We are moving right along in our monthly reading of Proverbs!
Over the last two weeks, we’ve entered a section I like to call compare and contrast. While not an absolute, the majority of verses in chapters 10-24 follow a pattern.
“The righteous…but the wicked…”
“Wisdom says…but the fool says…”
Like I said, there is some variation in this and it doesn’t follow a perfect pattern. But throughout most of these chapters we see a compare and contrast between doing what God says and what the wicked say.
From this, we can pull out several themes that God is warning us about: our words {tongue, lips, mouth}, our friends {counsel, advisors}, and our work {diligent, lazy, slothful}. These are not the only themes but are continually repeated in several varieties.
Why is the compare and contrast helpful? Because it shows cause and effect, that one decision impacts tomorrow’s decision, that the opposite of God’s Wisdom is earthly folly. Consider just a few examples from the last two weeks of readings:
A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich. {10:4}
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with the humble is wisdom. {11:2}
The thoughts of the righteous are just;
the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.
The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood,
but the mouth of the upright delivers them. {12:5-6}
Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. {19:1}
This barely scratches the surface of what we have read the previous 14 days! But can you see the pattern I’m talking about? Sometimes in this compare and contrast, we read several verses before we see the opposite action. However, you can always see how the right and wrong paths diverge.
I believe this is so critical in our culture today. All around we hear that there really are no wrong choices. Just choices that aren’t the best for us but could be the best for someone else. Proverbs {and the Bible in general} makes it clear that there is sin. Sin makes for bad/wrong/evil/wicked choices. That is a universal truth. What the Bible calls sin is wrong for everyone and will have consequences.
I have found true, and maybe you have also in reading Proverbs, that I can think of current, real-time examples for many of the warnings given. Warnings about deceit, false witness, judges showing favor, anger, pride, friendship, and we could go on.
These are not outdated, useless principles. On the contrary, they offer helpful guidance and boundaries in a world set on removing all boundaries. Read these words with care and set your mind and life on following them.
Photo by Veronika Bykovich on Unsplash