Listen to advice and receive discipline, that you may become wise by the end of your life. There are many plans in a person’s mind, but it is the counsel of the LORD which will stand.(Proverbs 19:20–21) In the Wisdom book of Ecclesiastes, often attributed to Solomon, we are told to “fear God and keep …
Series Archives:
22210.029 The Good Leader
Doing wickedness is an abomination to kings, because a throne is established in righteousness. The delight of a king is righteous counsel, and he will love the one who speaks uprightly.(Proverbs 16: 12–13) Effective leaders have inner strengths of wisdom, understanding, and respect for others. Leadership ability does not depend upon external characteristics such as …
22210.028 The Good Woman
Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting. A woman who fears the Lord—she makes herself praiseworthy.(Proverbs 31:30) The condition of women is the criterion by which a society may be judged. To Solomon, the virtuous woman had value far beyond any measure of material wealth. The good woman is sensitive to and reflective of God …
22210.027 The Good Man
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.(Proverbs 11:3) Differentially, Solomon shades and colors his nearly innumerable maxims on goodness. No matter which iteration, however, wrongdoing is always a mistake, a source of insecurity and weakness, ultimately producing destruction and death, whereas goodness or the good person is …
22210.026 God
The LORD created me as the beginning of his works, before his deeds of long ago.Then I was beside him as a master craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, rejoicing before him at all times, rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and delighting in its people.(Proverbs 8: 22, 30–31) God …
22210.025 The Heart
Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it are the sources of life.(Proverbs 4:23) God as a loving Father expects his children to keep his instruction in their hearts. When the Bible talks about the heart, it refers to who we are as a person. It can be said that the heart is the …
22210.024 Forgiveness
Through loyal love and truth iniquity is appeased; through fearing the LORD one avoids evil.(Proverbs 16:6) The Proverbs make the moral leap from the prohibition of retaliation, i.e. not getting even to a spirit of love which actually turns the tables and repays good for evil. One who forgives in this fashion looks with assurance …
22210.023 Insight
Indeed, if you call out for discernment—shout loudly for understanding—if you seek it like silver, and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand how to fear the LORD, and you will discover knowledge about God. For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.(Proverbs 2: 3–6) Insight means …
22210.022 Death
The wicked will be captured by his own iniquities, and he will be held by the cords of his own sin. He will die because there was no discipline; because of the greatness of his folly he will reel.(Proverbs 5:22–23) Solomon states that we should not try to avoid responsibilities by saying that we were …
22210.021 Life
Blessed is the one who has found wisdom, and the one who obtains understanding. For her benefit is more profitable than silver, and her gain is better than gold. She is more precious than rubies, and none of the things you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her …