9-11

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

NIV

And to make it completely clear he has made us holy and blameless in his sight.

Col 1:22-23

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.

NIV

But here also is the key to everything we are, we need to continue in our faith. The fool does not continue in his faith. This could imply there are people who call themselves believers but in all reality are a fool. This might look like a believer who returns to trusting in his flesh, trusting in his works, both to provide for himself and do be considered a good Christian. When we became a believer we turned our life over to Christ, we invited him to live and reign in our hearts. He sent the Holy Spirit to be our guarantee, to seal us as one of his. But if we do not let him reign completely, if we return to even part of our old ways, or never truly abandon them, we are simply feasting on our own vomit. We have been told over and over again that we cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve God and self at the same time. So then are we continuing in our faith our not? Turning our life over to Christ is likened to vomiting up the old self, and becoming a new creature in Christ. Then we cannot, we must not return to our old vomit.  

Reward

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

REWARD

Prov 26:10

10 Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any passer-by.

NIV

This one is very confusing due to the translation of the original text. The Hebrew text reads, great whirl all rewards fool and rewards passer by. Some of the translations have added this idea about the archer, some have left it out. Some assume the great means God and have added his name in their translations. This translation give the verse a negative connotation, others who add God because of the word great make it sound more positive as God rewards both the fool and the transgressor, passer by, but transgressor makes it sound like sinner. Then God would reward both the fool and the sinner which seems wrong on so many levels. Although we could see this as hell being a reward for the work of evil being done by both the fool and the sinner. The word translated reward means to hire oneself out, or to earn wages, thus the reward of sin is death, if the great is to mean God. It does seem that most of our scholars of old agree to a degree about the Hebrew word “Rab” meaning the great or master, and to mean God. A form of that word is used in Job and it means archer, and thus this and other translations use that term in the place of great. Some see this word archer as a bad man who give everyone pain (wounds at random) because he hires the fool and the sinner to expand his evil plots. The ideas are all over the place on this proverb and it is difficult for us laymen to gainer a truth we can apply to our lives. Yet if we are to take God at his word and trust that the Spirit leads us into all truth we should be able to understand this without all the confusion among the old scholar’s wisdom. The idea that God does reward everyone according to their deeds makes the most sense on surface or simplest level. This would be applying Occam’s razor, the theory that when there are two explanations of an occurrence the simpler is usually the best. Another way of saying it is the more assumptions we have to make the more unlikely is the explanation. So then we should not assume or add words to the text making it more than what it means, at least according to Occam. Then we are left with the idea that someone great pays wages to everyone alike. If we place this among all other scriptures we would have to conclude the idea that God rewards everyone according to their works. Let us just live with that for it is the simpler explanation of this saying, although we are considering the great as being God, yet the whole of scripture is about God. So then let us know without a doubt that we will receive a reward for our doing the work of God, and we know the work of God is believing in the one he sent, Jesus. So the believing in Jesus gets us the reward of eternal life, and the reward of the fool is the second death. Let us leave it at that, we all get a reward. 

Harmful

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

HARMFUL

Prov 26:9

9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard's hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

NIV

We are still with the fool. More comparisons of how foolish it is for a fool to quote a proverb. The idea conveyed here is about the thornbush. There is something about handling a thorn which is revealed to us from Samuel.

2 Sam 23:6-7

6 But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns, which are not gathered with the hand. 7 Whoever touches thorns uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear; they are burned up where they lie."

NIV

It appears by picking up thorns by the hand it would do that person harm. It is sort of like trying to handle a bunch of long stem roses, grabbing them by the stem within regard for how the thorns would stick us and even cause some bleeding, besides it would hurt. So it is with someone who quotes a proverb, or any scripture for that matter without the understanding of its meaning. Maybe it is a little of a leap, but just maybe this might also be like someone who uses the scriptures to act like a believer, but is truly not one. This might be why Jesus said he never knew them.

Matt 7:21-27

21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." 

NIV

This is the fool who uses a proverb, a scripture acting as if he knows what is what, but Jesus makes a condition to being a believer. Doing the will of the Father. The fool uses the scriptures for he own benefit, not for the benefit of God. The fool may quote all the right words, but missing the point of doing the will of the Father. This has been apparent in those who quote those verses in Mark about if we say to this mountain be cast into the sea, it will happen, if we have faith. That is God is obligated to do whatever we say. How foolish to think that way, that God has obligated himself to be our servant, to do our bidding just because we have faith and we say it, so we have it. Yes, that is what Jesus said, but he also finished that with forgiving others, a condition for being about to produce those kind of results with our words in prayer. So let us not pay much attention to the fools who quote proverbs, or scripture, but do not understand the whole of it. They only see in part, and that not only harms them, but those who listen to them. 

No Wasting

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

NO WASTING

Prov 26:8

8 Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool.

NIV

This seems to be a somewhat strange saying because of the wording of tying a stone in a sling. The Hebrew offers a little different idea in that the word translated sling does not mean a weapon but rather a stone heap. Our historians offer an insight into this stone heap. It was a custom in many cases for the dead to be buried under a heap of stones rather than in a dug grave as we do today. If the person were of ill report, such as a criminal no honor would be given to his heap of stones. One might, if the dead person was someone of good report or special in some way, put a precious stone among the heap. So then to throw a precious stone among the heap of a fool was to give honor to him. Some of our scholars are not in agreement with this rendering. But simply consider that actually tying a stone in a sling makes the sling useless and so is giving honor to a fool. How do we relate this to our lives? What truth does it bear for us? It is again the story of the fool. The wastefulness of their lives because of not having anything to do with God, or refusing to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The fool is simply living a useless life. Their life has no meaning, no purpose, and no reason at all. We know that we exist for a singular purpose of giving honor to God. We exist to give him praise and glorify his name among the nations. The fool cannot do that. Now the question is how do we not be a fool? How do we bring honor and glory to God?  Is it simply by attending church? That cannot be, for some fools attend church, they may even has some form of godliness, but do not now God, nor give him glory. So how do we bring him honor and glory among the nations? The people we work with, the people we encounter daily must know we are followers of Jesus. They must see our lives, our faith being lived out loud. If they do not know we are true believers, Godly people who love the Lord, how then is our life going to being honoring God? We are his representation on earth. One author puts it this way, Jesus living in us, as us. This would mean people should see Jesus when they see us. This does not mean they see a person all stiff and stuffy, not able to laugh and enjoy life. This does not mean they see a religious person either, for some unbelievers are religious. What it means is they see a person who sincerely cares about them, loves them, prays with them in their time of hurting, when they are in pain, or suffering a loss of a loved one. This means we are there for them, letting them see Jesus doing the work of God. Then they will know God loves them. We cannot be content with just telling them we will pray for them. Jesus did not tell people he would heal them and then walk away. He healed them right then and there. This is the work of God, the work of Christ living in us as us, meeting their need right there and then, up close and personal. Jesus said that all he does is for the glory of the Father. All we do should be no less, but for the glory of God. The fool cannot for his life is wasted, but we surely can for we have Christ in us living as us and thus we can do the work of God, first to believe in the one he sent and second to allow him to live as us to the world. This is not foolish, but true wisdom. This is not wasting our lives as a stone tied in a sling is. This is using our lives for the glory of God. 

Listen not to the fool

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

LISTEN NOT TO THE FOOL

Prov 26:7

7 Like a lame man's legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

NIV

Once again we are with this fool, this either silly or stupid person. Of course that pretty much defines anyone who has refused to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But this fool is no ordinary fool, who rejects the gospel, or has no knowledge of it. This fool has knowledge of the scriptures for we are told he quotes the proverbs. But because this fool is compared to a lame man’s legs that hang limp, that are useless to him, the fool may quote proverbs, but has no real understanding of their truth, and they are useless to him. This might apply to all of scripture as well. It is evident we have some fools who believe they are believers, but have been deceived by false teachers, wolves in sheep clothing. The hordes of people who flock to listen to the silver tongues spewing delightful words to titillate the ears and hearts of their victims or rather captives is evidence enough. The truth to those people is useless, they cannot hear it, their hearts and minds are so focused on their hearing falsehoods. The truth is useless to them even when they quote some verse, especially when it is out of context. This proverb also tells us we need to examine the scriptures, study them, explore the truth within the whole of scripture, not just one or a couple of verses, for example that God is obligated by his own word to give us anything we ask for. Therefor we can ask for lots of money, or a new car, and he has to give it to us. How bizarre, but they say, Jesus said that we could ask anything in his name. But we know everything we ask must be in accordance with the will of God. The fool has a man-centered religion, he quotes verses which bring God to serve him. The righteous, the true believer, the non-fool understands his faith is God-centered, everything is about God, not about us. We exist to bring praise and glory to God, he does not exist to bless us with things. So the fool misuses the proverb, the scripture to serve himself, but it is useless in his mouth, he does not get anything for he is double-minded. When it comes down to the reality of God, he has told us all scripture is breathed from him and it is useful for teaching, rebuking, correction and training in righteous. This is for a reason. The whole of one portion of the letter Paul writes to Timothy which includes this phrase, “God-breathed” is an example of this truth in this proverb.

2 Tim 3

3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth — men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone. 10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings — what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

NIV

People will be deceived and the truth is useless to them, but if we understand the truth, if we find it within all of scripture then we will thoroughly be equipped for every good work. And what is every good work, it is the work of God, and the work of God is:

John 6:29

29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." 

NIV

We are to do the work of God which is to bring people to the truth of God, so that he might be glorified in their lives. The good work is the good news. Let us not listen to the quotes of fools, but rather listen to the truth which the Spirit within reveals to us. 

The Message

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE MESSAGE

Prov 26:6

6 Like cutting off one's feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool.

NIV

Sometimes the style in which these words are either written or translated may be poetic however they are not always as straight forward as the way we would say it. We might say something like this: If we wanted to send a message about the truth of God to a friend, we would do ourselves a great deal of disservice by sending that message by giving it to an unbeliever. In fact if we were relaying that message verbally through the unbeliever we might as well cut of our foot for we would indeed be drinking violence unto ourselves. We could be sure the fool would distort our message, or not even deliver it. It would be as if we were lame, unable to deliver it at all. We have been witness to the game of passing a message around a circle whispering it into the ear of each person going around the circle until returns back to the original person. In almost every case the message has been so twisted, so unlike the original it is laughable. This may be the case here in sending a message by the hand of a fool, except it is not laughable, but devastating. Of course in those days there were only two forms of communication. One was to hand write a note, sealed with a wax ring upon which was fixed a symbol of one’s position or name known by all. The other method was to speak the message to a messenger and send him to convey your words exactly as you spoke them to the intended recipient. A fool would not remember them, or mess up the message so badly that it would not serve you well, but instead bring you harm. Today we can easily convey our message directly through various forms directly to our intended recipient, ether publically through social media or privately through the mail, email or even Facebook messaging. The point is we do not need a go between, yet the point is also we need to be sending a message, we need to be communicating with others. The only message which is worthy to send is that of the Gospel and of course that is the only message a fool would not delivery. So let us get on with getting on sending the message. 

The Answer

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE ANSWER

Prov 26:4-5

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

5 Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.

NIV

At first this seems to be a contradiction and some old Rabbinical Scholars use these two to question the canonical authority of this book. But there is no contradiction when we consider the truth here. In the first scenario the idea is that we should not answer a taunt with a taunt. That is we should not engage a fool in conversation with the same kind of words or attitude a fool has. We should not lower ourselves to his level. This might be more like arguing religion more than sharing the gospel. The second scenario points to having the right words at the right time to show the folly of the fool. We might be in a group of people and the fool makes all sorts of claims about science being truth and the bible simply written by man to enslave other men. Answering this can be nothing more than an argument never to be resolved. Of course we could bring all the historical facts about Christ living among the Jews and the records of all his miracles, even the evidence of his death and resurrection. But the fool would only refute our evidence because he believes the evidence of science, although he has no knowledge of the science himself. He can only quote the words of others who declare the science to be truth. He has not performed the science himself. He has not run the tests, and examined the evidence. He believes the science based on the work of others and their testimony. He may have experienced some result of science as in taking some medication which should relief his pain, or illness, but he takes it on the word of some doctor who may or may not have determined the evidence of that medication himself, but has taken the word of a pharmaceutical representative. The science might work or it might not, but the fool takes it on faith that it will work. In all reality science is only man discovering what God has created. See the folly in their reasoning against taking the word of the testimony of Moses, Isaiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and others. The fool believes many things on faith, but refutes our faith in God. Answer him not with arguments, but with solid facts at the right time in order to show how foolish his thinking is. Bring reason, bring true wisdom to the fool and he will see how foolish he is, rather than thinking he is wise.   

Big Stick

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

BIG STICK

Prov 26:3

3 A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!

NIV

There is a parallel here between unreasoning animals and a fool. This idea of just a whip for the horse and a halter for the donkey appears to have more of the meaning from the original texts that sometimes both the donkey and the horse are in need of a whip and other time simple in need of the bridle. But the reason for both is these are animals without the ability of reason and must be controlled by some means in order to have them be of any use. The fool is no different.

Jude 10

10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals — these are the very things that destroy them.

NIV

Jude was speaking about men who had slipped into the church and were perverting the truth of the gospel. He compared them to unreasoning animals who live by instinct rather than the truth. If we examine our own instinct, what do we find? All of us have an internal instinct, that which we do without any thought, for examine we do not breath by thinking, consider each breathe, we just breath. Attitudes and behaviors can also be an instinct. Before we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we did many things by instinct which would be defined as sinful. Now we have to consider our attitude our behavior, but yet without thought we say something, we get upset, we get argumentative, we get judgmental, we gossip, we do a lot of things without thinking about the ramifications of our attitudes and/or behaviors. Why? Because we do them by instinct, we do not reason through them before engaging in them. Yes, the Spirit spurs us, or jabs us in those times and we become aware of our misgivings and see the reasoning in our wrong. But the fool does not have that reasoning power. The fool simply cannot see the truth and they speak about things they do not know. There words refuting the truth of God will be their own destruction. Here this proverb says this fool needs the rod. That would be the rod of correction. They need to be given constructive criticism to help them see the right path to walk. We know God does not want anyone to perish. We know he desires for us to be his ambassadors to lost world. We know he wants all men to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus. So then would it not be right for us to carry a rod? It is odd the word translated rod has several uses. It is a branch off, or a stick but the stick is used for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling and walking. Certainly applying to the back of the fool would imply punishment. However when compared to the whip and bridle it also might imply ruling. But this stick is also like a walking stick which aidss in going down the right path. It also can is a stick dipped in ink to pen the words which would lead the fool to the right way of thinking, to reason through their life, seeing the errors of their ways, repenting and accepting Jesus. So let us talk softy, but carry a big stick.  

Avoiding a curse

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

NO CURSE

Prov 26:2

2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

NIV

This is actually talking about a blessing from God. If we consider how a sparrow flutters around in the air, or how the swallow darts to and fro and seems to never settle down to perch, so it is with this undeserved curse. It never comes to rest upon us. Because we are children of God we do not deserve any curse. God certainly proclaims that anyone who trusts in himself, or the flesh is cursed.

Jer 17:5-6

"Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

NIV

Self-reliance brings a curse down upon us. Certainly we know we cannot get to heaven without relying on the work of Christ. But there may be some people who think just being a good person gets them to heaven in the end. We hear that all too often in our conversations with those who are not born again, who have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, repenting of their sin. They may in fact be really good people, even doing some good works for mankind, but if they have not accepted Jesus into their heart, it is not going to go well with them in the end. But that is a form of self-reliance, trusting in man, depending on the flesh for his strength. This does not only apply to salvation, but to our daily life as well. If we rely upon ourselves for our daily bread instead of asking God to give us this day our daily bread, then we may well be bringing a curse down upon us, we may well deserve it. The idea of being born again, is that the old has passed away and all things have been made new.

2 Cor 5:17-18

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

NIV

All the way we used to look at living is in the past, all the trusting in self has passed away and now we trust in God. The only way not to deserve the curse is to trust in him for everything, salvation and our daily bread. Even in our imperfection we still do not deserve the curse because we have placed our trust in the work of Christ on the cross, taking all our sin, past, present and future onto himself, being the perfect and ultimate sacrifice offered for all sin. So any curse will simply dart around in the air never to settle on us, because we are blessed.

Jer 17:7-8

7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

NIV

There is no curse here, only blessings from God for those whose trust is in the Lord. 

True honor

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

TRUE HONOR

Prov 26:1

Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.

NIV

It would seem that snow in the summer would have to be a miracle, but rain in harvest is not so miraculous, yet it would seem that God certainly blessed the people of Israel as in the harvest and on the thrashing floor, which was outside, rain was not a very common event. Neither the snow nor the rain in their off season are very common or welcome for that matter. So it is with someone who is foolish not being welcomed in a place of honor. This could apply to bad or foolish people being in places of honor in the church and the state. It would seem appropriate to determine what is meant by a fool; as not just this saying but several that follow speak of the fool. The Greek work carries the meaning of fat, or figuratively to be stupid or silly, or arrogant. The idea is this person is insolent regarding religion or stupid and dull in wise living, which would be living out the religion they profess. There is only one place of true honor. Although we might think certain places among men have honor as well. We lift up some positions in this life as places of honor, such as the President of the United States or some others who occupy high offices in government as well as those who fulfill high offices in the church. But the true place of honor is being called, by God, his children.

John 1:10-13

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

NIV

What greater honor can be bestowed on a person than to be called a child of God and so be labeled by the will of God? So then the fool is the one who does not recognize him. As well as the fool could also be someone who claims to be a Christian but has no true sense of what that entails. The only way to the place of honor is to receive Jesus, to believe in his name. All the knowledge about God, all the information about scripture, any amount of works or religious effort makes no way to be called a child of God. The one act or work or good deed which gives us the right to be called a child of God is in receiving Jesus, believing in his name, trusting in him, not just for salvation by for our daily bread. This daily bread is seen both as the bread of necessity, that which we need to sustain life in the physical and the bread of life, Jesus, who gives us a daily portion of himself so we can sustain spiritual life everlasting. The foolish attempt to live this life relying on self instead Jesus. The foolish also may rely on their works, their religious efforts to find that place of honor. That might bring them honor among men, but may not bring them to the place of true honor. It is not that we should not serve God. He calls all his children to some place in the body of Christ for service. He also calls all his children to be his representation to the world. That is not done through good works but through demonstrating the love of God. True that demonstration of his love may include doing some works, but think of what works of his love for us were. Jesus came to earth and died on a cross for us. He laid his life down for us. But he has told us that exactly what kind of work is the work of God.

John 6:29

29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." 

NIV

It is back to faith, to believe in Jesus, that is the best good and perhaps the only good work we can ever do. However, if we want to see this good work as something to do in this life, then we are to be like Jesus, we must lay our life down for others. That may not be actually being put to death in the physical but it could mean in the spiritual. That might look like putting the desires of others before any of ours. But we must always remember the true place of honor is in being called his child. So let us live out our faith, our belief in Jesus throughout our day, our life so that we will not be the foolish, who trust in flesh, but the wise and honored child of God.

Control

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

CONTROL

Prov 25:28

28 Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.

NIV

The only reason a city has a wall around it is to protect it from attacks from an enemy. But it is also needed to make sure the wall is not only a watchful device but that it is maintained in good order, without any place it can be breached. If the wall becomes in disrepair and begins to crumble and falls apart there is no defense for the city. So it is with a person’s self-control. If there is a hole in it, a breach in our defense, we leave ourselves open to all sorts of trouble. Granted one of the fruit of the Spirit in self-control and thus the Spirit should produce that quality, that trait within us. But then we also know it is possible to quench the Spirit. In order for the Spirit to produce any of the fruit in our life, we need to yield, allowing him to do the work. Thus we can keep the Spirit at bay, so to speak while we lose a portion of our self-control. This lack of self-control might manifest itself in various ways. One form relates to the lust of the flesh.  God gives us insight into this through the Apostle Paul.

1 Cor 7:1-7

7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.   2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control . 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

NIV

This has to do specifically with immoral lust for another other than a spouse. Affairs with someone or something is a lack of self-control. In some sense it matters not about the physical marriage bed, but rather also speaks to our being faithful to God. All believers are the bride of Christ and thus we are his spouse, and we need to keep ourselves faithful from any form of adultery. Any sin against God is a form of lack of self-control due to some form of lust, which does not always mean sensual or immoral intimacy. Lust for material things, lust for money, lust for security, lust for control. If we rely on ourselves we have a breach in our wall of defense. There is a great warning given to us through Timothy.

2 Tim 3:1-5

3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control , brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

NIV

We have to be vigilant in keeping the wall free from defects, free from areas that might crumble. This can only be done through staying in step with the Spirit, not quenching him, but allowing him to walk that wall, to guard our hearts, keeping the enemy from breaching it. This is the prayer Jesus taught us to pray when he included the part of “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. We know God cannot be tempted nor does he tempt anyone. He makes that clear through James. We are only tempted when we are drawn away by our own evil desires. There is the breach in the wall. There is the lack of self-control, being drawn away by our own, not his or not by him, but by our own evil desires. How do we keep from being drawn away? It almost seems impossible to escape that desire at times. We see something we want, and we want it now. We are consistently bombarded with advertisements for so many different things. There are the material things of course, but also we are told to secure our future with gold, silver or some form of security other than God. Self-reliance rears its ugly head. We are also shown all the beautiful people of the world. The idea what beauty is has been distorted far beyond the beauty God gives to us. We have become too susceptible to what the world sees as beauty. The beauty industry makes billions of dollars a year because we all want to be beautiful, vanity is a form of lack of self-control. It is not just woman who have been deceived by this lust for beauty, but some men have fallen prey to its call. What about self-control with our words, our tongue, our attitudes in regards to anger, bitterness, unforgiveness? What about our self-control at the dinner table? There are so many forms of lack of self-control, it might take a book to enumerate them all.  So let us examine our wall of defense against any weakness and let us give the Spirit full reign to guard the city of our heart and mind. Let us keep guard against self-reliance of any form.  

Glory hound

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

GLORY HOUND

Prov 25:27

27 It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.

NIV

There is seems to be a great debate over this saying by our historians and commentators of old. Some would say the original language has been distorted by their English text. The ancient text carries a somewhat different idea then the modern texts do. First let us consider the text as it is written for us by the scholars who have the knowledge of both the ancient texts and of the original language. We also should consider that God is more than powerful enough to destroy any version which perverts his intended message which he inspired men to pen for us to have this record of God. Because he has told us all scripture is from his breathe and is profitable for us, we must first render these words as we have them. The idea of honey in moderation is very good, it tastes good and it is good for us. But too much honey will in fact make us nauseous and turn our stomach. This is how it will be if we think more highly of ourselves than we should. If we are always telling people how good we are, or how much of the scripture we know, or how much we give, or how much we do for the church, or for God, for or others, or for whatever. The idea is to live a humble life as Christ did. Although he was God, he was born in a barn. Sometimes we use that phrase to chide our children when then inadvertently leave the door open. “Were you born in a barn?” using in a negative sense, but yet Jesus was born in a barn and he entered this world in the most humble way and lived his life, although full of power and glory, as a humble man who had not place to lay his head, no earthy possessions, dependent on others to supply his daily needs, all the while supplying their daily bread. He had the power to turn water into wine, to turn a stone into a loaf of the finest bread, but he did nothing for himself, taking nothing, but giving all. This is the intent of this passage. We should not seek our own glory, it will only make us sick. We should live that same life of humility that Christ did, although we have the power of God indwelling within us and we have the ability to release his power through us. The other idea which some of our scholars of old have floated is the text is not rendered as it should be because some of the ancient texts give an idea that this too much honey is like searching too deep into weighty matters. This they applied to searching too deep into the word of God looking for too much truth that may not be the actual intent. Too much in depth thinking, too much hidden meanings which we were not intended to know. But the fact remains, God does not hide himself from us and he has had both recorded all we need to know him intimately as well as he sent his Spirit to dwell within us to lead us into all, not some, of the truth. God intends us to know and understand all that he has for us, so this idea of looking too much into his word, cannot be valid. We are thus left with the first interpretation of not seeking our own glory, but being full of humility as we represent Christ to the world. Even then we cannot think too highly of ourselves because we are humble. We simply need have humility in our humbleness. This would imply we are better listeners then talkers. Alone with a whole host of other attributes of God. So we are not to be a glory hound. 

Giving way

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

GIVING WAY

Prov 25:26

26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.

NIV

This is not good. A spring should be clear and babbling through a glen being a refreshing sight and sound as well as being able to supply a cool drink to a traveler. The well also should be a place to draw fresh water both for cooking with and drinking. But here the spring is full of mud, and the well is full of pollutants both unable to fulfill their purpose. Both of them corrupted by filth. So is the believer who yields before the wicked. What does that mean? Because we should be steadfast in our faith, we should maintain our faith in the face of all wickedness. The original language puts it in a way which describes it as falling down before the wicked. This does imply that we would join in with some form of folly being done by a wicked person. That is to say when we are in the presence of people who have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior we should always maintain our decorum. It is not that wicked is defined as horrible ugly minded people that never do anything good but always are morally bankrupt doing evil things. But their lives are not centered on Christ as ours should be. So then if we fail to maintain that centered focus of our lives in their presence it might be a form of falling down before them. It would be especially harmful if we allowed their ideas to pollute our thinking or muddied our faith. Jesus said that if we drink the water he gives we would have a spring of living water welling up within us. We cannot afford to allow the thinking of the wicked to muddy that spring of living water. To accept their ideas of life, to accept their ways of life, to live in accordance with the same principles of any kind would be having our spring muddied. This matters most when we are with them. We should be a beacon of light to the world pointing them to Christ. We should be the salt of the earth both preserving it as making Christ tasty to their heart. If we falter, if we fail to be steadfast, if we fail to uphold God before them we have fallen before them. If the wicked can cause us to corrupt our message in some way, we have given way to them. If they can say anything about the way we act, behave, or about something we said that does not match our testimony about being a Christian, perhaps we have given way to them. If we do not demonstrate the love of Christ before them, showing his compassion and mercy, praying for and with them in their stressful times, or when they are in some pain, maybe we have given way to them. Even the wicked say” Oh I am so sorry about your loss, or that you are not feeling good” or something to that effect. But we should be saying, “Let me pray with you about this”, that would be in accordance with being like Jesus, rather than being like the rest of good wicked people. Let us not give way.   

Good News

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

Prov 25:25

25 Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.

NIV

It does not seem that we have many weary travelers today in need of a glass of cold water as we have more than enough places along the way to quench a person’s thirst.  In fact it is not uncommon to see a driver sucking down a bottle of water or other beverage as they travel along the highway next to our vehicle. So then we have to assume this was a cultural time sensitive comparison. Certainly in Solomon’s time people traveled by foot and perhaps might have had a goat skin flask with water, but it would not have been kept cold, to a chilled water upon arrival would have been very satisfy. So too would be good news from their homeland. However, what has that to do with anything today? Well, it would seem the good news has something special within. We have heard the good news in some sense it has come from a distant land. That is a twofold idea. First it came to us here in America from the distant land of Israel. There is where all the history of God and his choosing the Israelites to demonstrate or reveal himself to the world he created. It was to them and among them that he sent his son to be born as a baby and be the long awaited Messiah. There is where Jesus began the good news for the whole world. So in that sense we have received good news from that distant land. But there is a far more distant land from which the good news came. That place is the kingdom of God. Although we have been told the kingdom of God is here, there still a distant location where God resides and Jesus sits at his right hand. Someday we will travel to that place, as Jesus has prepared a place for us and in doing so has promised he would return to take us to that place. That is good news from a distant land. That news refreshes our soul, it brings refreshment to our spirit. We are weary travelers making our way through this life, this world with all its hills and valleys, its ups and down, its good times and not so good times. We experience many different detours along the way, some with aches and pains, some with serious illnesses, and some with our yielded to temptations. But there is the good news flowing like a glass of cold water, giving us that needed refreshment at the end of our journey. But we can be refreshed daily as well, we do not have to travel this life parched. We can carry that cup of cold water with us along each day. Jesus has told us that if we drink the water he gave we will never be thirsty.  

John 4:13-14

13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst . Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 

NIV

So having Jesus in our heart, so to speak, we always have the cup of cold water, we always have a spring of water welling up within us, so that we can offer those who are weary travelers through this life a cup of cold water, the good news. 

Love and respect

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

LOVE AND RESPECT

Prov 25:24

24 Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

NIV

This is not any different than 21:9 which we covered fairly completely with the title of Harmony. The whole idea is in fact harmony. It has been said in our post-modern culture that if mommy isn’t happy the whole house is not happy. This implies the wife sets the mood of the whole house. It emphasizes the idea that a woman is the lead person in the household. She is in charge of everything and the man simply has no say in any matter. In many cases through conversations we find this is a common situation in many marriages. It may well have been perpetuated by the feminization of our culture including so many movies with a heroine rather than a hero. The bra burning movement of the 70’s might have been the beginning of this move toward this equal rights for woman in this country and has been moving toward a closer agenda of superior rights. This is not a judgement on our culture or bashing women in any way, but merely a commentary of how things have been progressing away from what appears to be a standard God established. As unpopular as it may be in today’s culture, God holds the man responsible for his family and if responsible than he has to have the final authority. But this does not mean it automatically makes the woman his subordinate. God intended man and woman should walk through life as partners, side by side as equals but with different functions. Yet he did establish the man to be the head of the household, but also loving his wife, willing to put his life down for her, as Christ has put his life down for us, being the head of the church. So then this quarrelsome, with contention or bawling wife has no place within the body of Christ. If we men are to live according to our responsibility in the body of Christ as well as in our marriage then the woman should also live in accordance with her responsibly and not quarrel with her husband, but rather respect him. If there is no respect it may well create this quarrelsome attitude. But it is also the man’s duty to not run off to the corner of the roof, but deal with the situation, be the head of the house. It still all comes back to the title of 21:9, harmony. Yet it is also a matter of mutual love and respect. 

The tongue

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE TONGUE

Prov 25:23

23 As a north wind brings rain, so a sly tongue brings angry looks.

NIV

It may not be true throughout the world about the north wind bringing rain, but as our historians tell us because there was a water north of Jerusalem the wind coming out of the north brought the water with it in the form of rain. The point is the reader at that time understand how true this statement about the north wind was. So then the second part of the statement carried the same truth. It is a fact in other words that a sly tongue brings angry looks. Many of the translations use the word backbiting tongue as it seems the original language carries the idea of a secret place. Thus a secret tongue, telling things in secret, behind someone’s back has the meaning of backbiting, or sly. This certainly brings light once again on gossip, which is telling stories about someone when they are not there, especially if those stories are of sorted behaviors. James tells us it is difficult to tame that tongue.

James 3:8

8 but no man can tame the tongue . It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

NIV

This is certainly true about the backbiting ability of this tongue. James goes on to tell us that we use the tongue to praise God and then to curse men, or gossip about them, and he says that it should not be. Of course those stories only have value if there are ears eager to listen. If we did not listen to slander there would be no place for it to speak. The idea about the angry looks is when the one who is slandered or gossiped about finds out the tales of their behaviors, certainly would be upset to say the least. How hurtful it is to reveal anything about another without their consent. Again, if those ears would put voice to refusal to listen, the voice of the slanderer would be silenced and an angry look would be avoided. But the truth is those sly tongues do their work, because they are sly. They bring the news in forms which are somewhat deceptive in their purpose. They are secretive in why they are telling the story. Sometimes they hide it within a prayer request. Sometimes it is hidden in other ways, so the itching ears are eager to listen. Let us not be so eager to hear any news about another. It does either us or the sly tongue any good. Even if the north wind is true, let us serve to undo any truth about this tongue, especially if it is ours. 

Love them

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

LOVE THEM

Prov 25:21-22

21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. 22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.

NIV

Clearly we are going to have some enemies. There is no question that Satan is the enemy of our soul. He brings temptation after temptation to lure us into yielding to them in order that he can separate us from God through our sin. But we know nothing can separate us from the love of God. Jesus took all our sin, past, present and future on himself when he was on that cross. Of course we do not go around looking for ways to sin, but it just happens and even then God does not forsake us or throw us away. But here this proverb is speaking about earthy or worldly enemies. People who hate us. People who reject Jesus and all that he stands for and persecute us because of our faith. We who live in America certainly do not experience the type of persecution some believers go through, even onto death, in other parts of the world. Although there has been killings of Christians here in our country from time to time. Madmen, filled with hatred, stepping into churches shooting as many as they can. But in those cases it is almost impossible, especially for those who were killed, to feed their enemy or give him a cup of cold water and thus heap coals on his head. So these enemies spoken about here are everyday people we come into contact on a regular basis, but have a certain dislike for God and hate to hear anything about him because they enjoy their lifestyle and do not want any guilt associated with it. It simply shows they know what is right and wrong and do not want to change. But that does not mean we abandon them, ignoring them, not being friends with them. That is what giving them food if they are hungry or water if thirsty means. Of course we could see this in a spiritual sense, the food being the word of God, and the water being the living water that spring forth or flows from within us due to the Spirits indwelling. Just as God provided manna from heaven and water from a rock for the children of Israel, we can provide for those who are not currently following God. Being a friend to sinners, being there giving to them when in need. They may be enemies of ours, but not really, they are enemies toward God, and we can show them the love of God by being there for them in their time of need. Whether we see the results or not, God sees our love toward them, and we are being obedient to him by loving them, so he rewards us. How he rewards us can be in various ways, we are not told specifics of his reward. But the fact remains God does reward us somehow, just for doing what we are supposed to do, love them.