February Devotions

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WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="554" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:22</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children,</div> <div>  But the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The good man</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The sinner</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Leaves an inheritance to his children's children</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Stores up his wealth for the righteous</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The first use of the word "inheritance" in Scripture has God promising a land to the Israelites as an inheritance:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Ex 23:30</B></I></FONT><B>   Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you </B><B><U>inherit</U></B><B> the land.</B></div> <bR> <div>     The third use of the word recognizes <I>us</I>, God's people, as <I>His </I>own inheritance, despite our sin:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Ex 34:9</B></FONT><B>  Then he said, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as </B><B><U>Your inheritance</U></B><B>."</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     A later use of the Hebrew word pinpoints our most crucial heritage:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Ps 119:111</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B>  </B><B><U>Your testimonies</U></B><B> I have taken as a </B><B><U>heritage</U></B><B> forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart.</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     If we inherit God's Words, Solomon's first use of the word in Proverbs tells us what else we will inherit:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 3:35</B></I></FONT><B>   The wise shall </B><B><U>inherit</U></B><B> </B><B><U>glory</U></B><B>, but shame shall be the legacy of fools. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Then, attached to the inheritance of glory, Wisdom personified speaks these words:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 8:21</B></I></FONT><B>   That I may cause those who love me to </B><B><U>inherit</U></B><B> </B><B><U>wealth</U></B><B>, that I may fill their treasuries.</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     And this inheritance of wealth should not surprise us, because the first verse that probably pops into our minds when we think "inherit" is from the Sermon on the Mount:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Matt 5:5</B></I></FONT><B>   Blessed </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B> </B><B>the meek!  For they shall </B><B><U>inherit</U></B><B> the </B><B><U>earth</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     If we inherit the <I>earth</I>, we inherit <I>all things</I>, therefore, it is not problematic for Wisdom to tell us that we will inherit <I>wealth </I>by her as well.</div> <div>     Nor is it a problem, then, for a good man to leave an inheritance to succeeding generations.  He holds out <I>God </I>to his children as his own and their greatest inheritance, and God's <I>Word </I>to confirm this heritage to them.  Then God Himself mercifully keeps this inheritance in the family.  Some children and grandchildren may squander this inheritance, just as they might with an inheritance of possessions, but God will vouch it safe to them nonetheless.</div> <div>     Nor is the mechanism of transferring earthly wealth to our children a difficulty.  Just a few verses ago, we learned that steady work means a gradual build-up of assets (sometimes veeeerrry gradual):</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 13:11 </B></I></FONT><I><B>  </B></I><B>Wealth gotten by vanity shall be taken away, but he who gathers by hand </B><B><U>shall increase</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     We may not have a castle in Spain to pass on, but we will have something.  God will be good to His promise to provide for us, including something for our children and grandchildren to inherit.  He will do this, not so much by supernatural intervention as by simply convincing us of the importance of providing for our own, because of which we will be on the lookout for ways to put something in the tiller for them.</div> <bR> <div>     It doesn't go this way for the ungodly.  Their selfish misuse of assets fairly guarantees that it will eventually all go to someone more worthy of its possession.  In fact, God, in His poetic justice, often works out the transfer to be quite direct; the act of <I>disinheriting </I>the unjust becomes the same act of <I>transferring </I>their goods to the just.    </div> <bR> <div>     We must be careful to look at earthly life as significant.  Even if what we do here is only a 'down payment' of future permanent realities, we still demonstrate our belief in Christ inheriting <I>all </I>things by our use of stuff here on <I>His </I>earth.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_2"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="476" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:23</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >Much food </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >in the plowed ground of the poor,</FONT></div> <div> but when <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Century" ><I>there is</I></FONT> no justice, it is swept away. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >"Justice" can also be translated "judgment".</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Poor people's plowed ground by itself</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Poor people's plowed ground without justice</div> <bR> <div> The Two Results:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Yields much food</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is swept away</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     A great deal of the starvation in the world is due to oppressive governments.  By the time the rest of the world hears about it, it may seem that the starving people are simply lazy.  They do nothing to plant or feed themselves.  In the case of oppressive governments, this is because the poor peoples' spirits have been broken.  They know that whatever they harvest will be taken anyway, so why provide for their treacherous overlords?  If I'm going to starve, I might as well starve without feeding <I>them</I>.</div> <div>     If we translate "justice" as "judgment", we see a second reason for a large percentage of the world's starvation.  This one is more frustrating and tragic.  For lack of good <I>farming </I>judgment, many peoples starve.  Most western countries have learned to exploit  and renew their fields fairly efficiently and productively.  Many countries or peoples, though, are ruled by those who do not operate according to God's provision.  By ignorance or superstition they plant the wrong crops for the soil, or wrong for the season, or wrongly set up, not anticipating factors that will arise before harvest.  Because they fail to discover God's sensible connection of factors for good crops in a given region, they end up with little or nothing. </div> <div>     We could even take "judgment" in a third, slightly different sense, and perhaps account for nearly all the starvation in the world between the three factors together.  This third factor would still take "judgment" as the bad judgment of the people, but this time, as their poor religious judgment.  They honor gods which did not create nor can sustain.  They operate immorally by these false gods.  Eventually, the true God's judgment answers their lack of judgment.  He withholds the early or the latter rain for their crops.  Usually He will get their attention first with lesser judgments before denying them altogether.  This is for their benefit to see that their gods are false and should not be served. </div> <div>     When we pray for our governing officials, this is part of what we are praying for.  We pray for <I>justice </I>to be done by our leaders, because we know that <I>injustice </I>will have many bad consequences.  There are many ways our fertile resources could withhold their abundance by governmental mismanagement or interference.  In that case, of course, the leaders are also hurting themselves, but those on a path of unrighteousness have already abandoned good sense to  varying degrees.  </div> <div>     Our country could easily join the rest of the countries that have plenty of food just waiting to be planted and harvested, but where injustice sweeps this potential away.</div> <bR> <div>     A simple spiritual lesson based on this proverb is that <U>we</U> are infertile, both intellectually and spiritually, because of a crooked spirit.  We fight good reasoning because it would deny us our wants; or we sterilely agree but go ahead with our unreasonable acts.  In either case, <I><B>we </B></I>become barren fields, having swept away our own good potential.  This <I>human </I>condition is the one which actually causes the <I>agricultural </I>one.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:24</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> He who restrains his rod hates his son, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >but he who loves him seeks him </FONT><I>with</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >correction. </FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>    <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >"Seeks" is from a word literally meaning "dawn".  It carries the idea of rising early to see that a task is accomplished.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who restrains his rod</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who chastises his child diligently</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hates his child</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Loves his child</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Want to be viewed as primitive and backwards?  Spank your children.  Spanking is an activity that our society is fast making an unwanted relic from the past.  It is put forward as unassailable wisdom that if you spank your children, you are teaching them to respond to problems with violence.  Supposedly, better results can be achieved by almost any other method of discipline.</div> <div>     Yet look at Solomon's first take on spanking.  Fail to do it, and you're a bad parent.  Fail to stay on top of it, and you <I>hate </I>your child!  Wow.  Quite a difference of opinion.  How many of us look on non-spanking parents as <I>hateful</I>?  Of course, they don't emotionally hate their children.  They hate them by neglect of what is for their good.  But refusal to spank <I>is </I>ultimately an act of hate.</div> <div>     Consider the word "restrain".  Anyone who gets enjoyment out of spanking his children has a problem (neither can he fill the Biblical definition of spanking).  We all will be inclined <I>not </I>to spank because of the unpleasantness it brings us; we all feel a natural 'restraint' upon spanking.  Solomon is telling us that this is an urge that must be overcome.  We must discipline ourselves to discipline our child. </div> <div>     He who loves his child chastises him "at dawn",  diligently.  He stays on top of it.  He stays alert to activities in his child that warrant a spanking.  Anything for which the child has been told "No" becomes a signal for a spanking.  He must be calmly but seriously told, "What did daddy say about touching the electrical outlet?  'No.'  Now that's a spanking."  Then, enough pain must be applied with a stick to the bottom to make the connection that the forbidden activity was really not worth it.</div> <div>     If, instead of spanking on first disobedience, we repeat ourselves, and continue to say "No" without spanking, we are failing to discipline diligently.  We are also doing two other very malicious things:  we are teaching our child that it is acceptable to disobey for two or three instances- until mommy finally decides to use the rod; we are also training <I>ourselves </I>to use the rod in anger.  We will say "No" until we get frustrated, our voices will get louder, and then we will lose our patience and become abusive in the application of the rod.  </div> <div>     The rod must be administered very steadily.  It is not a tool of frustration.  Frustration partly defeats its purpose. </div> <div>     God wisely created us with bodies, installing pain as a teaching and warning tool.  We are using a wisely designed, God-given avenue to our child's soul when we spank.  When we fail to spank, we are teaching them that sin really has no consequences .  Other methods of discipline are likely to accomplish bad ends.  Restrictions and time-outs cause the incident to linger; spanking gets it over with, and we may press on- put it behind us.</div> <div>     May God give parents grace to use the rod.  May God chasten parents' souls when they give in to their laziness and fail to use the rod.  May God give parents the faith to see that He will work good things through His commanded means of discipline, difficult as it is to do and do consistently.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_4"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="451" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCB2 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 13:25</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul,</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >but the belly of the wicked shall lack. </FONT> </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The wicked</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Eats to his soul's satisfaction</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His belly shall lack</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Both God's <I>general </I>and His <I>special </I>providences favor the righteous man's earthly existence.  God's <I><B>general </B></I>providences- we could call them the laws of nature and the laws of human nature- are on the side of the honest, hard-working man.  <I>Earth </I>is going to tend to yield its fruits to his diligent labors.  And his fellow-<I>humans </I>will not feel slighted by this helpful fellow, but, if anything, will cooperate with him.  God's <I><B>special </B></I>providences, His direct intervention in the lives of men, are also on the side of the man who honors Him.  If earthly or community factors let him down, God will <I>personally </I>step in to help His own.</div> <div>     Solomon saw a definite pattern here.  On first glance, he observed various cases of need and of plenty in his kingdom.  These did not immediately appear connected to any specific factors, but as he investigated, Solomon reaffirmed the principle stated in the above proverb.  </div> <div>     Probably the greatest objection to this would have come from those whose bellies were lacking, but who also considered themselves to be righteous men.  Solomon had found that, on deeper inspection, these folks were not what they pretended.  They were actually out from under God's providing hand because their whole lives were lived independently of Him (though nominally being His fearers).</div> <div>     Notice that this verse <I>does not say</I> that the wicked shall starve (though sometimes their lack may go this far).</div> <div>     Notice also that it <I>doesn't say</I> that the righteous shall never get low on food or even miss a meal (a providentially imposed fast is already generally within the righteous man's regimen, Matt. 9:15).</div> <div>     It <I>does </I>say that God will provide more than enough for His children.  They will be satisfied.  One case where they might be in doubt of this is if they have made luxuries into necessities.  Then God might allow their goods to diminish to teach them this valuable lesson:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 Tim 6:8</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>   But having food and clothing, we will be content. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     If we learn to define "enough" as necessities + luxuries, God may need to teach us that contentedness must be attached to necessities <I>alone</I>.  Even wicked men may feel abandoned by the fates, when all that has happened is that they are reduced to necessities, or even merely had some luxuries removed.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you content with what you have?</div> <div>     Contentedness is commanded:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Heb 13:5</B></FONT><B> </B><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Let your</B></I></FONT><B> </B><B>way of life </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>be</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B>without the love of money, </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>and </B></I><I><B><U>be</U></B></I></FONT><B><U> </U></B><B><U>content</U></B><B> with such things as you have, for He has said, "Not at all will I leave you, not at all will I forsake you, never!" </B></div> <bR> <div>     God Himself is His people's chief treasure.  So also His people are His treasure.  He will take care of them.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_5"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="478" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:1</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div> A wise woman builds her house, </div> <div> but the foolish pulls it down with her own hands. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The wise woman</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The foolish woman</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Builds her house</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pulls down her house with her own hands</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     What great respect Solomon had for the mother and wife in society!  What great responsibility the Holy Spirit lays upon her by inspiring these words!  There simply is no more important position in society than mother and wife.  Oh, how Satan has hoodwinked us in our day!  Church women pandering for positions of prominence and equal participation, when their godly role calls for so much more!  Because it is out of the limelight, though, they consider it so much less.  How sad.  </div> <div>     The only qualification a man needs in a wife is one who is able and desiring to build up the family God gives her.  The only woman he should <I>fear </I>is the self-centered little ornament who wants only to be pampered and have lovely photos on the mantle to reflect the perfection of her storybook life.  America turns out these women in droves.  America turns out males yearning after them in pursuing herds.  America's wrecked families are the monuments to our joint foolishness.  </div> <div>     Satan has <I>many </I>ways of causing us to pursue this vanity.  God has <I>one </I>way for us to pursue life and peace.  Once we lost track of His way, Satan could roll in whichever stumbling block presently amused him to trip us up.</div> <div>     The wise woman is a construction worker, so to speak.  She builds her house.  She looks at life as an opportunity to labor over a particular building project- her family.  She measures her success by her <I>husband's</I> well-being; she receives her satisfaction by her <I>children's</I> godly development.  She puts all her efforts into these two areas, and nothing else matters.  </div> <div>     She is not out to make a name for herself, but her husband and children will honor her as irreplaceable.  This is more than enough recognition for her.  She does not need some other boss or organization to recognize her abilities.  Even without placing herself under other authority, though, her resources for developing her family are quite broad.  She will do her best to see that her family has all the little extras that add to their comfort, safety, and health.</div> <div>     All this is part of the wise woman's description in the last half of Proverbs 31.  Paul confirms this also:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Titus 2:3 - 5</B></I></FONT><B>  aged women ...  train the young women to be </B><B><U>lovers of husbands</U></B><B>, </B><B><U>lovers of children</U></B><B>, discreet, chaste, </B><B><U>keepers at home</U></B><B>, good, subject to </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>their</B></I></FONT><B> own husbands, so that the Word of God may not be blasphemed </B></div> <bR> <div>     The Greek word for "keepers at home" literally means "home guards".  How can a woman guard her home when her base of operations is outside it?  ...when she serves an authority structure outside it?  Satan knew he could send our families reeling by sending women outside the home to work.  Women became interested in building their <I>own </I>names, in building their <I>own </I>careers... and they thought they would still have the energy and resources to build their <I>houses</I>?  </div> <div>     Rather, they make themselves into foolish women who pull their houses down with their own hands.  Every energy they rob from their God-given keep is a yank at the timbers of their household.  Sooner or later, it will totter.  Sooner or later, the elements will creep in.  Sooner or later- no house at all.</div> <div>     The foolish woman doesn't see her task in life as serving her family, thereby serving God.  No, this is a bad deal.  Let <I>her </I>be served, rather!  Children give her a hard time- then children be cursed!  Husband fails to pamper her- he'll regret that!  The foolish woman can destroy her family by neglect or outright attack.  She becomes a screamer.  Frustrations mount, Mount Mrs. blows.  This isn't what she signed up for!  If she's going to be stuck with a horrid existence, everyone else will pay <I>with </I>her!</div> <div>     How many 'Christian' women betray their real spiritual condition by their approach to their families!  Christianity's alright if it promises a loving husband and obedient children.  Bring them on!  I'll be submissive, then, when I feel loved.  I'll be a kind mother when they obey.  Deal.</div> <div>     The real Christian woman says she'll just do her best, tirelessly and patiently, and wait on God to give good results.  If results are lacking, she will look to <I>herself</I>, where <I>she </I>could be serving as the household builder better.  She sees that God has put that weight on <I>her</I>.  She sees that God's blessing will arise from her duty to home.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <div>  <A NAME="feb_6"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="466" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:2</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> He who walks in his uprightness fears Jehovah, </div> <div> but the devious in his ways despises Him.<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who walks in his uprightness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He who is devious in his ways</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Fears Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Disrespects Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Everything is personal.  Everything in life has to do with a personal relationship.  No man ever in history has been able to divorce himself from relationship to God.  Everything is about how we relate to God.  </div> <div>     Some perspectives on life seek to make it explainable by other principles, by actions or attitudes of men, or by how we utilize circumstances and surroundings.  Some perspectives on life include God, but more as an outside component.  Even some Christian views of life do this.  They make God the Creator at the beginning, the Judge at the end, but in between He is more an uninvolved observer.   </div> <div>     Even Christian views that correct this and make God an available help in the present still tend to leave Him more as a principle to deal with or a proposition to respond to, not a personal interaction by which we are totally shaped.</div> <div>      Our proverb today indicates that everything we do involves <I>immediate response</I> to God.  Even the most deeply convinced atheist is living life as a direct outworking of his <I>response </I>to God, not as a real denial of Him.  His hatred of God is the greatest proof that God is there.  Moment by moment, his spirit guides his thinking with a disposition too deep for conscious recognition.  When he is saying "God is not there," his spirit is saying, "Thus I rid myself of the one I hate."  </div> <div>     This is true for all unbelievers, religious ones included.  The unbeliever would never say to himself, "All that I do is based on my avoidance of God."  Very few unbelievers would recognize any response to God <I>at all</I> in their souls.  When they do think of God, it is according to a concept they are comfortable with.  There are a million varieties of an unbeliever's misconception of God, but they all share this one factor:  they do not conform to Scriptures.  They do not receive God's testimony of Himself, and/or they do not submit to it.  But it is the God of Scriptures to whom the are responding all the same.  </div> <div>     SO, the God who will review their lives at the end and tip the scales in their favor, saying they weren't too bad or were actually pretty good, is a myth they have invented.  This is a God they can be comfortable with, but it is a <I>replacement </I>God to rid them of the real God whose presence is always tugging at their conscience and whom they despise.</div> <div>     According to our proverb, there is only one kind of real uprightness.  It is a direct result of the <I>fear </I>of God- the belief that He has spoken and sticks by what He says, warnings included.</div> <div>     The opposite lifestyle, the way that turns aside from God's definition of good, is a direct result of the <I>disrespect </I>of God- the view that He is not entitled to speak for Himself; that He has too much power to be allowed much say.  If He wants my respect, let Him back off.  And all of life becomes a distancing of self from God.</div> <div>     God is so patient that this distancing act can be a fairly comfortable existence for a man.  There are awkward moments when God undeniably breaks in, but the unbeliever learns that if he waits it out, he can pretty assuredly go back to his previous godlessness, his previous denials, his previous myths.</div> <bR> <div>     Since everything has to do with direct and immediate relation to God, what do we think of the Christian who doesn't even make contact with God at the beginning of his day <I>by </I>thoughtful response to His Word and then <I>by </I>speaking back to God in prayer?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="14vs3"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="438" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:3</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >In the mouth of the foolish </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >a rod of pride, </FONT></div> <div> but the lips of the wise shall keep them. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>   <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >The Hebrew for "rod" is used only here and Isa. 11:1.  There it is a prophecy of Christ's coming, saying that he would be a "twig", "sprig", or "shoot" out of Jesse's stem.  Our verse, then, could be speaking of the fool's mouth as 'shooting forth' prideful branches as the nature of its 'tree'.  It could also be speaking of rod as an instrument of chastisement, with which the fool harms others, or else, which brings correction back on himself.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The mouth of the foolish / independent</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The lips of the wise</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Contains a rod / shoot of pride</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Guard them</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     "Pride" is probably the best concept in the verse from which to discover its meaning: </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Ps 31:18</B></FONT><B>   Let the lying </B><B>lips</B><B> be put to silence, which </B><B><U>speak</U></B><B> insolent things </B><B><U>proudly</U></B><B> and contemptuously against the righteous.</B><B>   ... </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>23</B></FONT><B>  Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints!  For the LORD preserves the faithful, and fully repays the </B><B>proud</B><B> person. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Here the proud is repaid for the pride of his lips.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Ps 36:3</B></FONT><B> </B><B> The </B><B>words</B><B> of his </B><B><U>mouth</U></B><B> are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. ...</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>11</B></FONT><B>  Let not the foot of </B><B><U>pride</U></B><B> come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Here it is the foot of pride carrying out the threats of its mouth.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Ps 73:6</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B> Therefore </B><B><U>pride</U></B><B> serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. </B></div> <div> <B> ... </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>8-9</B></FONT><B> They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily.  They </B><B><U>set their mouth against the heavens</U></B><B>, and their tongue walks through the earth. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Here the fool's pride knows no bounds, but critiques God and replaces Him as judge of the earth.    </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Isa 16:6</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B> We have heard of the pride of Moab -- he is very proud -- of his haughtiness and his </B><B><U>pride</U></B><B> and his wrath; but his lies shall not be so.</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>    And here we have pride combining in the tongue with anger, but their lies prove unsuccessful.</div> <bR> <div>     In all these verses, the connection between man's pride and his speech is very clear.  The word "shoot" would serve to illustrate this connection.  However, it would do little more than that.  Perhaps it would picture the vitality and strength of man's pride as a new growth from a tree.</div> <div>     On the other hand, if it is the punitive instrument, the "rod", in the fool's mouth, it illustrates factors also present in these other verses- man's anger, his oppression and violence, his hatred of the righteous.  This seems to be the intended meaning.  Plus, it is answered more specifically by the second half of the verse, in which the righteous protects himself from the fool's attacks.</div> <div>     This verse teaches us that a person's mouth is a tool.  It may be a <I>weapon </I>with which he attacks, it may be a <I>shield </I>by which he defends, but it is certainly a tool.  The wicked are probably less aware of their mouths as  tools, because this would be to admit their hurtful intentions.  The wise may not always wield his words as deliberate tools, but he may be well aware at times that his words are crucial to his innocence, and therefore to Jehovah's taking up of his cause.</div> <div>     What drives the fool's tongue?  His pride, his self-assertion, his heart belief in himself.  His soul's distrust in any competitors, perceived or real, causes him to wield his words to punish them.</div> <div>     Pride is one of the three sources of godlessness identified by John:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 John 2:15, 16</B></I></FONT><B>   Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,  because all that </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> in the world, the desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the </B><B><U>pride</U></B><B> of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Man's mouth is a natural container for pride's weaponry, whatever sort it is.  The righteous are in danger from this at all times.  They must be careful not to answer back in kind.  They must be careful to follow their Master's example, and this emulation will guard them:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>1 Peter 2:21 - 23</B></FONT><B>  For you were not called to this? For Christ also suffered on our behalf, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps, He who did no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth, who when He was reviled </B><B><U>did not revile in return</U></B><B>. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but gave </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Himself</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B>up to Him who judges righteously. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_8"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="434" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:4</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >Where no cattle </FONT><I>are</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >, the stall </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >clean, </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >but much gain </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >by the strength of the ox.</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Owning no cattle</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Potential of an ox's strength</div> <bR> <div> Their Results:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Clean stall</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Increased revenues</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Advantages and disadvantages.</div> <div>     Almost any factor that would give us an advantage in life would also come with its disadvantages.  The question is:  are the disadvantages worth giving up the advantages for?</div> <div>     Solomon presents us with a clean stall and an ox.  A clean stall needs no maintenance.  House an ox in it, though, and you'll be servicing it with food, water, bedding; you'll be cleaning out its droppings- this large, living creature will require constant and messy maintenance.  If all you're looking at is the trouble you'll put yourself through, it's better <I>not </I>to have an ox.</div> <div>     That's when another question has to be asked:  how much <I>gain </I>do I make by the ox?  There's a lot more plowing, stump-pulling, and carrying in carts that I can do <I>with </I>my ox.  His strength is multiplied times more than mine.  There are some things I simply <I>couldn't</I> do without my ox.  Are those tasks ones I'm able or willing to forego?</div> <div>     In this particular case, the advantage of the ox is going to outweigh the disadvantages of its upkeep.  In fact, sensible people almost overlook the mess and sweat of ox maintenance when they think of all the work that ol' Sally does.  They might even smile as they cart out a wheelbarrow of smelly manure, "Sally, you're a big mess-maker, but what would I do without you, ol' gal?"</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon gives us a dilemma that's ultimately easy to solve in order to put the principle before us:  the benefits of an <I>asset </I>usually offset the trouble expended in their <I>upkeep</I>.  Cars are a good example for us today.  Almost no one is willing to give up on cars altogether, even if he curses them when they break down and are expensive to fix.  Ultimately, the time and difficulty of traveling by foot makes the upkeep of the car well worth it.</div> <bR> <div>     So there are many factors in life where we must weigh <I>upkeep </I>with ultimate <I>advantages</I>.  Many people decide at an early age not to have children.  Look at the trouble and potential heartache.  Just a few years down the line, though, and they would give nearly anything to turn back the hands of time.  They see children who turned out alright, nearly the justification of their parents' existence now.  Not all matters should be decided by headaches incurred.</div> <div>     Same with marriage.  The commitment is overwhelming, in many ways 'life-threatening'- my personality will have to be molded to my new role as provider or housekeeper.  I'm <I>losing </I>much.  But the <I>gain </I>is incomparable.  Solomon uses a big example, an oxen; big mess, big strength.  So with marriage.  Almost no greater 'mess' in my personal universe.  But nothing else completes us as marriage does.  Whenever marriage only seems to be one big manure-moving project, remember that the benefits are deep-seated, ingrained to the point of subtlety.</div> <bR> <div>     Of course, Christianity is the best example.  I have to give up <I>everything </I>to follow Christ:  that's what He said.  But in so doing, I'm actually <I>gaining </I>my soul.  That's worth it.  I'll have many opportunities to regret my decision, wish I could go back and follow my own desires; but however much sanity I've gained will quickly remind me that the old path is simply not worth it:  the temporary gratifications for the lies, the selfishness they cost.</div> <bR> <div>     Take stock.  The biggest, messiest things in your life, the things that give you the most grief- aren't they ultimately well worth it?  What, then, should become of our complaining and dissatisfied wishing?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_9"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="364" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:5</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> A faithful witness will not lie, </div> <div> but a false witness breathes lies.<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The trusty witness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The false witness</div> <bR> <div> Their Identifiers:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will not lie</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Breathes lies</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon and the Ten Commandments.</div> <div>     This is Solomon's third treatise on the ninth commandment.  The first was in Prov. 6:19.  The second was in 12:17.  Solomon seems to be particularly concerned to communicate the subtleties of the ninth commandment.  </div> <div>     The ninth commandment is the only one that seems to force us to say that men broke a command when they did <I>good</I>, such as when the Hebrew midwives gave misinformation in their saving of Hebrew infants (Exodus 1).  </div> <div>     Whereas, it seems fairly obvious, for example, that there are certain kinds of killing, such as killing a murderer, that don't break the sixth commandment, yet it remains largely a mystery to the Church how someone can 'tell a lie' and yet not break the ninth commandment.  The usual answer given is that they <I>don't</I> avoid breaking it.  The Hebrew midwives merely performed a <I>less unacceptable</I> form of lying, if prevailing wisdom is correct.</div> <div>     This inconsistent approach and the confusion that results from it are exactly what Solomon is seeking to address by using the phrase "false witness" seven times in Proverbs.  He's letting us know that he is systematically analyzing this doctrinal area, without which we cannot have thorough wisdom nor walk in consistent righteousness.</div> <div>     Our present proverb adds this critical bit of information to the true interpretation of the ninth commandment:  Lying is a <I>subcategory </I>of False Witness.  This is crucial because it means that Lying cannot be understood without understanding False Witness.  It also means that once False Witness is understood, the definition of Lying must flow from it.</div> <div>     Here is perhaps the reason that so much confusion exists on this subject.  It is that we come to Scriptures with a readymade definition of Lying.  We come to Scriptures assuming that Lying includes all <I>misinformation </I>deliberately given, or given with the intent to mislead.  </div> <div>     In fact, this definition <I>cannot </I>be correct.  To verify this, let us 'fast forward' to the next statement Solomon makes on the ninth commandment:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 14:25</B></I></FONT><B>  A </B><B><U>true witness</U></B><B> delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon advances the definition of False Witness considerably when he gives its <I>opposite</I>.  Now we know one thing we must <I>exclude </I>from the definition of False Witness:  a false witness is <I>not </I>a person who <I>delivers souls</I>, that is, saves lives.  Do you suppose Solomon had at least two cases specifically in mind- the cases of the Hebrew midwives and the case of Rahab the harlot?  It certainly seems so.  In any case, their actions come directly under this heading.  They are specifically defined as <I>true witnesses </I>by their saving of innocent lives.  Therefore, it would seem impossible to call them <I>false witnesses</I>.</div> <div>     Hereby Solomon directly confronts any unBiblical notions we may have brought to our definition of Lying.  If we assumed that Lying had to include all intentional misinformation, we were wrong.  God, who gave the ninth commandment, apparently included certain forms of misinformation as an 'exception clause' to it, just as in killing (executing) a murderer.  </div> <div>     Seeking a little clearer definition of the ninth commandment, then, with our new factor, we might say that False Witness is any intentional misinformation <I>other than</I> misinformation which delivers innocent parties from harm.  We might even be able to generalize further and say that False Witness is any intentional misinformation <I>tending to unrighteousness</I>.  But at least the 'harm to innocent parties' clause seems solidly included by Prov. 14:25.  </div> <div>     Therefore, if someone gives misinformation which keeps innocent parties from harm, he is not bearing false witness.  Also, by today's proverb, if he is not bearing false witness, neither is he <I>lying</I>.  Therefore, the Hebrew midwives did not lie.  So also, neither did Rahab the harlot lie nor bear false witness. </div> <div>     Who would've known that we would've come away from today's seemingly simple proverb with a new, startling, and probably unacceptable definition of Lying?  Unacceptable, that is, to those who feel that it is mere trickiness or avoidance of a difficulty to define things so.  Yet what is really so unusual in approaching a definition this way?  It is only that we had not keyed in on Solomon's unique contribution to the subject previously that kept us from it.</div> <div>     In a way, all our 'new' (if true, then not really new, of course) definition of Lying is doing is honoring the <I>order </I>of the Ten Commandments.  It is saying that Life (6th commandment) has priority over Marriage- the joining of two lives (7th commandment), which has priority over Property (8th commandment), which has priority over Reputation (9th commandment).  If innocent <I>life </I>is threatened by a certain kind of <I>witness </I>borne, then that witness must be automatically <I>false</I>.  The midwives would have been false witnesses if their speech had endangered the babies, no matter whether they gave 'accurate' information.  </div> <div>     Part of our difficulty in understanding this may be in two different connotations of  "false."  We tend to think of 'false' almost exclusively in terms of information.  In subordinating the ninth commandment to the sixth, we bring out the meaning that 'false' is <I>anything </I>that tears the fabric of a 'true' definition, including the definition of murder.  So murder becomes a <I>falsehood</I>, in addition to other wrong things it is.  If the falsehood murder has occurred, any information aiding it was thereby false.</div> <div>      So, in order to apply this proverb, must we go out and give some <I>truthful misinformation</I> right away?  </div> <div>     In fact, we may never be put in such a situation our whole lives.  Where people's lives are not on the line, we will never need to give life-saving misinformation.  However, if we did, we can be assured that it would be giving <I>true witness</I>, and God would <I>not </I>see it as <I>false witness</I>  or a <I>lie </I>in any sense.  </div> <bR> <div>    This all tells us how tightly woven God's tapestry of Truth is.  We must be very careful only to think the truth and speak the truth.  We must fear thinking, telling, or living a lie in any way.  It is so easy for us to do.  Solomon teaches us on the ninth commandment to strengthen our fear of lying, not to soften it.</div> <bR> <div>     In terms of the Gospel and evangelism, the chief lie is man's righteousness.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_10"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="498" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:6</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> A mocker searches out wisdom, and there is none, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >but knowledge </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century" >easy to the discerning. </FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The mocker</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The discerning</div> <bR> <div> Their Attributes:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Searches out wisdom in vain</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Knowledge is a snap to him</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This verse looks at reprobation from the naturalistic side.  Proverbs 1 looked at it from the Divine side:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 1:20, 22, 24 - 26</B></I></FONT><B>   Wisdom cries outside; she utters her voice in the streets;  How long will you love simplicity, simple ones? And will </B><B><U>mockers</U></B><B> delight in their scorning? And will fools hate knowledge?  </B><B><U>Because I called, and you refused</U></B><B>; I stretched out my hand, and no one paid attention; but you have despised all my advice, and would have none of my warning.  I also will laugh at your trouble; </B><B><U>I will mock</U></B><B> when your fear comes </B></div> <bR> <div>     God makes a choice.  Guided by His righteousness, He deems certain people unfit for help because of their previous despite of Him.</div> <div>     But it is equally true to say that these people would find wisdom unattainable on their own.</div> <div>     It's like the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.  God said <I>He </I>would harden Pharaoh's heart.  Then when the act itself arrived, it says that Pharaoh hardened his <I>own </I>heart.  Obviously, Pharaoh did not harden his own heart <I>in place of</I> God.  This phrasing of the issue (repeated several times in Exodus) shows that God simply used the spiritual resistance <I>already in</I> Pharaoh to activate his unrepentance.  But God <I>had </I>'bolted the door shut' on Pharaoh in such a way that He <I>did </I>take direct responsibility for the act.  </div> <div>     Interestingly, many Christians feel the necessity to get God off the hook for this.  God, on the other hand, seems not the least bit embarrassed by it.  If we can't see how He can be perfectly righteous <I>and </I>harden someone's heart, the resolution is not to doctor the facts.  Just remember that God is not changing a man's heart when He hardens it; He is merely 'holding' the man in the state of his own choosing.  And what is this 'holding' but a <I>with</I>holding of His softening grace?  Just as death is a point when man's choices become permanent, so hardening of the heart is such a point.  Even then, if the person wanted to do right, he would be totally free to do so.  It's just that he has no such desire.  </div> <div>     Anyway, our proverb looks at the withholding of grace from the human side- the man hardening his own heart, so to speak.  <I>Because </I>he is a mocker, he will find wisdom unattainable.  His spirit, tuned to disrespect, will simply be unable to tune in to its opposite.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Jam 3:17</B></I></FONT><B>   But the wisdom that is from above is first truly pure</B><B> </B></div> <bR> <div>     Wisdom is not to be had simply for the wishing.  Wisdom is not merely a commodity; wisdom is a renovation.  Wisdom is not a space heater, it is central heating and air.  The mocker has his attic filled with the paraphernalia of irreverence; he has no room for the ductwork to channel wisdom into his soul.</div> <div>     For this same reason, wisdom and knowledge are 'a snap' (Hebrew, "light") to the discerning man.  He has already figured out that he is not the center of the universe, for instance.  He has acquired all the basic knowledge that runs new wiring throughout his house (to change analogies).  Now, all that ground-laying work has its payoff.  At the 'flip of a switch'- light!</div> <div>     Here is an interesting principle.  However well you have laid your <I>groundwork</I>, that is how easy the discovery of certain knowledge is.  The whole starting point for this, of course, is that God has actually given attainable knowledge.  Unfortunately, in today's retreat from sense, the 'reverent' position is that we can't understand much/ a lot  of what God has said:  He apparently designed it that way.  </div> <div>     Yes, rather than suspect the thoroughness of my own wiring renovation, I'll lay the blame for my puzzlement at God's feet.  We trust our instincts so highly that when something seems unjust or contradictory in Scriptures, we simply conclude that there is some higher logic- way, way up there- beyond the clouds, beyond space ...  How could we be expected to figure <I>that </I>out?  And this actually gives our laziness a tone of reverence.  Clever!  It actually makes our assertion that God is powerless to communicate sensibly seem an act of praising Him!  Genius!  We <I>do </I>deserve a place at His right hand or His left (More likely, we'll be in the <I>altogether </I>left-hand group:  the goats!).</div> <bR> <div>     So what did Peter mean when he said:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>2 Pet 3:15, 16</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  ... as our beloved brother Paul also has written ... in which are some things hard to be understood </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Was Peter admitting that he didn't have adequate foundational knowledge to follow some of Paul's entailed logic?  No, he's saying that Paul's unique writings require a kind of on-the-job-training for his particular <I>packaging </I>of the knowledge.  The discerning man is actually gaining the wisdom to properly analyze Paul <I>by </I>studying Paul thoroughly.  And apparently Peter had had success in the effort.  Notice that he did not say that Paul was <I>impossible </I>to understand, merely difficult- a difficulty, by the way, not imposed by 'Mr. Over-Complicated Paul', but a difficulty arising from the complicated subject matter Paul is presenting (chosen by God).</div> <bR> <div>     So, do you have the background to make the discovery of knowledge easy?  This would be Biblical knowledge and <I>knowledge in general</I>.  The same mental processes that open Scripture to us open any of God's other works.  </div> <div>     Most of us find that we have definite limitations in our knowledge-acquiring abilities.  Also, understanding in <I>one </I>area does not actually translate into understanding in <I>another</I>.  This indicates that we are not acquainted with the <I>underlying principles</I> that give us expertise in a certain area.  It also tells us that our expertise is not so extensive as we might have thought.</div> <bR> <div>     Scriptural knowledge is the most important.  Nothing less than a grasp of the <I>whole Bible</I> is necessary to facilitate good Bible understanding.  Thank God for men who devote themselves to this search and for those from the past who have left us their writings.  </div> <div>     We have fallen into the <I>opposite </I>error of the Pharisees, who mostly quoted older rabbis' writings.  We feel quite adequate to quote <I>our contemporaries </I>and <I>leave off</I> with those who have studied more thoroughly and successfully.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_11"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="492" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFF99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:7</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> Go from interaction with a dull-witted man, </div> <div> And you will not have experienced lips of knowledge.</div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Wording of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >There are several possible renderings of this verse.  Here are a couple more.</FONT></div> <div> 2)  "Go from before a dim-witted man, or you will not know the lips of insight."</div> <div> 3)  "Go from before a stupid man when you do not see <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Century Gothic" ><I>in him</I></FONT> the lips of knowledge."</div> <div> <B>    </B>Of course, God only means one of them, unless He is communicating two things by double entendre. </div> <div>     There would be an easier way to express the third option, so it is a less likely choice.  </div> <div>     The multi-purpose Hebrew joining word is translated "or" in the second option; it is usually a conjunction or disjunction. "Or" would also have been communicated better by another word or phrase, and thus seems less likely.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Defined:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The dull-witted man</div> <bR> <div> His Identifier:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Leave an interview with him and you will not have encountered knowledgeable lips</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is telling us here how very completely foolishness affects the soul of a fool.  He uses the word for fool that comes from a root word meaning "fat".  </div> <div>     Solomon has given us some pretty definite markers for identifying this kind of fool.  So far, we have seen that he is someone who slanders others, and who approaches doing harm to others as a kind of game (10:18, 23).  Two other proverbs tell how eager the dullard is to reveal his lack of sense (12:23, 13:16), and another how impossible it is for him to change himself (13:19).</div> <div>     Solomon is now reaffirming the dullard's complete immersion in his spiritual stupidity.  When you have spent time with him, you will reflect back on what he said and you will realize that, though he has human intelligence, the use of language, and the ability to comprehend abstract concepts, yet he is really devoid of any real spiritual sense.  Whatever Biblical concepts he may be able to parrot or interact with, he has no spiritual root of comprehension within himself.  He may even possess a facet of personality that is deeply affected by religious matters, but Solomon warns us that he will also bear signs of the lightness of impression they make on his total pattern of life.</div> <div>     This is insight Christians need.  We are super-quick to render the verdict, "All I know about him is that he loves the Lord," as though we were doing someone a favor to approve of the religious cloak he pulls over himself.  </div> <div>     Solomon is telling us we should be more careful in our evaluations.  Think about your conversation with such a person.  Was there any real depth of spiritual understanding?  Or was he just spouting popular Christian maxims and sentiments?</div> <div>     Remember, being excited about his topic is not a true test.  The spiritual dullard distinguishes himself by how much he loves to share what he knows.  Solomon is really telling us that if we have determined by <I>other </I>tests that this man is a flake, that we will be able to review personal interaction with him and <I>reaffirm </I>this conclusion.  You may be quite taken with his enthusiasm when you are actually talking with him, but 'go from his presence and you will perceive that the lips of knowledge were missing.'</div> <bR> <div>     Of course, one dullard is not going to be able to properly evaluate another.  The Church has a tendency to manufacture dull-witted 'saints'.  We withhold knowledge and then tell the flock that they have great wisdom.  We present a gospel that 'saves' men, but somehow leaves them in the unbreakable grip of various vices.</div> <div>     If the Church becomes a home to wisdom again, we may be able to detect again those who walk <I>against </I>what is wise.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_12"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="485" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:8</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The wisdom of the insightful is to analyze his way, </div> <div> But the foolishness of the undiscerning is deceit. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>   <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >"Analyze" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to separate mentally".</FONT></div> <div>    The "undiscerning" is our dull-witted from the previous verse.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The discerning</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The dullard</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His wisdom is to analyze his path</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His folly is deceit</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Here is a proverb commending self-analysis.  It is good to be introspective.  It is important for us to realize this, because it is not the American way.  In fact, America is so infatuated with being practical, the analytical person is considered psychologically off-center.</div> <div>     Let us first be clear, though, that we are not merely talking about someone who just thinks and analyzes.  We are talking about someone who analyzes <I>himself</I>.  The spiritually sharp person is that way because he knows <I>himself </I>so well.  By knowing himself, his own weaknesses, he is humbled.  As a humble man, he sees and treats others with compassion.</div> <div>     Exactly how well can a person know himself?  </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Jer 17:9</B></I></FONT><B>  The heart </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> deceitful above all things, and it is incurable; </B><B><U>who can know it</U></B><B>? </B></div> <bR> <div>     The exact twists and turns that our sin takes to achieve its crooked ends are rather unpredictable.  Does this mean that sin has the upper hand?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 7:15</B></I></FONT><B>  For that which I do, </B><B><U>I know not</U></B><B>. For what I desire, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do. </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 7:24, 25</B></I></FONT><B>  O wretched man </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>that</B></I></FONT><B> I </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>am</B></I></FONT><B>! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then with the mind </B><B><U>I myself serve the Law of God</U></B><B>, but with the flesh the law of sin. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Sin does not have the upper hand in the sense that we are simply its victims to do as it pleases.  Sin can be absolutely denied in that what I actually say and practice can be subjected to God's Law.</div> <div>     Sin, however, cannot be utterly stamped out until our glorification.  Until then, it is a law at work in me, but one to which I only directly submit by conscious choice.  Otherwise it is still a tainting influence, reminding me of who I was, and who I certainly would now return to being except for God's sanctifying grace.</div> <div>     This is all very necessary knowledge for our proverb.  The discerning person engages in the same kind of introspection quoted just above.  Such analysis will make him pray like the Psalmist:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Psa 19:12, 13</B></I></FONT><B>  </B><B><U>Who can understand</U></B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>his</B></I></FONT><B> errors? Oh make me pure from secret </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>faults</B></I></FONT><B>; and </B><B><U>keep</U></B><B> Your servant </B><B><U>back</U></B><B> from presumptuous </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>sins</B></I></FONT><B>; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be upright, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. </B></div> <div>     </div> <div>     The discerning person is not so by some trick or formula.  He can only be wise by the hard art of self-inspection- the nasty work of looking at his inner warts and taking credit for them.</div> <div>     The spiritual dullard wants to preserve a good self-image at all costs.  It doesn't help that this is the world's and the Church's advice to him also.  So he avoids any real self-confrontation.  Rather than look at what he really is, then, he has to make up some other story.  This, as our proverb says, is deceit.</div> <bR> <div>     So maybe those people we always made fun of for 'meditating on their navel' actually had it right.  Maybe we were threatened by them because of how terrifying the prospect is of seeing <I>our </I>true selves.  Maybe that's why the introspective person seems a bit gloomy.  There are some not-so-nice things down in human soul land.  </div> <div>     But how can they be dealt with without inspection?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Psa 139:23, 24</B></I></FONT><B>  </B><B><U>Search me</U></B><B>, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts,  </B><B><U>and see</U></B><B> if </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>any</B></I></FONT><B> </B><B><U>wicked</U></B><B> way </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> </B><B><U>in me</U></B><B>; and lead me in the way everlasting. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Again, with this starting point, we, as Paul in Rom. 7:25 above, can submit our pattern of thinking to the blueprint of God's instructions.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_13"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="412" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:9</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The trespass-offering mocks fools; </div> <div> But among the upright there is favor. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" > "Trespass offering" is from a Hebrew word meaning "guilt".  It is also translated "guilt offering", and "reparation offering".  It is the word used throughout Leviticus for this offering.</FONT></div> <div>    The word "favor" also appears in Leviticus as God's response to an acceptable offering.</div> <div>     The above translation is the simplest and best, though most versions and commentators choose less grammatical renderings (Hebrew-wise), because they can't see the sense of the straightforward one.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Analysis of the Verse</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Fools</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The upright</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Reparation Offering mocks them</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">There is favor among them.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     It seems a little surprising that Solomon would take us into a lesson based on one of the five basic sacrifices for sin in Leviticus.  In fact, this is not too far beyond his recent lesson on the ninth commandment (false witness).  Both are lessons from the Law, upon which David and Solomon based their meditations.  Solomon realized that God gave the ceremonial law as a kind of picture book, illustrating spiritual realities in the earthly realm.  Solomon was also writing in a society where the Reparation Offering occurred daily and meant something quite relevant to his audience.</div> <div>     To bring us up to speed, what was the Reparation Offering all about?  Its occasion is laid out in Leviticus 5:1 - 4, 15 , and 6:1 - 3.  The sins for which the Reparation Offering were required were:  </div> <div> 1) testimony withheld by a witness; 2) touching a ceremonially unclean object and only realizing it later;  3) making a thoughtless oath only to realize it later;  4) touching holy objects when not sanctified;  5) lying that aided a neighbor's loss.  The Reparation Offering was an animal sacrificed to atone for these sins, sometimes with a money value added  for loss incurred.</div> <div>     According to Solomon, the Reparation Offering for these sins "mocked" the fool.  That is, the offering 'laughed at' the fool <I>making </I>the offering, because he did not truly repair damage done by his thoughtlessness.  He trusted in the <I>offering </I>to repair the damage, but saw no real breach in the human-to-human relations he had affected- nothing he had to make right <I>personally </I>with those affected.  Solomon is saying that the offering <I>alone </I>without a heart desiring restoration of wrongs was <I>worthless</I>.</div> <div>     This is why the second half of the verse contrasts the fool to the upright man who <I>does </I>have repaired relations with others.  There is favor among upright men, because whenever they offend another, they are truly sorry for it.  Their souls go out in appeal to offended parties, seeking forgiveness and restoration.  They do not rest until they are in favor with their neighbor again.  When this kind of person made a Reparation Offering, it didn't 'laugh at him', it <I>smiled </I>upon him ("favor""), saying, in effect, "This is what I am about; not a mere ceremony, but a reflection of a repentant heart."</div> <div>     Interestingly, it is only "among the upright" that this relationship exists.  This is because the fool not only fails to see the harm he has done to others, he also refuses to forgive wrongs committed against himself.  He does not walk in company with forgiving folk.  His perception of sin is twisted all the way around.</div> <bR> <div>     Now what is the application in our day, since we do not offer animal sacrifices?  </div> <div>     All the offerings for sin have their ultimate fulfillment in Christ's sacrifice.  The Reparation Offering is <I>specified </I>of Christ in prophecy:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Isa 53:10</B></I></FONT><B>  Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>that</B></I></FONT><B> He should put forth His soul as a </B><B><U>guilt-offering</U></B><B>. He shall see </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>His</B></I></FONT><B> seed, He shall prolong </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>His</B></I></FONT><B> days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand. </B></div> <bR> <div>     The Guilt Offering is our same Hebrew word for Trespass/ Reparation  Offering.</div> <div>     Here's one big question, then:  Are we prepared to say that Christ's sacrifice actually <I>mocks </I>people?  Does His sacrifice 'laugh at' the insincere worshiper, as the Old Covenant sacrifice did?</div> <div>     Actually, Christ, as REAL Reparation Offering, would laugh even <I>harder </I>at someone who treated Him as unreal.  Someone who just seeks to 'use' Christ as a doormat with which to wipe off their sinful shoes will find that Christ's sacrifice not only mocks them, it is very <I>angry </I>with them:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Heb 10:29</B></I></FONT><I><B>  </B></I><B> Of how much </B><B><U>worse punishment</U></B><B>, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy of punishment, the </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>one</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B>who has trampled the Son of God, and who has </B><B><U>counted the blood of the covenant</U></B><B> with which he was sanctified an </B><B><U>unholy</U></B><B> thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? </B></div> <bR> <div>     Doesn't sound like the usual tale we hear spun out of the Cross today, does it?  We've taken the Cross as a token of God <I>backing off</I> from a serious approach to sinners.  Now He's using a soft touch.  "Come on!  Here's your free ticket to Heaven!  Won't you take it?  Please, please, pretty please?"  </div> <div>     Not to say that God doesn't make a sincere and heartfelt offer of the gospel, but the <I>other side</I> of the equation is what we've terribly mistaken.  What happens when we <I>refuse</I>?  But there <I>is no further equation</I> for us; it's all sentiment.  But Biblically, there <I>is </I>a serious side of the equation that is just as deeply <B>serious </B>as the sympathetic side is <B>sympathetic</B>.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 Cor 11:29, 30</B></I></FONT><B>  For he who eats and drinks [Communion] unworthily eats and drinks </B><B><U>condemnation</U></B><B> to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.  For this cause many among you </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B> weak and sickly, and many </B><B><U>sleep</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Many of the Corinthians had actually died (= "sleep") from taking the Lord's Supper with a wrong spirit.  In the Old Covenant, we have the occasional priest immediately dying for improper approach to Tabernacle/ Temple service, but in the New Covenant, <I>regular church members</I> are sick and dying for a selfish approach to Communion.</div> <div>     What does this say about whole denominations that have defiled communion by false teaching/ practice?  Some denominations died spiritually <I>long ago</I>.  They have been cut off from the covenant perhaps generations or even centuries ago, and now the last echo of  "Anathema" spoken to their forefathers says all that will be said to <I>them </I>until Judgment Day.</div> <bR> <div>     How do <I>you </I>approach the sacrifice of Christ?  Are you smitten in conscience because of your sin?  Or is it just 'Christ's job' to forgive you?</div> <div>     Particularly we are warned about damaged human relations in our bringing of Christ's offering before the Father, just as in our proverb:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Matt 5:23, 24</B></I></FONT><B>   Therefore if you offer your gift on the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, </B><B><U>leave your gift there before the altar</U></B><B> and go. </B><B><U>First be reconciled</U></B><B> to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. </B></div> <bR> <div>     The effect of Christ's forgiveness is a forgiving heart.  Until that is manifested, God says He is not interested in our worship.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_14"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="412" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:10</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The heart knows the bitterness of its soul, </div> <div> and a stranger does not mix in its joy. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Our heart's knowledge of our soul's own <B>bitterness</B></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Our heart's knowledge of our soul's own <B>joy</B></div> <bR> <div> Their  Two Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It is a unique knowledge</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">No one else can completely identify with it</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is a potentially dangerous verse in our day, since Satan has so successfully isolated us from one another in so many harmful ways.  However, this verse is therefore also an <I>antidote </I>to this confusion.  On the surface it seems to corroborate the common folly that every man is an island and that we cannot really know anything about anyone else.  This belief goes to a further and more dangerous extreme in Christianity, claiming that we cannot know <I>God </I>in any real sense either.  Satan has worked a powerful spell that has truly stopped many dead in their tracks from any attempts to attain real knowledge of God.  This verse, again, does not support this untruth.</div> <div>     What this verse is saying is this:  that as creatures made in God's image, we each have a nearly infinite inner world made up of the interaction between our own souls and all the experiences of our lives.  There is too much 'raw data'- our feelings, thoughts, conscience, etc. (i.e., our souls)- and too much 'input data'- life experience interacting with our souls- for any other person to hope to take it all into account in coming to know us.</div> <div>     The important question is this, though:  Does this 'isolation' mean that no one can make an accurate statement about me?  Does it even mean that someone cannot know me better than I know myself?  The answer to both of these questions is no.  Armed with only general truths, <I>you </I>can make perfectly accurate statements about <I>me</I>.  "You are a sinner," you might say to me.  You would be 100% accurate.  Furthermore, if you told me I was a sinner and I disagreed, you would know one of the most important thing about me <I>better </I>than I knew it myself.</div> <div>     So Solomon's purpose is not to put us each in shielded, isolated universes of our own.  He would not even be writing proverbs if he believed us unreachable by one another.</div> <bR> <div>     Just <I>two </I>verses earlier, Solomon told us that the wise man discerns his own way, but the fool has a deceptive picture of himself.  Solomon seemed to have keyed in on man's self-deception in the <I>last </I>proverb by telling us that fools make insincere offerings to God to repair damaged relations with other men.  The upright, on the other hand, walk in favor with one another.  Now Solomon is further delineating this fellowship of the upright and fellowship in general.  By pointing out the <I>limitations </I>of human fellowship, Solomon is forcing us back to the third party in the Reparation Offering- God.  God is the one who defines us as sinners <I>and </I>takes us out of its deception.  The ultimate purpose, even of the Reparation Offering, is not to mend human relationships, but our relationship with <I>God</I>.  <I>He </I>is the one who commanded, "Do no wrong to your neighbor."  Therefore, even a wrong against a neighbor is primarily a wrong against <I>God</I>.  </div> <div>     This seems to be Solomon's real point then.  Whereas we can only know and identify with <I>one another</I> imperfectly, <I>God </I>can identify with us both personally and infinitely.  Though our relations with our fellow men are bound on us by God and are perfectly accurate indicators of our spiritual condition, yet they are not the ultimate end of our existence.  Having been made right with our fellow men, we are not thereby made right.  Solomon is teaching us that it would be foolish to try to make man our "end-all."  God is the One with whom we have to do.</div> <div>     This may be our proverb so far which most depends on the preceding context for a correct interpretation.</div> <bR> <div>     There <I>is </I>an isolation that is automatic between two finite creatures.  There is also an isolation of accountability laid on us by God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Gal 6:4, 5</B><B> </B></FONT><B>  But let each one prove his own work, and then he alone will have a boast in himself, and not in another.  For </B><B><U>each</U></B><B> one</B><B> will </B><B><U>bear</U></B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>his</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B><U>own load</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Despite this 'loneliness' before the throne of God, there is a real, plentiful, and practically limitless fellowship of experience we have with one another:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>1 Cor 2:11</B></FONT><B>  For who among men </B><B><U>knows</U></B><B> the things of a </B><B><U>man</U></B><B> </B><B><U>except</U></B><B> the</B><B><U> </U></B><B><U>spirit</U></B><B> of man</B><B> </B><B><U>within him</U></B><B>?  </B></div> <bR> <div>     Based on this <I>real fellowship</I>, we are admonished:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 12:15</B></I></FONT><B>   </B><B><U>Rejoice with</U></B><B> those who rejoice. </B><B><U>Weep with</U></B><B> those who weep. </B></div> <bR> <div>     If there were not a real fellowship of experience between us, this would be an exercise in hypocrisy.  There obviously is a true sense in which we can know one another.</div> <bR> <div>     So there is a 'loneliness' of personality that drives us to find comfort in the only <I>One </I>who really knows us.  Springing from this comfort of being <I>known</I>, we enter more fully into the general fellowship of <I>men</I>, whom God says are ultimately only what <I>we </I>are, but in a different 'mix' of personality and experience proportions.</div> <div>     Furthermore, a specific warning of our proverb is this:  There is an utter aloneness of each individual human before God's Judgment.  We cannot measure ourselves relative to one another in determining our standing with God.  How we treat one another IS a definite indicator of who we are, but whether we have bowed to God's charge therein, fully accepting our <I>sin </I>and His Remedy, is a matter requiring as much comprehension of ourselves as we can possibly search out.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_15"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="445" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#33CCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:11</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The house of the wicked shall be desolated, </div> <div> but the tent of the upright shall blossom. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The house of the immoral</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The tent of the upright</div> <bR> <div> Their Outcomes:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Becomes desolate</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Breaks forth with buds</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     All our rewards do not wait for heaven.  There is certainly ample Scriptural evidence for earthly rewards for good and bad people.  Our afterlife rewards are more complete, but the rewards God gives here are undeniable.</div> <div>     God's blessings also run broader than individuals.  Whole households are blessed or cursed based on the behavior of their heads, or even of lesser individuals in the household.</div> <div>     Where these two truths are believed, men pay attention to their actions and attitudes.  The fear of God cannot be taken lightly by a man who knows that his deeds call forth a definite and lasting response from God.  Sometimes his faith may run low enough that this knowledge of God's just remuneration is all he can tell is keeping him in line.  But this same knowledge is always somewhere in the peripheral vision of a godly man.</div> <div>     A man, in measuring his morality by the straight rule of God's Word, calls blessing upon his whole household.  Even if all he has is a tent, as in our proverb, it will bud like a tree in spring.  Life will issue forth from his household.  God promises him both faithful children and wife.  The simple blessings of family life will be theirs, where the tenets of godliness can be modeled and passed on.</div> <div>     These simple blessings are not to be taken for granted.  They certainly are not taken for granted by the foolish man in his later years.  He finds that his rule of selfishness was well copied and enhanced by his progeny.  He had visions of all things serving his ego.  But his children caught on to the service of ego and then some.  Arguments over straying children put pressure on the marriage.  These families are fortunate to end up with anything.  There is certainly nothing of value left.  They are "desolate".</div> <div>     Fortunately for many families, God has put a parenting instinct in us that overcomes much of our natural selfishness.  Many otherwise ungodly men learn to act rather unselfishly for the sake of their families.  Their families are to that degree blessed.</div> <div>     Similarly, households where Scripture is the rule can be turned aside by disobedience, even in the form of deficient leadership skills.</div> <div>     So we might chart these tendencies thus:</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="723" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 66 ><NOBR><div> More </div> <div> desolate </div> <div> house</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="95"><bR> <div>        <<<</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="98"><div> Selfishness as the rule</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="98"><bR> <div> h</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="94"><div> Scripture </div> <div> as the rule</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><bR> <div>        >>></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="106"><div> More  blossoming house                                                  </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div>  </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div>     There is another Scripture in which the Hebrew for both "desolated" and "blossoming" are found:</div> <bR> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Ps 92:7 </B></I></FONT><B>  When the wicked spring up like grass, and when all the workers of iniquity </B><B><U>flourish</U></B><B>, it is that they may be </B><B><U>destroyed</U></B><B> forever. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Those households that are consistently unScriptural and seem to be doing well- the blessings will not last.  For a while they seem to have a <I>house </I>where the godly have only a <I>tent</I>.  Immorality will eventually wear down any reserve of benefits the ungodly has garnered from various quarters, and the prophecy of our proverb will come true.  Desolation will come home to roost.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you a husband?  Can you afford to indulge your selfishness or lack of leadership where your family is at stake?</div> <div>     Are you a wife?  Do you realize the critical factor you are in the family and the power God has given you to change things for the better?  (1 Peter 3:1 - 6)</div> <div>     Are you a child in a family?  Are you aware of the blessings of long life held out to you for your obedient honoring of your parents?  Of either the happiness or sorrow you bring your parents by your attitude and behavior?</div> <bR> <div>     God is good to His promises to all members of families.  Wise ones know that it is unwise to test the boundaries <I>outside </I>His blessings.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_16"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="412" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66CCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:12</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> There is a way that seems right to a man, </div> <div> but the end of it <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>is</I> </FONT>the ways of death. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >The Hebrew word for "right" means "straight," "level".  It is the same word for the "upright" in the previous verse.  </FONT></div> <div>     The first half of the verse could also be translated, "There is a way that <B>is </B>upright to a man."</div> <div>     Another literal phrasing is "... a way that seems right to <B>the face of </B>a man."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A man's present course</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The "future" of it</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is judged by himself as upright </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The paths of death</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is one of the great verses of Proverbs.  It may be because it speaks so directly to the spirit of our age, but it certainly speaks to the human spirit in every age.  </div> <div>     At the Fall, man took on a radically different nature from the one he was given at Creation.  God described the change in man as Death.  Man was separated from God.  Now where was man going to get his sense of justice from?  By being separated from God, we naturally choose a standard for right and wrong apart from Him.  It is now part of our nature to judge an <I>inaccurate </I>standard as <I>suitable</I>.  We may not judge just any wrong standard as acceptable, but our separation from God definitely keeps us from judging <I>His </I>standard as right.</div> <div>     There is a whole spiritual wilderness full of the godless paths man takes.  Our proverb would call them the "paths of death."  Many of these paths may look very different from one another.  Many of them are even <I>opposed </I>to one another.  Some of them were created as correctives for other paths in the same wilderness.  But <I>all </I>of them are within the territory of spiritual Death- separation from God, and <I>all </I>of them have their ending point at the terminus of the wilderness and the beginning of the Second Death- the Lake of Fire.</div> <div>     How do men get on these paths?  Why do they stay on them?  Our proverb says it is because the paths 'seem right' to the men.  It is because, in the judgment of each of the millions on these roads, the road he has chosen is not only acceptable, but <I>upright</I>.  Some men's judgments will change throughout life, and a different path may seem better, but he will always choose another path in the spiritual wilderness, and one he judges to be more upright.</div> <div>     How does a man get <I>off </I>the road of Death he is on?  Obviously, he will have to see two things:  1) his own path for what it is, and  2)  God's path as the only true corrective.  But according to our proverb, man will never see this.  His own judgment is already disposed <I>against </I>the truth and <I>for </I>lies.  Even a temporary, 'accidental' excursion onto God's path might come about, but once the man realized where he was, our proverb tells us that he would soon get back on another path of Death.  Of course, this is exactly what happens to many men when they experience <I>temporary conversion</I>  (Parable of the soils, Matthew 13:20 - 22, the rocky soil and the thorny soil).</div> <div>     Since Solomon is talking as a man who <I>has escaped</I> the paths of Death to other men who have escaped, how do they do it?  Whence this ability?  It would have to have been something extra-natural.  In answer, to put it in Proverbs terminology:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 20:12</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  The hearing ear and the seeing eye, Jehovah has even made both of them. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     How does a man see the path of Death for what it is?  God opens his <I>eyes</I>.  How does he finally understand God's path as the path of Life?  God opens his <I>ears </I>so He can finally hear the truth of the matter.  There is no other way.  Christian theologies that give man the ability to see the true and false paths on his own are certainly at odds with these very basic tenets- man's natural view and the view only God can grant him.</div> <div>     What power do you and I have as escapees to bring other men out of the spiritual wilderness?  Of course, you and I have no such power on our own.  We can only be conveyers of God's power by being conveyers of His Word:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 Cor 3:6, 7</B></I></FONT><B>   I have planted, Apollos watered, but </B><B><U>God gave the increase</U></B><B>.  So then neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Our proverb alerts us to look for a radical change in a truly converted child of God.  He is one who has <I>completely reversed</I> vantage points.  This will result in some large, obvious changes.  </div> <div>     This in one of the dangers of the unBiblical theologies referred to.  They make man capable of coming out of the wilderness on his own, so, naturally, they don't necessarily look for any large change in his thinking or lifestyle.  </div> <bR> <div>     Since we also know that our old nature stays with us, we know that it will <I>always </I>be easy to fall into wrong decisions that seem perfectly OK at the moment.  In fact, we would expect that without particular <I>freeing truths</I> from God's Word, we would naturally <I>stay bound</I> to the errors we are accustomed to.  Each truth of God's Word, you might say, comes in to 'kick out' a corresponding  Death idea from the old wilderness.</div> <bR> <div>     Since man naturally thinks the wrong way is right, we can never grow comfortable with our perceptions/ lifestyle.  There are always erroneous and deadly concepts and habits to be identified and replaced.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_17"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="378" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:13</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> Even in laughter the heart is pained, </div> <div> And the latter end of joy <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>is</I><B> </B></FONT>grief. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >Some versions and commentaries supply "may be" for the understood "to be" verb which is translated "is" in the above version.</FONT></div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Man's true state in laughter</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The "future" of mirth</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pain of heart </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Depression</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This proverb is a good illustration of one of the basic points of Ecclesiastes.  There Solomon says:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B> </B><I><B>Eccl 11:8</B></I></FONT><B>   but if a man lives many years, </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>and</B></I></FONT><B> rejoices in them all; yet let him </B><B><U>remember</U></B><B> the </B><B><U>days of darkness</U></B><B>, for they shall be </B><B><U>many</U></B><B>.  All that comes </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> vanity. </B></div> <bR> <div>     Since sin entered the world, unhappiness is always the backdrop for all earthly existence.  Even since Christ came, the verdict has been the same:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 8:20 - 23</B></I></FONT><B>   And we know that the </B><B><U>whole creation</U></B><B> </B><B><U>groans and travails</U></B><B> </B><B><U>in pain together</U></B><B> </B><B><U>until now</U></B><B>.   And not only </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>so</B></I></FONT><B>, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruit of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body. </B></div> <bR> <div>     We rejoice, but we rejoice <I>in hope</I>, only presently taking possession of redemption <I>in part</I> (we still will die, for instance) and in down payment.</div> <div>     Is this a depressing message or a message of defeat?  As in Ecclesiastes, this message is simply reality, but it is a reality that issues forth in the correct answer to all of life:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Eccl 12:8</B></I></FONT><B>  Vanity of vanities, says the preacher; all </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> vanity. </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B> Eccl 12:13, 14</B></I></FONT><I><B> </B></I><B> Let us hear </B><B><U>the conclusion</U></B><B> of the whole matter. </B><B><U>Fear God</U></B><B>, and </B><B><U>keep His commandments</U></B><B>. For this </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> the whole </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>duty</B></I></FONT><B> of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>it is</B></I></FONT><B> good, or whether evil. </B></div> <bR> <div>     The answer is not to pretend that life is something that it is not.  God has subjected the world to vanity so that we might not trust in it.  God is not embarrassed that the world is a sad place.  It is His doing.  Furthermore, it is in large part a <I>kindness </I>from Him:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 8:20, 21</B></I></FONT><B>  For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of </B><B><U>Him who subjected </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>it</U></B></I></FONT><B> </B><B><U>on hope</U></B><B> that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. </B></div> <div>     </div> <div>     Again, it would be misleading to leave the world a paradise after Sin has entered.  A grief-subjected world is an accurate reflection of what we have purchased by our rebellion and a degree of what awaits our non-repentance.</div> <div>     Therefore, Scriptural commendations of joy are not denials of the world's condition; they are confessions of the <I>new world</I> that has already begun within me.  It is, moreover, an important question how much this new world 'leaks over' into the vanity-subjected world.  Some claim the new world is slowly taking over- that we are, in fact, well on our way to a basically Christian world.  This certainly seems to run against the tenor of the verses we've so far examined.</div> <div>     So I can be joyful- more, I <I>am to be</I> joyful because of the Gospel and the Spirit and His fruit in my life; but none of this changes or denies the present course or nature of the world.  Death reigns.  Life is simply a cycle of deaths.  Death comes daily.  Aging is death by degrees.  We can either try to glorify this as some ridiculous 'circle of life,' or we can see it for what it is and fit all its sadness into its proper context:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Col 1:23, 24</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B>  if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B> not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>and</B></I></FONT><B> which was proclaimed in all the creation under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf, and </B><B><U>I fill up</U></B><B> the </B><B><U>things lacking of</U></B><B> </B><B><U>the afflictions of Christ</U></B><B> </B><B><U>in my flesh</U></B><B>, on behalf of His body, which </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> the church</B></div> <bR> <div>     Jesus was called a "man of sorrows" (Isa. 53:3).  We are to follow Him on this trail.  It is our <I>privilege </I>to follow Him.  </div> <div>     It was Jesus' joy to do the will of the Father.  But He was not Mr. Jolly as some now like to portray Him.  His approach was not to repaint the world by positive thinking.  Jesus' joy was basically in the <I>outcome </I>of all things.  Until that outcome, we operate against a backdrop of vanity and therefore unhappiness.  The recognition of this is the only right foundation for Christian joy.  Against it Christian joy shines brightest and truest.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_18"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="604" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:14</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, </div> <div> and a good man from himself. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >"Backslider" is from a Hebrew word meaning "flinch, turn."</FONT></div> <div>     "From himself" is literally "from above himself", or "from upon himself", or "from according to himself".  </div> <div>     The verb "filled" from the first half of the verse can be supplied by ellipsis in the second half, "a good man <I>is filled</I> by his own means".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The retreating heart</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The good man</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Filled with his own ways</div> <div> <I><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Filled </I>from the resource of himself</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     "I am stuck with me."</div> <div>     That is what this proverb is telling us.  Whatever I <I>am </I>will determine what I <I>do</I>, and whatever I <I>do </I>will be the <I>portion </I>that I eat.  </div> <div>     We all look at ourselves as activators.  We see our deeds moving <I>from </I>us into the lives of others or into the world around us.  We expend our energy, and we see it dissipate <I>outside </I>ourselves.  As agents of activity, we do not naturally see that activity <I>returning </I>to us.  Our perception tells us that it is others' activity and the world's activity that returns to us.  We send out- others receive; others send out- we receive.  So our senses tell us.  </div> <div>     This proverb is telling us that our own actions come <I>back </I>on us; or they never really leave us.  Our sense of our own deeds <I>leaving </I>us is not completely according to reality.  The principles by which we operate have their <I>residence </I>in our own souls.  Therefore, what we 'send out' tends to 'come back' as a multiplied echo.  It already has its manufacturing base within us; so it returns to its source with great ease.  Furthermore, in its raw form it never leaves.  Its storehouse is <I>in </I>us.  It exists in <I>us </I>in greater proportion than we can send it out.  So we do not merely <I>see </I>our doings go forth; nor do we merely get a <I>taste </I>of our own ways; we are <I>filled </I>with our own ways.</div> <div>     This should make us feel somewhat claustrophobic.  We are, indeed, <I>stuck </I>with ourselves.  Those who retreat from what is right will be left only with wrong and its fruits.  Some people, if they really realized this, would be terrified.  Those whose whole way of life involves deception <I>should </I>be horrified that <I>they </I>are going to be the chief victims of their own swindling.</div> <div>     If we use others for our own pleasures, we will find that <I>we </I>are only objects that are used; for we, the 'de-humanizers,' thereby make <I>ourselves </I>sub-human.  </div> <div>     If we are self-indulgent, we will find that our desires rule us.  If we treat God impersonally, hurriedly, we will find that His presence is no comfort.  The backslider in particular, retreating from what he knows is right, will find conscience and sense retreating from him, though, ironically, he will usually be more self-assured and arrogant than ever.</div> <bR> <div>     On the other hand, for those who walk according to the law of love, serving others, doing to others as they would have done to themselves, giving God the honor due a wise Creator- they will find that good things return to them, especially in their souls.  They will have a good conscience before God, and He will guard their peace- a most precious possession.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_19"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="381" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:15</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The simple believes every word, </div> <div> but the shrewd discerns his step. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >"Simple" comes from a root word that means "open, roomy."</FONT>    </div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The gullible</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The shrewd</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Believes every word</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Discerns his going</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This is the first time we have met the Simple in the proverbs proper.  He is mentioned in the introductory chapters (1 - 9) nine times.  One of the seven purposes of Proverbs is:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><I><B>Prov 1:4</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  to give sense to the simple</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The Simple, or Gullible, is therefore considered 'reachable' by wisdom.  He can be taught sense.  This will not be accomplished, however, by his blindly following what wise men tell him.  He must rise above his simplicity and learn to think for himself.</div> <bR> <div>     This verse is a definite contradiction to the idea that faith is to simply believe what we are told.  We are to believe what is <I>written </I>without doubting, but are we to believe it <I>uncritically</I>- that is, without thinking?  Is that what pleases God?</div> <div>     Our proverb today would indicate that God is pleased when we <I>think </I>about what He says; <I>not </I>as in thinking whether it is right or wrong or whether or not we will accept it, but thinking <I>what </I>it means and <I>why </I>God has told it to us.  We want to be 'shrewd' according to the verse- someone who thinks things through.  Specifically, we are to think through how certain teachings affect our 'step'- the way we proceed.</div> <div>     A fact that is often ignored is that <I>none of us simply reads the Bible for what it is.  </I>All of us read the Bible with <I>what we have heard about it</I> in our minds.  We all come to the Bible with what we already think about it or about subjects it addresses.</div> <div>     This is not to say that the Bible cannot be understood.  We are not saying that the Bible's meaning is hopelessly lost under a mass of subjectivity (our own thoughts and feelings).  <I>The Bible can definitely be understood</I>.  In fact, we come to the Bible seeking Its own comment on Itself, peeling away whichever of our own thoughts were not Biblical.</div> <div>     So when we read the Bible with our presuppositions in place, we are always to be <I>testing </I>those presuppositions, making sure they are in fact Biblical.  The shrewd man will be especially wary of <I>human sayings</I> that seek to summarize Scriptural truths.  Be aware- none of us can do without  human sayings.  That's all our teaching of the Bible is, in a way- summarizing Scripture in our own words.  We must simply take care to summarize and explain it <I>accurately</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >.  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >    </FONT>The primary concern is not that what we say is 'meaningful' to <I>us</I>, but that its meaning is Biblical.  Many Christians make personal relevance (it must be meaningful to <I>me</I>) the touchstone for all teaching, and this is a big mistake.  It <I>is </I>proper to seek relevance from what we learn; it is just that we cannot afford to take shorcuts in doing so.  The shrewd man, in fact, certainly takes heed to relevance of doctrine: it says that he watches his step.  He is specifically looking at how this or that teaching will affect his path.</div> <div>     The Gullible believes every word.  This means he will believe you when you tell him Truth.  The problem is, he will also believe the next person who comes along and tells him a lie, thus negating any profit the Truth might have had.</div> <bR> <div>     Do you hold up everything you are taught to the light of Scriptures?</div> <div>     Do you really have a sufficient Bible background in your mind to do so?</div> <div>     We must at least take the fundamental things we have learned and insure that any new idea we hear measures up to the basics:  the complete authority or Scriptures, loving God as the first command, loving our neighbor as ourselves, holiness of life.  </div> <div>     We must then also learn to take more complex ideas and analyze them Scripturally.  For most people a discerning pastor becomes absolutely essential.  God has given certain men (pastors) the job of being official guardians of Truth.  Paul told pastor Timothy:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>1 Tim 4:16</B></FONT><B>  Give attention to yourself and to the doctrine; continue in them, for doing this, </B><B><U>you will</U></B><B> both </B><B><U>deliver</U></B><B> yourself and </B><B><U>those hearing you</U></B><B>. </B></div> <bR> <div>     He was to be careful about his 'step.'  By filtering out all bad doctrine (and every generation has plenty of it to sift through) Timothy straightened his own steps and consequently the steps of those following him.  </div> <div>     Simpletons in church must learn to be simple no more, but discerning.  They help themselves and help their pastor when they think like the Christians in Berea to whom Paul ministered:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Acts 17:10, 11</FONT>  The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.  Now these were <U>more noble</U> than those in Thessalonica, in that they <U>received</U> the word with all readiness of the mind, <U>examining the Scriptures</U> daily <U>to see</U> whether these things were so. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="471" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CC99CC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:16</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The wise fears and departs from evil, </B></div> <div> <B>but the fool crosses over and is confident</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#BFBF00" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >.</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFF00" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >"Crosses over" is from a Hebrew word used 554 times and is translated "pass over" and the like the vast majority of them.  A few times it speaks of 'crossing over' the limit of patience into anger, and a few times it is used in 'crossing over' the lines God had drawn in His covenant laws.  These two uses are in very clear contexts, justifying the use of "was angry" and "transgressed" respectively.  In our verse, however, neither of these usages seems justified, as the plain meaning of the word says exactly what is intended.</FONT>  </div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The wise</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The dullard</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Fears and <I>so </I>turns away from evil</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Crosses over [into evil] and is confident [nothing bad will happen]</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     A basic and necessary ingredient of wisdom is <B>fear</B>.  All a wise man's insights are colored by fear.  This certainly bespeaks his fear of God, but as a sub-category of the fear of God, the wise man is <I>generally </I>cautious.  He is aware that the world, having been subjected to vanity, runs on Murphy's law, as we call it:  Anything that <I>can </I>go wrong probably <I>will </I>go wrong.  </div> <div>     Having said this, we must sadly add that many heathens have a much more realistic (according to reality) and therefore more Biblical approach to life in this regard than many Christians who live by the 'positive thinking' model:  that is, that God will make only good things happen for you if you just have faith that He will.  Essentially the Christian 'creates' a new vanity-free world for himself by his faith.  </div> <div>     The simple, Biblical Christian, though, just has faith in his Bible, and so believes that the world is subjected to vanity, and no amount of faith can change that.  His faith is what caused him to agree with the Biblical definition of the world in the first place.  The purpose of his faith amidst the vanity is to learn and travel God's path <I>through </I>and <I>in spite of</I> the difficulties vanity presents.  So the Christian fears/ is cautious.</div> <div>     Now what comprises a Christian's fear?  Fear is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>negative motivation</B></FONT>.  Fear is what tells me not to put a paper clip into the electrical outlet.  Fear is therefore what we teach our children when we make <I>them </I>stay away from electrical outlets.  Fear is good.</div> <div>     When fear tells me to stay away from things that are <I>not dangerous</I>, though, fear has overstepped its proper bounds.  That is when fear fits the description John gives:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>1 John 4:18</B></I></FONT><B>  There is </B><B>no fear in love</B><B>, but </B><B><U>perfect love casts out fear</U></B><B>, because </B><B><U>fear has punishment</U></B><B>; and the </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>one</B></I></FONT><B> fearing has not been perfected in love. </B></div> <bR> <div>     The first observation we must make is that John is <I>not </I>talking about every kind of fear.  Every Christian would agree that the fear of God is good and necessary.  Love does not cast out the fear of God.  Love <I>promotes </I>the fear of God, because it teaches us to respect God's "Thou shalt not's."</div> <div>     The fear that love casts out is the fear that God is not good to His Word.  The bad kind of fear tells me that I cannot have confidence in God's promise of mercy, love, and forgiveness.  The bad kind of fear has to do with God's general disposition towards me.  <I>Bad </I>fear thinks He's after me, looking to find fault or trip me up.  <I>Good </I>fear remembers that if I transgress His laws, He will discipline me accordingly- this being part of His good, fatherly disposition towards me.</div> <bR> <div>     So the wise man fears with the right kind of fear and <I>thereby </I>avoids evil.</div> <div>     The dullard <I>crosses over</I> <U>the line that good fear had laid down</U> for him.  His spiritual dullness is confirmed in that, having crossed over, he is nevertheless <I>confident </I>of a good outcome.</div> <div>     Another proverb that is very similar to this one is:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 22:3</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>   A prudent one foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Foreseeing evil on the path and hiding oneself from it are properties of wise fear.</div> <bR> <div>     The model prayer sends us into the day with a proper fear:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Matt 6:13</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Do you enter your day with such caution?  Are you aware of how easily you can fall?  Do you recognize factors already at work in you which could easily cause you to transgress?</div> <div>     How many Christians take the fool's approach, take no caution, and <I>cross over confidently</I> into the day, either prayerless, or with superficial or 'nice day' prayers!</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_21"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="423" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:17</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >He who </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >short of temper acts foolishly; </FONT></div> <div> and a man of schemes is hated. <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#CCFF00" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">One who is short-tempered</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A man of schemes</div> <bR> <div> Their Comparison:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Deals foolishly</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is hated</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Two kinds of transgressors.  One acts <I>impulsively</I>; the other <I>thinks out</I> plans.  </div> <div>     This proverb explores  something of the nature and effects of sin through a study in two contrasting styles of iniquity.  </div> <div>     God is hereby indicating that we need to know what sin is.  Sin has such a natural advantage over us by its deceptiveness that we need a good deal of studied knowledge about it to counterbalance and overcome its advantage.</div> <bR> <div>     The first advantage we regain over sin is the knowledge that <I>a quick-tempered person's behavior always categorizes him as a fool</I>.  As a fool, he is the basic <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>independent </B></FONT>man of Proverbs- independent of God and so set against God.</div> <div>     Many short-tempered people have Jekyll and Hyde type personalities.  They normally seem quite meek until something trips their anger.  Other hotheads are nearly always moody and sullen.  Our proverb is telling us that their outbursts, whatever they act like the rest of the time, are<I> not anomalies</I>.  A person with outbursts of anger is <I>characterized </I>thereby.  The biggest mistake we can make is to excuse the outbursts as <I>exceptions</I>.  Outbursts are <I>the rule</I> in those who throw them.</div> <div>     Having established this basic fact, we now tie in the further characterization that those thus ruled by anger behave as <I>fools</I>.  To put it simply, in the final analysis their anger is master over them; therefore, God cannot be.  By their anger, fumers prove their <I>independence </I>from God.  </div> <div>     The angry person <I>himself </I>does not see himself this way; his friends may not perceive him thus.  You can see that our proverb is giving us critically important information.  We would usually write someone a pass for having a short-temper; Solomon says Don't.  Count him as the fool he is and treat him accordingly.  Likewise make no excuses for your own quick temper.</div> <bR> <div>     The second type of transgressor is the schemer.  He is the fumer's opposite in many ways.  He generally has a very <I>even </I>temper.  He is in full control of his behavior; otherwise, he could not execute his subtle and sometimes elaborate schemes successfully.</div> <div>     Now whereas the hothead would not like to be thought of as a <I>fool</I>, the schemer would be displeased to be known as one who is <I>hated</I>.  As a chess player using friends and acquaintances as pieces, he is hoping to play the board in such a way as to win himself the <I>admiration </I>of at least some of the 'pieces'.  To be generally hated would work quite against his overall scheme.  But this is exactly what happens to the schemer.  </div> <div>     It almost goes without saying that a schemer is also a fool, since he seeks to run peoples' lives <I>in place of God</I>, thus demonstrating his independence of God.  </div> <div>     There is simply no way for a schemer, be he ever so genius, to play people against their wills and against each other and not be found out.  Eventually his lack of omniscience will force cracks in the vessel he is crafting; he will miss a nuance in a person's character whom he was counting on to react in a certain way... he will have to overplay his hand to compensate...  Voila!  The scheme unravels!  And though in everything he did he carried a broom behind him to erase his tracks, people still intuit his criminal involvement.  By treating people as objects, he forgot that they are made in the image of God.  God sometimes seems to 'tell on' the schemer right in the thoughts of one of his victims.  Often they will simply call his bluff.  From master of intrigues to despised manipulator!</div> <bR> <div>     One obvious warning here is to keep from 'playing' people.  We all enter situations where it is to our advantage to 'nudge' someone in a certain direction without revealing our true intention.  We usually disguise the intention with a cover suggestion that would work the same end, or some such camouflage.  <I>Don't</I> be a schemer.  Let men be free.  Inform and persuade their God-given freedom when change is needed.</div> <div>     The other warning, though, is to realize that when someone has just been ostracized from his little circle of friends, perhaps we shouldn't feel sorry for him nor accuse the group in our minds.  Perhaps we should first determine if perhaps his friends uncovered his scheming manipulativeness and had enough of it.</div> <bR> <div>     So we have, by this study of opposites, a larger gamut of definition for sin.  Sin can be impulsive or patiently crafty; either way, it is at odds with God and man.  Armed with this knowledge, sin should not so easily delude us, either into personal cooperation or sympathy with other transgressors.</div> <bR> <div>     Jesus died for both kinds of sin and sinners.  Let all who come calling, "You can make me whole!" say Amen!</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_22"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="437" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:18</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The simple inherit foolishness, </div> <div> but the shrewd are crowned with knowledge. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The gullible</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The shrewd</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions respectively:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Inherits foolishness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is crowned with knowledge</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The real crux of this proverb is in the comparison between <I>inheriting </I>and being <I>crowned</I>.  The simple man <I>inherits </I>something, while the savvy fellow is <I>crowned </I>with something.</div> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>Inheriting </B></FONT>is an act of rights.  I am bequeathed something because of my family name.</div> <div>     Being <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>crowned </B></FONT>is an honor and responsibility bestowed.  Someone crowned with royal authority in a country had better be worthy of the work for the country's sake:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Eccl 10:16, 17</B></I><B> </B></FONT><B>  </B><B><U>Woe</U></B><B> to you, O land, when your </B><B><U>king</U></B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> a </B><B><U>child</U></B><B> and your leaders eat in the morning.  Blessed </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B>  you, O land, when your king </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is </B></I></FONT><B> the son of nobles, and your leaders eat in </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>due </B></I></FONT><B> time, for strength, and not for drunkenness! </B></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is using the ceremony of crowning in the context of dignity and joy, an honor bestowed on a worthy and prepared candidate.</div> <div>     There is in crowning also, though, a usual connection with inheritance.  The crown usually passes by bloodline in monarchical countries.   </div> <bR> <div>     So the gullible fellow is always written into the will of foolishness.  He always has a share in folly's estate.  The greater his gullibility, the greater his share.  He receives lands so he may dwell in his familiar foolish surroundings.  He receives accoutrements so he may employ foolishness to the best of his ability.</div> <div>     The gullible person cannot be written into wisdom's inheritance.  Neither will he be crowned with knowledge.  He is unable/ unwilling to make cut-off points in his beliefs/ practices.  He may say Yes one moment to the Golden Rule, but next moment he may act according to the Rule of Number One ("Put self first") just as sincerely.  The fatal folly of the simple teaches us that <I>it doesn't matter what we </I><I><B>believe </B></I><I>if we don't </I><I><B>disbelieve </B></I><I>what we ought</I>.  So much of the New Testament is written to dissuade believers from wrong beliefs they have swallowed- beliefs <I>seemingly </I>compatible with Christianity, but actually not.</div> <bR> <div>     In one of the more emotional moments of Proverbs, Solomon, in effect, raises up any man to join him as an enthroned one- any man, that is, who is willing to do the work of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>thinking</B></FONT>.  The shrewd man, who <I>doesn't</I> believe just anything, and who <I>doesn't</I> let two contradictory ideas dwell side by side in his mind, who actually <I>challenges </I>and kicks out unScriptural ideas from his thinking and practice- this man, king Solomon deems, is worthy of a crown!</div> <div>     But look what he is crowned with.  Most Christians think of knowledge as an unpleasant requirement on the way to some other reward, if they think of knowledge as necessary at all.  Solomon makes <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>knowledge </B></FONT>the crown with which we are royally honored for our worthiness as thinking people!  Solomon, by the Holy Spirit, says that when we finally decide to believe <I>only </I>what God says and to <I>rule </I>our thoughts and <I>run </I>our lives thereby, our crowning achievement is that we get to KNOW.  </div> <div>     What is it man, by nature, doesn't have?  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>Knowledge</B></FONT>.  Man, by sin, doesn't know <I>God</I>, doesn't know <I>himself </I>or human nature, doesn't know <I>history</I>, doesn't know the <I>future</I>, doesn't know where he <I>came from</I>, doesn't known where he's <I>going</I>, doesn't know what <I>love </I>is, doesn't know what and whether to <I>hate</I>.  What more highly prized gift could a man possess than knowledge?  By knowledge from God I know I am loved, I know I am saved, I finally know how things certainly operate.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you in possession of knowledge?  It is a crown if you do.  Wear it in honor.  Wear it in humility, as any good human king wears his crown.  Wear it in service.</div> <div>     The Christian crown of Knowledge is a responsibility.  Now that you know, you cannot go back to the carefree ways of the fool.  Maybe this is why knowledge is so unpopular in the Church.  It's so much more fun to operate by a bunch of contradictory ideas, <I>not </I>to have to worry about testing what we are taught.</div> <div>     This is why Luke called the Bereans "noble" (literally) in Acts 17:11.  They were showing their spiritual bloodline when they received readily and tested thoroughly all ideas by Scriptures:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Acts 17:11</B></I></FONT><B>  And these were more </B><B><U>noble</U></B><B> than those of Thessalonica, in that </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>they received</B></I></FONT><B>  the Word with all readiness of mind and </B><B><U>searched</U></B><B> the Scriptures daily </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>to see</U></B></I></FONT><B><U> if those things </U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B><U>were so</U></B></I></FONT><B>. </B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_23"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="437" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:19</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The evil bow before the good, </div> <div> and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>    <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" >"Gates" were the common location for elders of the land to be seated for deciding legal and judicial cases for a city. </FONT></div> <div>     "Evil" comes from a Hebrew word whose root means "to waste (by breaking); good for nothing."     </div> <div>     "Wicked" means "to be wrong; hence, to disturb, to violate."</div> <div>       </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The rotten and the wayward </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The good and the righteous</div> <bR> <div> Their Interactions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The first pair bow before (the gates) of the second pair</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     When we were rescued from transgression, we switched to the other side in the cosmic conflict of rebellious men and angels against God.  Many Christians wish they could be saved only personally and be isolated from this larger conflict.  This, though, is impossible.  Today's proverb gives us one of the ramifications of being enlisted into God's ranks.  Our submission to God reinstates the rulership we had lost and brings unbelievers to an eventual acknowledgment of our reinstatement.</div> <div>     The only real question in this truth is the matter of timing.  Another author lets us know not to necessarily expect the fulfillment of this in one generation.  Sometimes it takes two:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Isa 60:14</B></I></FONT><B>  Also the </B><B><U>sons</U></B><B> of your afflicters </B><B><U>shall come bowing</U></B><B> to you; and all your despisers will bow down at the soles of your feet.  And they will call you, The city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. </B></div> <bR> <div>     There is a continuity between generations by which God brings some warnings to pass in a more dramatic fashion, but over a greater period of time- the children 'improving' on their parents' sins.  </div> <div>     Also, some sins 'ripen' to their harvest of judgment over many years, centuries even.  God told Abraham concerning his descendants' possession of their promised territory:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Gen 15:16</B></I></FONT><B>   But in the </B><B><U>fourth generation</U></B><B> they shall come here again, for the </B><B><U>iniquity</U></B><B> of the Amorites is </B><B><U>not yet full</U></B><B>.</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Such multiplied generations may not apply to today's proverb, but concerning at least its fulfillment, we can see the principle fulfilled every generation if we know where to look.  The unrighteous <I>do </I>come and render various forms of obeisance to the righteous, especially where the unrighteous had oppressed the righteous:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rev 3:9</B></I></FONT><B>   See, I will make those of the Synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews, and are not, but say what is false; I will make them come and give </B><B><U>worship</U></B><B> before your feet, and see My love for you. </B></div> <bR> <div>     The unrighteous are willing members of a coup that began in Eden.  Man has sought to oust God as ruler.  Therefore, those who again submit to God are thorns in the flesh of the unrighteous.  We become targets for acts of hatred.  God, then, sees to it that these persecutions are recompensed to some degree on earth.  They will be recompensed in a fuller way later:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Psa 49:14</B></I></FONT><I><B>  </B></I><B> Like sheep they are appointed to the grave; death shall reign </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>for</B></I></FONT><B> them; and the </B><B><U>upright</U></B><B> shall have the </B><B><U>rule over</U></B><B> </B><B><U>them</U></B><B> in the morning; and their form </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> for rotting; the grave </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> their home. </B></div> <bR> <div>     How are we to behave if God brings a rebel against Him to <I>our </I>feet?  Eventually we will take part in some way and degree with God's judgment:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Psa 149:6 - 9</B></I></FONT><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Let</B></I></FONT><B>  the high praises of God </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>be</B></I></FONT><B> in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand,  to carry out vengeance on the nations </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>and</B></I></FONT><B> punishments on the peoples,  to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with iron-bands, </B><B><U> to carry out</U></B><B> on them the </B><B><U>judgment</U></B><B> written; this </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>is </B></I><I><B><U>an</U></B></I></FONT><B><U> honor for all His saints</U></B><B>.  Praise Jehovah! </B></div> <bR> <div>     But for now, before Judgment, we play a specific part in God's <I>common grace</I> to the rebellious.  We are to love our enemies.  Therefore, if they are bought before us to do their obeisance, we are not to gloat, but to be merciful, even entreating if perhaps they will yet turn from their iniquity and serve Jehovah.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************  </div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_24"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="437" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:20</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> The poor is hated even by his own neighbor,</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >but the rich </FONT><I>has</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >many friends.</FONT></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>       </div> <div> <B>Analysis of the Verse</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The poor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The rich</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions Respectively:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Hated even by his own neighbor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Has many friends</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Schoolbook" ><B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B></FONT>:  </div> <bR> <div>     Some of the proverbs that are merely observations, as this one is, are very refreshing in their honesty.  It is a searingly brutal honesty here, but well worth hearing (notwithstanding the ouch), for, as always, it is a very relevant reflection.</div> <div>     The teaching of the verse is that poverty alone is enough to make a man despised; riches alone are enough to make a man well-liked.  </div> <div>     This, of course, is actually a teaching on <I>those responding to the rich and poor</I>, on how prejudiced we are towards peoples' financial statuses.  </div> <bR> <div>     We tend to hate poor people.  The greater the poverty they manifest, the more we despise them.    </div> <div>     The Hebrew word here is actually "hate"; however, the Biblical doctrine of hate does not restrict our hatred to our felt <I>emotion </I>of hate.  Hatred, Biblically, is also any treatment of others based on our superior attitude.  By arrogance, we minimize the other person, despising his life, committing soul murder, thus demonstrating hatred.  We can hate, then, without feeling that we are hating.</div> <div>     Solomon is telling us that this consignment to a lower level of life, a lower level of humanity, is something we do <I>automatically </I>to the poor.  We need no forethought; we make no conscious decision.    </div> <div>     If this is the case, then conscious decision-making must enter in at our choice to <I>return </I>the poor man to worthiness in our esteem, to reclothe him in the image of God, as is his proper right.  Of course, these dignities never actually left him; it is only a repentance of attitude correcting <I>our view </I>of him.</div> <div>     This is one reason it is so difficult to maintain good works in the church or in our personal lives.  Good works, by definition, are ministered to those who are poor in one way or another.  It is some <I>lack </I>in their lives that calls for our good works.  But the call to good works does not itself erase our natural prejudice towards the poor.  We still are in need of an ongoing repentance of attitude, especially if we are going to "maintain" good works, as Paul tells us to (Titus 3:14).  </div> <div>     Churches that do no good works will stand before God at judgment, guilty of laziness for certain, but also of arrogance (and Paul, in the same passage above, does make good works a joint church effort).  Even those that allocate money for relief of the afflicted usually do all they can to avoid actually 'getting their hands dirty' through direct contact with the hurting.  In America, where material blessings have isolated us from real destitution, women recoil from their <I>special </I>responsibility to administer good works (1 Tim. 2:10).</div> <bR> <div>     The rich are analyzed in a somewhat non-parallel fashion in this verse.  It is not that everyone hates the poor and loves the rich.  With the rich, it is that they have plenty of friends.  They may have plenty of enemies, but they have plenty of people willing to be their friends.  </div> <div>     Solomon's point is that this attitude towards the rich comes as naturally to men as their attitude to the poor.  Without any character assessment, most people are glad to be friends with the rich.  There are advantages to be had.  These advantages are sufficient to make us like the rich.  How easily bought our affections (and therefore ourselves) are!</div> <bR> <div>     This, of course, calls us to examine the motive for all human friendships.  How often do we become friends with someone strictly on the basis of careful character assessment?  Don't be too quick to answer in your own favor, or you'll be missing the profit Solomon has for you.  </div> <div>     We all tend to pick friends based on personal advantage, the most common of which is enjoyment.  We enjoy another person's company, so we assume we sincerely like them.  Often it is that we jointly find we <I>dislike </I>the same things or people.  Our natural prejudices, therefore, play into our choice of friends quite insidiously.  </div> <div>     A Christian should choose his friends based on their love of God and their maturing in Him such that they provide a mutually beneficial relationship.  </div> <div>     Part of this love of God should be expressed in carrying out the duties He has given us towards the poor, overcoming society's, and our own, natural despite of them.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_25"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="474" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 109 WIDTH="462"><div> <B>Proverbs 14:21</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> He who disrespects his neighbor sins; </div> <div> but the one who is gracious to the afflicted, blessings on him!</div> <div>   </div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>       </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one disrespecting his neighbor </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who shows pity to the lowly</div> <bR> <div> Their Two Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sins</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He is blessed/ Blessings be on him!</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Here is more on the doctrine of good works in general, and 'merciful deeds' (KJV, "alms") to the poor in particular.</div> <div>     There are several important deductions to be drawn from this verse:</div> <bR> <div>    1)  The poor <I>is </I>our neighbor.  Nobody lives where they are disconnected from the poor.</div> <div>    2)  To refuse needed help to someone is a form of disrespect/ minimizing them/ denying their full humanity.</div> <div>    3)  It is a sin merely to <I>withhold </I>respect due.  No specific unkind words or thoughts are necessary.</div> <div>    4)  Because we are guided by our overall attitudes about people, we pretty much <I>live </I>in sin or in blessing, one or the other, depending on our habits towards the needy.</div> <bR> <div>     This last thought is fairly unsettling.  It implies that all God has to do is look at our involvement or lack of it with the down-and-out segment of society to determine our spiritual condition.  Not to say other key revealers of spiritual status don't exist, but attitude and action toward the poor is definitely one of them, and it doesn't contradict any of the others.</div> <div>     There has been a backlash in Evangelicalism against the 'social gospel' that dominated most liberal churches for most of the twentieth century.  Social gospel churches equated <I>social action</I> with the good news of Jesus Christ.  This was/ is obviously wrong.  </div> <div>     But neither were these churches necessarily very involved or effective when it came to ministering to the poor.  It tended to be a talking point and a spearhead for political activism.  People always have a hard time actually getting over the hump of <I>associating </I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT>with despairing, dependent folk.  In the end most of these denominations contented themselves to simply demand monthly percentages from associated churches to funnel to huge organizations like the United Way.  How much of that money actually helps the poor?  Does some of it help them get abortions, etc.?</div> <div>     So because <I>some </I>Christians make a mockery of good works, are <I>we </I>excused from pursuing them?</div> <div> Paul makes this a specific church direction:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Titus 3:14</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>   Let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they may not be unfruitful. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The admonition here is not, "Let each person."  It is "let our <U>people</U>"; that is, as a body (not excluding individual action, of course).  The other principle in the church that works against merciful deeds is <I>pietism</I>.  Pietism sets <I>personal </I>holiness against <I>corporate </I>holiness.  Corporate holiness is viewed with suspicion, because how can an <I>individual </I>perform an act sincerely when it is ruled by <I>group </I>principle?  Of course, on this logic, neither should we come to church (and many pietists have obeyed this deduction).</div> <div>     God does not view people only in spiritual categories.  Spiritual categories, alive or dead, are the dominant ones, but God also has uses for dividing humanity into other categories.  One such division is rich and poor.  Thereby he examines us, whether we operate by His divisions:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Gal 6:9, 10</B></I></FONT><B>   but let us not lose heart in doing good; for in due time, if we do not </B><B><U>faint</U></B><B>, we shall reap.  So then, as we have occasion, let us do </B><B><U>good towards</U></B><B> </B><B><U>all</U></B><B>, and specially towards those of the household of faith.</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Do not faint / grow weary" implies that good works are a tiresome task.  There's always someone in need, always some errand to minister, and it's almost never convenient, never quite seems to fit into our schedules.</div> <div>     How much is God's designation of "blessed" worth to us?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_26"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="538" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> <B>Proverbs 14:22</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> Do not those who devise evil go astray? </div> <div> But mercy and truth will be to those who devise good. </div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Century Gothic" > "Devise" is the same Hebrew word in both halves of the verse.  Its root meaning is to scratch, so to engrave or plow, so to fabricate, so to devise or plot.</FONT></div> <div>       </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who devise evil</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those who devise good</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Go off course / err</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b7011800000000.png" HEIGHT="19" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will have mercy and truth</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Men are basically planners of evil or good.</div> <div>     Hardly any men who plan evil would call it that.  If they are planning harm to someone, they are thinking of it as justice.  But vengefulness <I>is </I>evil, and those planning it "go astray."  So we must first define evil as God does, then see where our plans fall according to Him.</div> <bR> <div>     Basically, evil plans can be understood in three categories:</div> <div>    1)  Plans that seek harm to others;</div> <div>    2)  Plans that exalt oneself; and</div> <div>    3)  Plans that deny God or misuse His words.</div> <bR> <div>     It is natural for humans to devise evil:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>Isa 59:3 - 6</B></FONT><B>   </B><B>No one</B><B> calls for righteousness; and no one pleads with truth. Trusting emptiness, and speaking vanity, they </B><B><U>conceive mischief</U></B><B>, and </B><B>give birth</B><B> to iniquity.   They </B><B>hatch</B><B> adders' eggs, and </B><B><U>weave the spider's web</U></B><B>; he who eats their eggs dies; and that which is crushed hatches out a viper.   Their webs shall not become clothing, nor shall they cover themselves with their works. Their works are </B><B><U>works of evil</U></B><B>, and the act of violence </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>is</B></FONT><B> in their hands. </B></div> <bR> <div>     It is also natural for men to define evil by what <I>other </I>men do, not what they themselves do:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Prov 16:2</B></I></FONT><B>  All the ways of a man </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>are</B></I></FONT><B>  </B><B><U>pure</U></B><B> </B><B><U>in his own eyes</U></B><B>, but Jehovah weighs the spirits. </B></div> <bR> <div>     A godly man, then, accepts God's definition of himself, and realizes that he is a natural-born, self-justifying deviser of evil.  He therefore also realizes that he will have to <I>search </I>to find the evil in himself, since his natural <I>pure </I>view of self will not be accurate.  The evil he finds out (and now we're not talking about too many people who will search this far) he must be ashamed of and repent of.  At this point, he will have something of a backdrop in his soul to <I>stop </I>devising evil and <I>start </I>devising good.</div> <div>     The tragic thing about most 'good' plans in the world is that they violate one of the fundamental rules for being truly good:  they exalt self.  They become a means of the planner congratulating himself rather than simply humbly following God's directions.  This is especially true within non-Christian religious systems, where men seek to earn enough 'credits' to secure God's favor.  It is also true within any 'Christian' system that approaches God similarly.</div> <div>     This is a uniqueness of Biblical Christianity.  It pegs us as rotten sinners in order to free us unto true righteousness.  Man could not devise such a system; neither could he execute it.</div> <bR> <div>     So man is constantly earning a pass to go astray by his self-centered plans.  The whole world is constantly going astray in payment.  Solomon's asks us if this isn't really almost self-evident.  Isn't it obvious how off-track they become?</div> <div>     The repentant man, who arranges his plans according to true good- love to God and love to neighbor- will have payment as well.  Though his relationship with God is based on grace, yet this grace relationship contains a new payment principle.  God delights to recompense his children for their good thoughts and deeds.  Those planning good things are visited by God with mercy and truth.  </div> <div>     Part of this visitation is simply '<I>natural</I>'; it is the fruit of others responding to my kindness.  Mostly, the reception of mercy and truth is God's <I>supernatural </I>renovation of our hearts, whereby 'one good turn deserves another.'  We <I>turn </I>to devising good, and God <I>turns </I>our hearts even further towards good things:  extending His mercies and sealing His truth to us.</div> <bR> <div>     What do you <I>plan </I>in your quiet moments, perhaps when you go to bed, before you sleep?</div> <div>     What do you plan 'in the heat of battle', as relationships bubble in the cauldron around you?  Do you resist fighting fire with fire?</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Californian FB" ><I><B>Rom 12:21</B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Californian FB" ><B>  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil with good. </B></FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_27"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="437" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:23<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>In all labor there is advantage, </B></div> <div> <B>But a matter of the lips </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>leads </B></I></FONT><B>only to lack.</B></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" > "Matter" could also be translated "word" or "talk".</FONT></div> <div>       </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being </B><B>Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Work</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Talk (alone)</div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Always produces something</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Leads to loss</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >It often seems that, in a stroke of insight, we have figured out why our slavish existence has hung us out to dry.  We have been reduced to rats running in a wheel because ...  and our insight flashes salvation before us.  How could we have not seen it before!  Of course!  We can crawl out of our dungeon of servitude into the light of really living simply by ...   and the amazing discovery bursts from our lips like cannon shot leveling all barricades of our former rut-trudging.</FONT></div> <div>     But lo!  These discoveries begin to lose their amaze when we are wading in the memory of them, six, seven deep?  ... we have lost track.  We had thought that we had gotten hold of the 'sure thing' more than once.  Every succeeding 'sure thing' justified its superiority so well that we had lost sight of the suspicious repetition of them.  This time isn't like the last time.  Last time was flawed; this time it's fool-proof.  </div> <div>     Finally, perhaps, we begin to see that these 'wonder scenarios' <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Sylfaen" ><I>always </I></FONT>come with flaws because <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Sylfaen" ><I>life </I></FONT>comes with flaws.  'The best-laid plans of mice and men ...'</div> <div>     The only plan that is fool-proof is the one that <I>accepts </I>the flawed nature of life <I>and </I>the necessity of ongoing, toilsome work. "All toil brings about gain."  It may be the gain of an uphill walk in the mud during a rain; a gain that has slippages, that never seems quite secure; that sometimes sees more backwards progress than forwards- but it is, nonetheless, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>gain</I></FONT>.  God guarantees, and 6,000 years of experience have proved, that consistent work always leads somewhere.  Aching muscles, headache, weariness- these aren't where we wanted to go!  But no, there is more that it leads to: <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>gain</I></FONT>.  Not riches, perhaps, but gain.  Gain that may be all or mostly consumed as it arrives, but, nonetheless, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>gain</I></FONT>.  </div> <div>     The "Thanks for nothing" nature of this guarantee is what sends so many people on the mythical quest for 'the sure thing'- sometimes, a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>lifetime </I></FONT>of empty pursuits.  The prospect of toilsome labor with little perceived payoff seems to scream to some people that there <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>must be</I></FONT><I> </I>a better way.  And so their discontent drives them.  They talk about how things <I>don't</I> work as they are.  They hear that some slaves have riddled the rigged system and jumped out of their shackles.  If they can do it, so can I.  Worse, they see people who have labored and gained some security thereby, and they wrongly conclude, "I don't see any sweat on them.  I deserve a work-free existence too!"</div> <div>     Enough of the good original design of the creation remains for work to remain a blessing, a source of provision:  a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>mixed </I></FONT>blessing because of sin, thorns, and sweat; but still a blessing.  As much as the bad elements of life and work prod us to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>curse </I></FONT>our labors, we must <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>thank </I></FONT>God for them and seek to see their benefit.</div> <div>     This proverb contrasts <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>theorizing </I></FONT>to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>doing</I></FONT><I>- </I>specifically, theorizing that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>despises </I></FONT>doing.  Not all theorizing despises doing.  Some <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>theorizing </I></FONT>simply leads to better <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>doing</I></FONT>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Perpetua" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Eccl 10:10</FONT>  If the axe is blunt, and one doesn't sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but skill brings success. </div> <bR> <div>     The <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>doing </I></FONT>of axe-sharpening that improves the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>doing </I></FONT>of chopping begins with the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>theorizing </I></FONT>of how dull my blade must have become; so Solomon is not saying we should mindlessly bend our shoulder to the millstone and abandon attempts to make work more efficient.  Efficient work is still work, but it is smarter work; it is actually better work.</div> <bR> <div>     A theological application:  There's a whole lot of lazy <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>theorizing </I></FONT>going on in the Church.  Here's an example.  Ask your average Christian whether we are commanded to love ourselves, and he'll say Yes, for how can we love our neighbor if we don't love ourselves first?  But this lazy conclusion has invested no <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>labor </I></FONT>in checking for verses that might negate this premise.  2 Tim. 2:2 specifically says that self-love is the chief sign of an evil generation.  Go back to "Love your neighbor," and you realize that Jesus was saying, </div> <div> "Love your neighbor as you [already] love yourself," not</div> <div> "Love your neighbor as you [ought to] love yourself."</div> <div>     Replacing work with talk only leads to lack.  Replacing the work of comparing Scripture to Scripture with lazy generalizing leads to dry spiritual pastures with dead grass for nourishment.</div> <div>     One last application:  Replacing the work of "good works" with mere well-wishing is an indicator in more than one Bible book of a dead faith.  All <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>labor </I></FONT>leads to profit.  Let us be in the service of our Master.</div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_28"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="388" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:24<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The crown of the wise is their riches; </B></div> <div> <B>the fool-ness of the dullard is fool-ness.</B></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >"Fool-ness" is from the Hebrew word usually translated "foolishness"; it is so rendered to connect the condition of foolishness to the person and character of the fool.</FONT></div> <div>       </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being </B><B>Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The wise</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The dullard</div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His riches are his crown</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His folly is <I>indeed </I>folly</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >   </FONT> As far as the parallelism of the verse, the wise are seen receiving a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>reward </I></FONT>for their wisdom, but the only reward fools receive is their own foolishness.  The wise get something in addition to their wisdom- a real reward.  The fool's folly puts a "No Receiving" sign up at his loading dock; he merits <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>no gift</I></FONT>.</div> <div>     It may come as a surprise to many, but this verse plainly says that the wise are enriched with <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>earthly assets</I></FONT>.  If we have read the introductory chapters, we know of two places where the same promise has already been mentioned.  Referring to wisdom, Solomon said:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Perpetua" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 3:16</FONT>  Length of days <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I> </FONT>in her right hand, <U>riches</U> and honor in her left hand. </div> <bR> <div>     Then, in the voice of wisdom personified, we read:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Perpetua" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 8:18</FONT>   <U>Riches</U> and honor <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are</I> </FONT>with me; enduring <U>wealth</U> and righteousness. </div> <bR> <div>     So Solomon is only revisiting a theme he has already established.</div> <div>     Interesting, this!  God apparently sees His servant, man, still connected to the earth he was originally given dominion over.  God does not see Christians as citizens of Heaven <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>to the exclusion</I></FONT> of their earthly 'citizenship'.  If it is true that:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Perpetua" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Psa 24:1</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  The earth </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >Jehovah's, and the fullness of it; the world, and those who dwell in it,</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     then it may well please Him to express His ownership of earth by granting its bounty to His faithful servants.  (Note that at this point we are equating the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>wise </I></FONT>of our verse with <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>faithful servants</I></FONT> of God; they utilize wisdom faithfully as pleases Him)</div> <div>     Therefore, in the light of this verse, an American Christian's riches may not necessarily be a disadvantage to him.  If he truly counts his riches as <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>not his own</I></FONT>, and his use of them <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>proves </I></FONT>this belief, his riches are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>blessings</I></FONT>, as our verse says.  So it was with Abraham and so it was with Job.</div> <div>     Riches come with obligations.  For instance:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > 1 Tim 6:17, 18</FONT>  <U>Charge the rich</U> in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, He offering to us richly all things to enjoy,  that they <U>do good</U>, that they be rich in good works, <U>ready to share</U>, to be generous </div> <bR> <div>     If a rich man's goods are not his own, then he will not be offended at being told how to use them, as above.  If he is offended, he gives clear indication that the riches are actually <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>his</I></FONT>, and not the Lord's.</div> <div>     So riches are a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>crown</I></FONT>.  They come at a time when God sees royalty in us, when He sees a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>servant </I></FONT>(for the true king is under greater servitude than any citizen in the kingdom).  When God sees people <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>already </I></FONT>wisely using all they have for His glory, He rewards them with more.    Riches are a crown saying, "Reign yet more fully in My name."</div> <div>     But when you look at the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>fool</I></FONT>, you see someone enwrapped in a mess of his own making.  He may have riches or talent and may be well regarded, but the only real determining factor about him is his foolishness.  Everything else about him will eventually give way to the unraveling tendencies of foolishness.  Until he is rid of this foolishness, no benefit he possesses will be a crown he can wear.  The world may crown him king for a day, but tomorrow it will step over him in the mud of the street; the world's crowns do not last.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    Most of us don't have the foresight, planning, and discipline to be good stewards of much.  Whatever wisdom we may have, this </FONT><I>fuller </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >definition of wisdom shows most of us to be lacking.  And if we tried to develop these traits </FONT><I>in order to acquire</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >stuff, we would betray our unwise motives.  On the other hand, within the broad definition of riches, we may already technically fit its minimal description by having </FONT><I>more than enough</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >.  This may be our reward for at least a basic portion of wisdom- a wisdom that tithes, that is generous to the poor, that is disciplined rather than spendthrift.  </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Perpetua" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Luke 16:10</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" > `He who is faithful in the least, </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >also faithful in much; and he who in the least </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >unrighteous, is also unrighteous in much </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     How do you handle the 'little things' of money?  This is both a sign of your wisdom and part of your reward for it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="feb_29"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="361" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:25<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>A true witness delivers souls, </B></div> <div> <B>But a deceitful one breathes out lies.</B></div> <div>   </div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>       </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being </B><B>Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The true witness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The deceitful one</div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Differing Descriptions</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Delivers souls</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Breathes out lies</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >Here is the most critical verse in all Scripture in understanding the boundaries of the ninth commandment.</FONT></div> <div>     "You shall not bear false witness" cannot be properly understood without reference to our proverb, or at least to the principle it contains.  There are, perhaps, other means to derive this principle, but here it is spoken in plainest terms.  One who delivers souls, who rescues innocent lives, is, by definition, NOT a false witness.  Solomon wrote this <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>as </I></FONT>a comment on the ninth commandment.</div> <div>     Working from Biblical examples, we might have arrived at the same conclusion.  The two most famous cases are those of the Hebrew midwives and Rahab the harlot.  Each of these gave <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>misinformation </I></FONT>in order to protect human life.  Both are singled out in Scriptures as virtuous women <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>for their rescuing</I></FONT>.  We might have rightly deduced, then, that their misinformation was not a bearing of false witness.  Most who comment on their cases, though, betray a crucial misunderstanding when they say, "The Hebrew midwives <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>lied</I></FONT>, but since they saved lives, it wasn't too bad of a lie."</div> <div>     Our verse today makes it abundantly clear that lying is the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>opposite </I></FONT>of true witness.  So if the Hebrew midwives lied (Exodus. 1), they <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>did </I></FONT>bear false witness. </div> <div>     There are two unsatisfactory directions usually taken from this point.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    One says that the Hebrew midwives lied, but God blessed them</FONT> <I>in spite of</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" > lying; they would have done </FONT><I>better </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >to have told the truth and left the consequences with God.  But where else do we see God confused about how to reward people for good or evil?  He gave the midwives unqualified rewards.</FONT></div> <div>     The other unsatisfactory conclusion is saying that God can allow the breaking of His own command when and how He pleases; He can make <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>exceptions </I></FONT>to His own rules.  Again, where else do we find that this is so?  Elsewhere, God's commands are inviolable.  God may weigh motives and actions and be less severe, or He may be forgiving, but He never treats disobedience as though it were obedience.</div> <div>     No, our verse is the entire answer to the riddle that has plagued Sunday school teachers from time immemorial (even before there was Sunday school).</div> <div>     The difficulty is this:  we all seem hardwired with a definition of lying that includes <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>all misinformation</I></FONT>.  If misinformation was deliberately given, we automatically conclude that a lie was told.  <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >The deficiency of this automatic definition is what keeps us in confusion</FONT>.</div> <div>     Do we feel bound to define the tactics of God's armies as <B>lies </B>when they hide in a field to set an ambush (Judges 20)?  This was certainly a form of misinformation, especially when they sent a smaller force against the gate to draw the enemy out.  Why would God sanction this?</div> <div>     Again, our problem is that we make an automatic connect:  misinformation- therefore, lying.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    To build the doctrine of false witness and lying Biblically, we must not start with any preconceptions.  Let God define lying Himself.  If we do this, we find that He </FONT><I>doesn't</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >call certain forms of misinformation lying.  To speak Biblically, we cannot say the Hebrew midwives lied.  In fact (and this will really test our boldness) we may actually say they </FONT><I>told the truth</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" > by giving life-saving misinformation.  Isn't that what our proverb says outright?  The saver of souls bears true witness?</FONT></div> <div>     Now it is time to add hastily:  only a very narrow range of communication falls under this part of God's definition.  You and I will probably <B>never be in a position</B> where someone's lives will be in our hands.  If we were, our reactions would probably be 'instinctual' and correct.  We would surely give misinformation to save a life.  The only problem is that our conscience may be conflicted in doing so.  </div> <div>     Conscience, be at ease!  Remember Proverbs 14:25 and rest.</div> <div>     Again, this verse does not justify any self-serving misinformation.  Only in the interests of true justice are we covered by this verse- which, remember, is not an exception to the ninth commandment; it is part of its definition.</div> <div>     Let us honor God by an accurate portrayal and following of His commandments.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *****************************************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>