March Devotions

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BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>  <A NAME="march_1"><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="435" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 83 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:26<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>In the fear of Jehovah </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>strong security, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>And for his children there is a shelter.</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" > </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse:</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >"His children" may refer to the children of the man fearing God or to the children of God Himself.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><U>:</U></div> <bR> <div> Being Commended:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fear of Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> Its Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">In it there is a strong refuge</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">There is a safe-haven for his children</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B><U>:</U></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >There isn't much of a developed doctrine of individual Christian sonship in the Old Testament.  We might therefore assume that the children in this proverb are those of the God-fearing man, not of God Himself.</FONT></div> <div>    The fear of Jehovah is the real focus of the verse.  The fear of Jehovah is mentioned five times in the introductory chapters (1 - 9), and once more so far in the proverbs proper (10 - 31).  It is the <B>theme </B>of the book.  After a seven-fold purpose statement at the book's outset, Solomon said:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 1:7</FONT>   The <U>fear of Jehovah</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I> </FONT>the beginning of knowledge</div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >Everything about Proverbs, everything about the Bible, everything about the Universe is in the context of the fear of God.  Leave out the fear of God and you have a meaningless garble.  That's because without the fear of God you really don't have God.  </FONT></div> <div>     God cannot exist as a <I>buddy </I>in the real Universe.  He created us.  This takes Him out of the realm of 'chum'.  Furthermore, His creation of us implies, as is specified throughout Scripture, His power to destroy us.  Jesus labored to get this point across:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Luke 12:5</FONT>  But I will warn you <U>whom you should fear</U>; fear the One who after the killing has authority to cast into Hell; yea, I say to you, <U>Fear</U> that One! </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >    </FONT>Of course, once God befriends us, He is the truest friend there is, but His friendship never nullifies or lessens His fear.  In fact, knowing the means by which He secured our friendship only <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>increases </I></FONT>our fear of Him.</div> <div>     Perhaps the most astonishing evidence of our sinfulness is in our lack of God's fear:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 3:18</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   there is no fear of God before their eyes.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >    </FONT>How can we fail to fear God?  The <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>angels</I></FONT>' natural reaction to Him indicates a great natural fear:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Isa 6:1, 2</FONT>   In the year that King Uzziah died, then I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. And His train filled the temple.   Above it stood the seraphs. Each one had six wings; with two he <U>covered his face</U>; and with two he <U>covered his feet</U>; and with two he flew. </div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >Yet when we humans speak of God or come into His presence in worship, we have no similar sense of humility.  We march into His throne room as bold as brass, not with a boldness born of humility, but one born of ignorance.  Even when we seek to reflect a fear of God by respectful words, there is just no real sense of the knee-melting presence of God:</FONT></div> <bR> <div>  Rev 1:17<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" > And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet, as dead. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >Yet we are probably more interested in justifying our arrogance:  "Well, if I saw Him face to face I would fear Him."</FONT></div> <div>     Oh?  It is not enough that He <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>speaks </I></FONT>to us?  </div> <div>     For Him, it <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>is </I></FONT>enough:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Isa 66:2</FONT><I> </I>  ... But to this one I will look, to the afflicted and contrite spirit, and the one who <U>trembles at My Word</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >What amazingly 'cheeky' little sneaks we are!  We read or hear God's Word and-  no reaction!  No fear at least.  And most peoples' view of Judgment Day is flavored by this same lack of fear.  We have no idea how immediate and complete a change it will be to actually have a sense, for the very first time, of the awe-inspiring presence of God.  All of our self-assuring thoughts about a grandfatherly figure smiling at us will melt away in a sheer terror, both for His presence and our own existence of complete presumption before Him:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rev 20:11</FONT>  And I saw a great white throne, and Him sitting on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven <U>fled away</U>. And a place was not found for them. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >   </FONT>It is as though we live in a deep fog that hides us from God's presence, and we assume that this fog will just follow us right into Heaven.  Yes, this seems to certify that our every cell is dipped to full saturation with a sinfully complete <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>lack </I></FONT>of the fear of God.</div> <bR> <div>     Christian conversion is a recognition of this fog.  It is also a coming out of it to some extent.  The Christian has at least learned <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>about </I></FONT>the fear of God.  He may not really sense it to the moving of his whole being, but he <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>knows </I></FONT>it.  To the degree that he can <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>walk </I></FONT>consistently in that fear, our proverb says he cannot be harmed.  As long as Job preserved his fear of God, he was in no ultimate danger at all.  God was with him; all God's promises were secure to him.  Once his fear of God began to fade, a very insecure Universe began to loom before him.  God does not honor those who treat Him other than He really is.</div> <div>     To those who remember Him respectfully and walk honorably before Him, His security extends into the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>next </I></FONT>generation, into the lives of their children.  God is saying, "I am glad to be Protector <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>to the fullest</I></FONT> to anyone who regards My strength as greatest, My grip as firmest.  I will protect His children too."</div> <div>     Many regard fearing God as a factor creating distance between us and Him.  The last century saw a lot of explaining the fear of God <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>away</I></FONT>.  Let us be wise and fear God, and secure the intimate and comforting blessings of His protections to ourselves and our posterity.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="394" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 85 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:27<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The fear of Jehovah </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>is </B></I></FONT><B>a spring of life,</B></div> <div> <I><B>For</B></I><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>turning from the traps of death.</B><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Commended<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fear of Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> Its Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is a spring <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>flowing with</I></FONT> Life</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Turns one away from the traps <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>laid out by</I></FONT> Death</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>    <B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >Proverbs 13:14 is the same as our present verse, except instead of "the fear of Jehovah" being the spring, etc., it has "the Law of Jehovah" as the spring, etc., exactly as our verse otherwise.      </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    This reminds us of Psalm 19, where the fear of Jehovah is listed among a group of descriptions of God's Word.  There we have the perfections of the Law, the Commandments, the Statutes, the Judgments of Jehovah; and the fear of Jehovah is listed among them.  How is the fear of Jehovah like a category of the Word of Jehovah?  For one thing, when Jehovah's words are actually received </FONT><I>as</I><I> </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >His words, the fear of Jehovah automatically accompanies them.  The real reception of God's words </FONT><I>is </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >the reception of His fear.</FONT></div> <div>     This also gives us the clue as to how the fear of God can be like a water spring bubbling up in our souls.  A spring at its source is simply where the water comes from.  The fear a God similarly identifies God and His life within us.  The fear of God gives us whatever God Himself gives us.  As God's presence yields springs of life within, so does His fear.  Jesus even specified that it is the Holy Spirit who dwells within us like a spring of water (Jn. 7:38).  Comparing that to this verse, we can further say that when the Holy Spirit is within us, the fear of God is within us.</div> <div>     The next question is:  how does a spring of Life turn us from the traps laid for us by Death?  The simplest two answers are:  1) that by preferring Life's fountain, we won't be in a pathway where Death can target us;  2) that the Springs of Life will so refresh and strengthen us, that we will have the wit and the will to steer clear of Death's nooses laid so cleverly along the way.</div> <div>     Hopefully we realize what a gargantuan power the fear of God possesses to accomplish such deliverance.  This is not lightweight platitude or idealistic aphorism.  It is an intensely practical warning.  Beware!  There are traps out there that will certainly pull you down.  Unaided you cannot avoid them.  </div> <div>     But God does not offer His services like Superman, flying in at the last moment to rescue the blundering citizens of Midville.  God says we will have to make thorough preparations against the villains' traps.  He will rescue us by teaching us how to avoid the traps in the first place.  When we are caught in a trap and are wriggling upside down with the enemy laughing at us, God is still testing us, whether His fear is our guide.  </div> <div>     How do we respond when the bullets are flying?  Do we lose our heads?  Or does the fear of God calm us and teach us that no other fear should be allowed to replace the perfect one?  When the world is screaming at us, trying to bother us into an anxious mood, are we able to collect ourselves well enough to kneel and drink from the fountain God has richly supplied within us:  to fear Him and meditate on His Words?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="505" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 81 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:28<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>A king's honor is in the abundance of people: </B></div> <div> <B>but a ruler's undoing is in the negation of the populace.</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><B> </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A king's honor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A ruler's undoing</div> <bR> <div> In What They Consist:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">In many people</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">In scarcity of populace</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     A king without people is a king of nothing.  Perhaps he has vast lands and vast wealth.  What is royalty or rulership with just those?  The only true honor of a national leader is the people in his nation.  </div> <div>     Shouldn't a king be more concerned about the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>quality </I></FONT>of his people than the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>quantity</I></FONT>?  Actually, it is the leader of smaller bands of men led into select pursuits who prefers quality over quantity: the military commander, the corporate executive.  The king is more concerned with having many such subservient leaders under him and all their diverse groups functioning harmoniously within his realm.  So the king's concern is really in numbers first.  </div> <div>     If a king limited citizenship to the best and brightest, he would have nothing to fall back on if, say, a plague thinned his ranks.  A king with <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>many </I></FONT>people may have a mix of extraordinary with ordinary, but this mix also helps to provide a division of labor in which gifted but underdeveloped men can rise from lower ranks.  Without the lower ranks, there would be no pool for such development.  Furthermore, there would be a self-destructive competetive pressure in the upper echelons.</div> <bR> <div>     What of King Jesus?  Is He content with a paltry little band of followers?  Apparently not:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rev 7:9</FONT> After these things I looked, and behold, a great <U>multitude</U>, which <U>no man could number</U>, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb </div> <bR> <div>     Jesus generally <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>starts </I></FONT>with the lowest quality people:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >1 Cor 1:26</FONT>  For you see your calling, brothers, that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>there are</I></FONT>  <U>not many wise</U> according to flesh, nor many powerful, not many wellborn. </div> <bR> <div>     But He ends with the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>best</I></FONT>, because He <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>makes </I></FONT>them the best:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Psa 16:3</FONT>  As for the saints in the earth, they <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are</I> </FONT><U>the excellent ones</U>; all My delight <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I> </I> </FONT>in them. </div> <bR> <div>     In each successive generation, the Church is small compared to the World (<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >"few there be that find it"</FONT>), but in the end, they will be a vast host, pruned from scrubby dinginess to a regal, shining majesty and honor under their King, Jehovah of Hosts.</div> <div>     Let us glory in our King and pray as part of His innumerable citizenry for the consummation of His kingdom.  Let us pray for those Christ appoints as earthly leaders under His dominion.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="460" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:29<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>One slow </B></FONT><I><B>to</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>anger </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>of great understanding, </B></FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>but he who </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>short of spirit exalts folly. </B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse:</U></B></div> <bR> <div>     The Hebrew literally contrasts the man "long" to anger (it takes him a long time to get angry) with the man "short" of spirit.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who is slow to anger</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who is short of spirit</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is of great intelligence</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Exalts foolishness</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The expression 'having a short fuse' gets us close to the idea of the first half of the proverb.  Our task is to make it a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>long fuse</I></FONT>.</div> <div>     The opposite of the long-fused man is the short-"spirited" man.  He's like the man who "lacks heart" (10:13, 11:12, 12:11).  He is in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>short supply</I></FONT> of an inner quality he needs.  He lacks sufficient <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>spirit </I></FONT>to find his way past an angry response.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    The long-fused fellow is of abundant intelligence according to our verse.  This means that he </FONT><I>comes up with good reasons</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >not to express anger.  </FONT></div> <div>     When we're offended, anger is an appetite seeking satisfaction like any human appetite.  There is always some ready rationale to give in to our desire to harm.  The intelligent person comes up with <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>counter-arguments</I></FONT> to keep himself <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>out </I></FONT>of the revenge game.  Most people don't have the mind to master their temper.</div> <div>     This gives us an interesting insight on intelligence.  There is a kind of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>genius </I></FONT>in some intuitive responses.  The way the mind leaps to the aid of emotion for some people in some settings is what we reserve the word 'inspired' for.  Some people might even get an 'inspired' plan of revenge.  Some angry comebacks in bickering are 'inspired', though not inspiring.  </div> <div>     Our verse is telling us that there is a genius beyond this gut-level genius.  The ability to talk yourself out of foolishness is a very great form of genius indeed.  A mensa-level intelligent person really isn't much good without such inner protection.</div> <div>     The quick-tempered fellow, then, is being shown as a dolt.  He hasn't got the brains to tell himself that he might regret this later.  Furthermore, the hot-head is pegged as <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>short of spirit</I></FONT><I>.</I>  We could reword a saying for him.  "There was still month left over at the end of the paycheck."  For Mr. Hot-head, it's "There were still issues left at the end of his spirit."  He couldn't stretch his abbreviated spirit far enough to cover the problem, so he just got angry.  What an embarrassing admission this should be when we lose our tempers.  A baby spirit in a big person's body.</div> <div>     There are no excuses either.  We can't blame it on 'I'm tired' or 'I had a bad day'.  It's our responsibility to deal with these things.  An intelligent person would account for them.  At the very least we can remain quiet.  This decision alone is more intelligent than any subsequent one we would make <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>with </I></FONT>anger.</div> <div>     The man who has brakes for his anger exalts God-given intelligence; the dwarf-spirited man only exalts folly. </div> <div>     An intelligent, large-spirited person <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>can </I></FONT>be angry, of course.  Jesus was.  But He controlled His anger, it didn't control Him. </div> <div>     Be honest.  If you are regularly angry, you don't fall into the Jesus category.  </div> <div>     When Jesus called us, literally "little faiths," he was saying both that we lack intelligence and that our faith is limited to the diminutive size of our spirits.  If we entrust our spirits and wit to Jesus, he can grow them sufficient to hold an ample faith.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="401" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:30<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>A healed heart </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>life to the flesh, </B></FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>But envy </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>rottenness to the bones .</B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" >    "</FONT>Envy" is also translated "zeal."  It is the word in Ps. 69:9 prophesied of Christ, "The <U>zeal</U> of Your house has consumed Me."  Its basic meaning is a strong, controlling feeling.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A cured heart</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Resentment</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is life to the flesh</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is consumption of the bones</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is our first look at Solomon's <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Sylfaen" ><I>health-related</I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Sylfaen" >  </FONT>teaching.  He has already mentioned bone decay as <I>similar </I>to the outcome caused by a contentious wife (12:4).  He had first brought up the health-related effects of righteousness in chapter three:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 3:7, 8 </FONT>  Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear Jehovah and depart from evil.  <U>Healing</U> shall be to your navel and <U>moisture to your bones</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Notice the apparent opposite of bone decay-  bone moisture.</div> <div>     So there are direct <B>bodily </B>effects from our morality, be it good or bad (not necessarily immediately perceived effects, of course).</div> <div>     Solomon therefore sees man as an integrated whole.  He does not share Plato's hypothesized separation of earthly life from some other loosely related, Ideal existence.  He sees earthly life flowing right from the garden of Eden into our present existence.  We are not in our final state, and the goodness of the original state has been diverted, but from the beginning our bodies were made to correspond to the world around us and to God who made us.  What God put within us <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>affects </I></FONT>and i<I>s </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>affected by</I></FONT> what is outside us.  </div> <div>     Our health is never unrelated to our spiritual status.  Bad health cannot <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>cause </I></FONT>a bad spiritual state, but it does <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>tend </I></FONT>to.  When we feel terrible, it is harder to praise God exuberantly.  We may have joy when we are sick, but something of the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>expression </I></FONT>of it tends to be lost.  </div> <div>     Bodies are very important; AND this is a good thing.  Just because sin has adversely affected the body does not mean that the body is bad or undesirable.  The body is a perfectly designed vehicle for image of God- man.  The body was so well-designed from the beginning that death within it becomes a constant reminder of ours and the world's need for renovation.</div> <div>     So Solomon speaks of "life to the flesh" today.  Another similar reference was made in chapter four:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 4:20 - 22 </FONT>  My son, listen to my words; bow down your ear to my sayings.  Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart.  For they <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are </I></FONT> life to those who find them, and <U>health</U> <U>to all his flesh</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Note that our bodily health takes its cue from our inward health.  The word for "health" in 4:22 (of the body) is the same for "healed" in our verse today (of the soul).  Our <I>spirit </I>is always feeding some 'message' to our <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>body,</I></FONT> helping it or else hurting it.  </div> <div>     Our spirit isn't the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>only </I></FONT>message source to our bodies.  We know that bodily sickness can be caused by something besides our own spirit (2 Cor 12:7).  It can simply be a consequence of merely physical factors- breathing in a virulent virus, for instance.  This is how Paul treats other illnesses- something bodies <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>normally </I></FONT>go through in a fallen world (2 Tim. 4:20; Philip. 2:27; also see Eccl. 9:2).  But our verse does tell us that states as serious as cancer (marrow decay is often directly involved) can be invited by ongoing resentment.  Dreadful thought.  Almost too devastating to fully take it in.</div> <bR> <div>     When our heart is healed, though, our body is blessed.</div> <div>     Take careful note of what the opposite of a healed heart is here:  ENVY / RESENTMENT.  When we lack contentment in life, this eats away at our life.  This is strange and rather horrible.  Our punishment, automatic and inexorable, for hating our existence is having our existence hate us back.</div> <div>     It doesn't take a great amount of reasoning skill to deduce that a healed heart has one main thing to be healed OF:  resentment.</div> <div>     Only one word of advice is necessary here.  Don't assume that you have no resentment.  You may consider your bodily health acceptable today, but that doesn't mean resentment isn't slowly eating away at your flesh.  You may not walk around with the words "I hate him" on your mind, but you may well be controlled by resentment anyway.  </div> <div>     In fact, resentment is the kind of sin that tends to hide itself, to imbed itself deeper than we would notice.  What we <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>might </I></FONT>notice is clued for us in our text- not a foolproof clue, because we've seen other causes too- but if we have become subject to aches, pains, maladies, discomforts, etc., it may be simply that resentment is starting to take its toll in ill health.  This is one of the favors our body does us- alerting us of spiritual poison within.  Now it becomes our task to sit down and carefully consider where that hidden resentment is (or where hidden resentments <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>are</I></FONT>).  Once we're looking, resentment is usually not that hard to find.  </div> <div>     Take this sin of resentment before the heart Healer.  Note that a resented person is usually going to require reconciliation on our part.</div> <div>     Still clueless?  Do an inventory.  March the people you know before your mind's eye.  Say to them one by one, "You are a friend to me."  When the words are stuck in your throat, the crossways consonant is resentment.</div> <div>     For those who have done you harm but are out of reach, say, "Jehovah will repay."  If you can say that and mean it (i.e., He will repay as HE sees fit, not according to my anger), you will free yourself of that resentment.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="610" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:31<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>He who oppresses the weak shows contempt for his Maker, </B></div> <div> <B>But he who ministers to the needy honors Him. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one oppressing the weak</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one ministering to the needy</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shames the One who made him [the poor]</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Glorifies Him [God]</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >Life can be described as an interplay between people in their varied social /economic conditions.  In a way, all that needs to be said about us on the last day can be said in how we responded to those less fortunate than ourselves here on earth.  If we honored God here, we will also have recognized His special creatures, the poor.  If we ignored the poor, we dishonored their Creator.  </FONT></div> <div>     This is a startlingly brief and simple summary of life, but it is Biblical.  There are other brief but accurate summaries of our spiritual status, but none of them would contradict this one.</div> <div>     In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commented on the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>three basic duties</I></FONT> of a godly man as the Jews already understood them from the Old Testament.  He had corrected their mistaken notions of the Old Testament in chapter five.  Now in chapter six He only corrected the hypocritical and heathen views of the three duties.  The three duties?  Alms, Prayer, and Fasting.  </div> <div>     Alms is the KJV word for "merciful deeds".  Those merciful deeds are directly alluded to in our proverb today.  </div> <div>     For all three of the basic Christian duties, Jesus said, "When you ..."  It was assumed that members of the Kingdom of Heaven <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>would do</I></FONT> these three things.  "When you do merciful deeds," don't do it for man's notice, do it before God's eye.  "When you pray," don't be like the repetitious heathen, but use this framework.  "When you fast," don't do it for men's notice, again, but privately before God.</div> <div>     Jesus assumes the acceptance by His people of these three basic duties.  The epistles carry this same assumption.  </div> <div>     None of the tasks are easy.  Each of them carries its own offense to the flesh, the need to overcome laziness at the least.  Helping the poor carries its own special offense.  </div> <div>     Our natural response to afflicted people is negative on several levels.  </div> <div>     Firstly, we naturally avoid the needy because we sense that they want something from us.  We feel called upon to part with our own provisions to meet their need.  </div> <div>     Secondly, we avoid them because their affliction usually engenders a negative attitude on their part, and this is unpleasant to be around, whether it is their anger or their pessimism.  </div> <div>     Thirdly, we avoid them because we doubt whether we can really do them any good in the long run.  </div> <div>     Fourthly, we avoid them because something in our fallen religious nature tells us that they are abandoned by God; such a state might be contagious in some way, our natural man's intuitions tell us; we are naturally repulsed.</div> <bR> <div>     So a Christian is fighting a real uphill battle to minister to the weak.  None of the above reasons will probably come to mind when we encounter thoughts about them.  The only issue we probably deal with is laziness.  "Well, anyway, I don't really have the time."  We are at least aware of the insufficiency of this excuse when someone <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>else </I></FONT>dodges a duty with it.  Notice, though, that Solomon presents alms as an either/or.  We either help the needy or we hate them.</div> <div>     The wise <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>church </I></FONT>takes this bull by the horns.  Paul tells Titus to be sure that help for the poor is addressed by <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>organized </I></FONT>effort:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Tit 3:14</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  And let our </FONT><I>people</I>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     If helping the needy were a strictly private venture, Paul could not have said this.  We are supposed to 'network' in helping the poor.  In Acts 6, the selecting of seven spiritual men solely for administrating goods tells us that good works is a church duty <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>and </I></FONT>that it is a spiritual duty.</div> <div>     In our private lives, we are also to reflect recognition of God's glory by helping the needy:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Eccl 11:1, 2</FONT>    Send out <U>your bread</U> on the face of the waters, for you shall find it in many days.  <U>Give a share</U> to seven, or even to eight; for you do not know what evil may be on the earth. </div> <bR> <div>     Many folks who thought they were good buddies with God will find on the last day that their contempt for the poor and the afflicted was pretty much spitting in God's eye.  It's a fairly easy sign to detect and address- if we're in listening mode.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_7"><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="401" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66CCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Prov 14:32<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The wicked is brought down in his calamity, </B></div> <div> <B>But the righteous has a refuge in death. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >There are two main Hebrew words that are translated "the wicked."  One of them can also denote "evil" in the sense of "bad circumstances" that occur in life.  So our verse can be translated as above, but others translate the first half, "The wicked is brought down in his wickedness."</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The wicked</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is brought down in his adversity</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Has a hope <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>even </I></FONT>in <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>his </I></FONT>death</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This proverb takes our thoughts all the way back to the proverb that officially marked the subject matter of the second part of the book, Proverbs 10:2.  Proverbs 10:1, you may recall, summarized the concept that glued the first nine chapters together (authority); then 10:2 said:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 10:2</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This, then, was the first basic pillar upholding the rest of Proverbs.</div> <div>     Now we have another "marker," perhaps.  If we were seeking to outline proverbs, this might be a good place to look for a dividing point, a starting of a new section. (11:4 and 12:28 might also be similar markers)</div> <div>     The actual contrast of this proverb is between what troubles can do to a godless man versus what death can do to the righteous.  Troubles can subvert an unrighteous man's whole existence, but not even death can take a righteous man's hope away.</div> <div>     Let us be certain, an amoral man's hope is taken away in death.  Modern man tends to conceive of hope as a wish that is probably granted in death.  It would be considered rude to say someone doesn't receive his wish in death.  If he loved sailing, we're supposed to say that he's probably full sail around the Milky Way now.  Solomon had no such romantic misapprehensions.  In fact, it is an actual rudeness to encourage the hope that people get what they want in death.  We think God has gypped us in life, not quite getting the formula for true happiness right, so He naturally owes us an eternal pleasure resort after this life.  The Bible, however, teaches that God has granted plenty of pleasure in this life, but it will be cut off afterwards if that's all we sought.  Abraham speaks thus to one who had departed this life:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Luke 16:25</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   But Abraham said, Child, remember that you fully received your good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus likewise the bad things.  But now he is comforted, and you are suffering. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     That's the real justice of things, but the ungodly refuse to think of their self-centered lives as that.  (Interesting that we just had a proverb on treatment of the poor as an indicator of our spiritual condition.)</div> <div>     So the godly is the only one that has any true right to confidence in death.  But what our proverb exactly says about the immoral is that all it takes is a good-sized calamity to bring down their whole existence.  The contrast is this:  a significant storm will sweep away all the godless has, while a hurricane, volcano, earthquake, forest fire, and tidal wave all rolled into one cannot undo the hope of the godly.</div> <div>     Why would any human be interested in any religion or philosophical position that didn't address the afterlife satisfactorily?  This, as much as any other area, separates Christianity from its next closest competitor by an infinity.  Christ actually made the afterlife a focus of his teaching and ministry.  He met its reality and the unpleasantness of death head-on.  And He claimed to have the actual solution to death; He promised to undo it.  This He has done in His resurrection.  What other religion or philosophy comes anywhere close to making such a claim?  </div> <div>     But the unbeliever reassures himself that Christ need not be considered the answer to all things.  He categorizes the Bible's death-remedy with superstitions springing from human imagination.  </div> <div>     But how are they remotely similar?  Christ's solution is not a shot in the dark.  It is not a bedtime story to make us feel better about our useless existence here.  It explains with the precision and detail of surgery what death is and how Christ defeats it- not in terms of mythology, but in language of reason and explanation.</div> <div>     The righteous has a hope in death:  both a personal hope and an absolute hope.  Absolute in that he has merely believed what God has promised, and personal, in that he has received the comfort in his soul that rightly accompanies the reception of such a well-grounded promise.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="460" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99CC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:33<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>Wisdom nestles in the heart of the discerning, </B></div> <div> <B>and it is </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>even </B></I></FONT><B>known amidst dullards. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >"Amidst" can also mean "in the inward parts".  It could also be translated, "but/and it [wisdom] is revealed in the inward parts of fools."</FONT></div> <div>     Another possible translation is "but what is in the inner parts of dullards is made known," contrasting that which rests quietly within the wise to what the fool babbles out. </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Wisdom</div> <bR> <div> Its Qualities:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Resides in the heart of the intelligent</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is revealed in the inward parts of dullards</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is a proverb on the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>extensive reach</I></FONT><I> </I>of wisdom.  It is a very important verse in the doctrine of lost men's accountability for their sin.</div> <div>     In Proverbs 1, wisdom cried out to men.</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 1:20</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  Wisdom cries aloud in the street; She utters her voice in the broad places; </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     So the extensive reach of wisdom is part of Solomon's basic fabric as he weaves Proverbs.  Wisdom even continues to communicate to those who have scorned her, albeit in a fearful tone:</div> <bR> <div>   <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 1:26</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   I also will laugh at your trouble; I will mock when your fear comes; </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon further pictures even the man abandoned to sin as one who recognizes true wisdom.  To the victims of the strange woman, he says:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 5:11 - 13</FONT>   and you moan when your end <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>comes</I></FONT>, when your flesh and muscle are eaten away,  and say, <U>How I have hated instruction</U>, and my heart despised correction;  and I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor bowed down my ears to those who taught me! </div> <bR> <div>     He will suddenly remember everything he was taught!  Furthermore, he will <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>agree </I></FONT>with it!</div> <div>     This is what Solomon is saying in our proverb today.  The man who detours the path of folly at wisdom's call will know her as a warm companion.  But he who ignores her will only have to hear from her again later when she reminds him of the justice of his bad outcome.  Wisdom is indeed known even in the heart of fools!</div> <div>      What do we say, then, of men who insist in their misery that their folly was still the best course?  They are only confirming by their anger that they, too, hear wisdom's voice.  Wisdom's presence is confirmed, ironically, by the shouts with which fools seek to drown her out!</div> <div>     So generally in descriptions of the deep darkness of man's depravity, we find that it is not that he doesn't <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>know</I></FONT>, it is that he doesn't <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>want</I></FONT><I>:</I></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Isa 59:11</FONT>  We all of us roar like bears, and moaning we moan like doves. <U>We look for justice</U>, but <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>there is</I></FONT> none; for salvation, but it is far from us. </div> <bR> <div>     How do we know to look for justice when we have strayed so far from it?  Its <B>testimony </B>must be <B>plenteous </B>within us.  But we only want the counterfeit variety.</div> <div>     So with <B>atheists</B>' knowledge of God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 1:20</FONT>  For the unseen things of Him from <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>the</I></FONT> creation of the world are <U>clearly seen</U>, being understood by the things made, both His eternal power and Godhead, for them to be <U>without excuse.</U> </div> <bR> <div>     So with the <B>heathens</B>' knowledge of God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 2:14, 15</FONT>  For when the nations, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law unto themselves;  who show the <U>work of the Law</U> <U>written in their hearts</U>, their conscience also bearing witness</div> <bR> <div>     It's scary to think how close wisdom always is when we'd like to do or say something out of her earshot.  We will always come back and say, "I knew better."  As many times as we've said it, wouldn't you think we'd catch on?  It's no use trying to escape wisdom.  Blessed truth for the man taken captive by the Gospel!  He couldn't escape even if he wanted to.  But his goal is to make that captivity his constant and willing motto.  </div> <bR> <div>     Only an immature Christian lives in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>reaction </I></FONT>to wisdom's <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>discipline</I></FONT>.  We are meant, as this proverb clearly indicates, to have wisdom as a welcome companion is our hearts.  She "nestles" in the heart of the wise.  She should never be made to feel uncomfortable.  It should be the most settled matter in our lives that we prefer no other company to hers, for she is the voice of our God.  The extensive reach of wisdom into our hearts is her journey all the way to a contented residence in our souls.  She should be able to nestle, not wrestle a place for herself.  The wrestling should be ours, wrestling down every competing thought and attitude.</div> <div>     So let us captives of the Gospel put on our safari togs and go hunting!</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > 2 Cor 10:4, 5</FONT>  For the weapons of our warfare <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are</I></FONT> not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,  pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and <U>bringing into captivity</U> <U>every thought</U> into the obedience of Christ; </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="379" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:34<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>Righteousness lifts up a nation, </B></div> <div> <B>but sin </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> a shame to any populace.</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >One literal translation takes "sin" as "sin offering" (same in the Hebrew); it also translates "shame" according to its usual meaning of "kindness, mercy", and comes up with "and the mercy of a populace is a sin offering."  Would human kindness be a sin offering before God, or comparable to one, though?</FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Righteousness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sin</div> <bR> <div> What Each One Does:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Raises a nation</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is a disgrace to any community</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    Sin and righteousness are both universals.  Neither one is limited to individual human applications.  How could they be, after all, when communities and nations are only gatherings of individual humans?  How could a collective absolutely defy the norms of its constituent parts?  So a nation can sin, and a community can be righteous.  Obviously, not every individual within a community will necessarily be graded by its average reading.  Lot was removed from Sodom to keep him from the fate of its ungodliness; but we thereby see that Sodom as a whole had a definite spiritual 'temperature' that could be read and justly adjudicated.  The </FONT><I>city </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >Sodom sinned greatly, and their deep disgrace was answered by God </FONT><I>as a </I><I>communit</I><I>y</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >.</FONT></div> <div>     This is the only time Solomon uses this, the common word for "nations."  He usually uses one of the Hebrew words for "peoples" or "populace."</div> <div>     Righteousness lifts up a nation.  </div> <div>     A nation will either do righteousness or unrighteousness.  </div> <div>     When the Christian populace within a nation refuses to see their country as capable of morality or immorality, they will no doubt let their nation do as it will.  When Christians are so tuned to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>individual </I></FONT>spiritual status that they cannot accept the category of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>corporate </I></FONT>spiritual status, they will fail in their duties to pray for their nation as a nation.  They may pray for leaders individually, but they will only see remedies in terms of individual conversions.  Nations, according to their model, cannot be converted.</div> <div>     And of course, nations cannot be converted <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>as </I></FONT>individuals can; but does this mean that nations cannot be converted at all?  Isn't there ample evidence of national conversion in Scriptures?  What about Nineveh at Jonah's preaching?  What about Israelite reforms under such godly kings as Josiah?  Did every single individual have to experience regeneration to merit God's turning from His anger?  Did even a majority?  Rather, we see that one <B>godly </B>leader can <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>impose </I></FONT>change in a land such that his destruction of the land's idols and their priests calls down God's favorable response towards the whole nation.</div> <div>     By the same token, an <B>ungodly </B>leader like Ahab can silence even 7,000 people who refuse to follow his idolatry.  The whole land can be afflicted with drought despite these 7,000.  The land is dealt with by God <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>as a whole</I></FONT>.  Note that in His corporate dealings, God does not forget individuals, as His care for Elijah during the drought proves.</div> <div>     </div> <div>     God is gauging <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>our </I></FONT>nation today.  He is issuing warnings; He is noting responses.  His testimony to us may <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>diminish </I></FONT>as our nation turns its ear from truth, while false teachers <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>increase</I></FONT>.   In the Old Testament, at last, there was only Jeremiah.  He alone prophesied truth when numerous other prophets spoke the party line- "God is good; He is our God; He wouldn't abandon us."</div> <bR> <div>     Do you pray for America as a nation?</div> <div>     Do you realize that God perceives the spiritual condition of our nation?</div> <div>     Do you realize that you, as an American, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>share </I></FONT>America's spirituality?  Why else did Daniel pray, "<I><B>We </B></I>have sinned," even when he was obviously not directly involved in the idolatry or ungodliness he confessed?  He realized that he was not merely an individual, but also a member of a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>body of people</I></FONT> so recognized and dealt with by God.  </div> <div>     No wonder America wanders further and further from God.  On two counts her only intercessors void their prayers for her:  1) we won't humble ourselves to be counted part of her spiritually, so we can't lift a contrite prayer on her behalf, and  2) we do not even conceive of national repentance as possible.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="492" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFBF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 14:35<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>The favor of a king </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><I><B>directed </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>to an intelligent servant, </B></FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>But his wrath manifests </B></FONT><I><B>itself </B></I><I><B>here</B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>- the shameful!</B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >The second half of the proverb 'unsmoothed out' reads, "but his wrath exists the shameful."  The "is directed to" from the first half of the verse might be understood in the second half, so "but his wrath is toward the disgracer."</FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A king's favor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A king's wrath</div> <bR> <div> Their Objects Respectively:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A servant who is intelligent</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A shameful person / servant</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This proverb serves two purposes:  1) it insures us that there is moral order in the world, even in this fallen world; and  2) it informs us of how we should relate to those who govern us.</div> <div>     First, concerning the moral order of the world, Paul shares the same view:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 13:1 - 3</FONT>  Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities.  For there is no authority but of God; the <U>authorities</U> that exist are <U>ordained by God</U>.   So that the one resisting the authority resists the ordinance of God; and the ones who resist will receive judgment to themselves.  For the <U>rulers</U> are not <U>a terror</U> to good works, but <U>to the bad</U>.  And do you desire to be not afraid of the authority?  Do the good, and you shall have praise from it. </div> <bR> <div>     When we read this, we wonder if Paul had a temporary lapse of memory.  Had he forgotten that the Roman authorities were persecuting the Church?  Wasn't that being a terror to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>good </I></FONT>works?</div> <div>     Of course Paul hadn't forgotten this.  What he is saying is this:</div> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Palatino Linotype" >No government in all earth's history will be able to escape basic moral order.</FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Palatino Linotype" >    </FONT>That includes America with her millions of sanctioned abortions.  What Paul would say about that is this:  even though America's infanticide is a great crime meriting America's destruction, yet her legal system still validates the principle that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>killing is wrong</I></FONT>.  It has redefined a class of human beings to deny them protection, but the basic understanding is still that killing is wrong.</div> <div>     To see most clearly that all governments have always and will always follow basic moral order, consider this:  has any government in all history ever said:  "Thou shalt kill"-  period?  -meaning that killing is a virtue?  -meaning go out and begin killing immediately.  No, this never has been and never could be.  </div> <div>     Man at his worst cannot defy basic moral order.  He cannot say that stealing is basically good, even though he may justify an act of his own theft.  Man will not say that lying itself is good, though he may insist that a lie he told was good and necessary.  Man will always have to come back and affirm that a society cannot exist  where all stealing is sanctioned.  No country will continue whose rules are based on the belief that lying is a moral virtue.  Man simply cannot escape the fact and necessity of moral order by God's basic definitions.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    When Adam chose the determination of good and evil for himself, he was not objecting to God's moral order per se.  He was only objecting to God's </FONT><I>unilateral dispensing of it</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >.  Adam would have put every one of God's laws back in place </FONT><I>if only they had </I><B>his </B><I>stamp of approval first</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >.  That's what makes sin sin.  Satan's basic objection to God's order was the same:  not "Your laws are bad," but, "I deserve a share of Your rulership." (Ezek. 14, Isa. 28)</FONT></div> <div>     So Paul, who apparently was executed by the Roman government, would still affirm that the Roman government had not invalidated the precepts of right and wrong on a basic level.  They had only misidentified him as an evil-doer: a great evil, to be sure, but not an overturning of moral order.</div> <div>     So our proverb affirms our faith in a basic moral order in the world.  Man cannot escape the "work of the Law written in his heart," (Rom. 2).</div> <bR> <div>     Secondly, our proverb encourages us to walk in an upright manner before our governments, wherever and whatever they are.  Leaders cannot afford to have shameful people on their staff.  Shameful servants are eventually ousted or lose their influence.  Leaders will always eventually gravitate to the people who have the best ideas and behavior.  It may be hard for them to find out who really came up with the right solution, since overseers tend to steal credit from underlings.  But even those who steal good ideas are at least affirming the intelligence of those ideas.  Most staff people are glad to acknowledge and have the help of intelligent underlings.  The cream tends to rise to the top.  And a truly intelligent servant doesn't want a higher rank than he can handle anyway.</div> <div>     So don't be discouraged if you are overlooked by those in authority over you.  If they are worth their own salt, they can't afford to leave a bright one in the shadows.  If they are bad judges of talent and character, they won't be in their position long anyway.  In any case, don't be a person who causes disgrace by your impatience.  That's a sure sign that you weren't as intelligent as you thought.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="430" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:1<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>A mild reply turns back fury, </B></div> <div> <B>But an offensive word makes anger rise.</B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" >    </FONT>"Turns back" is the Hebrew word for "returns".  We might therefore paraphrase, "A mild response puts indignation back <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Perpetua" ><I>in its sheath</I></FONT>."</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A gentle reply</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A harsh word</div> <bR> <div> Their Objects:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Puts rage back</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Gives rise to anger</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Simply amazing- the power of speech!  Both the disposition of the speaker and the words he chooses are decisive elements in causing great changes around him.  He can calm a furious man, putting out, as it were, a spewing volcano; he can also turn a placid soul into a charging bull.</div> <div>     The tongue's power is nearly Solomon's whole point here; its exact effects are almost secondary.  If we even accepted the powerful affect of our words <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>in general</I></FONT>, we would not toss them about so carelessly; it almost wouldn't matter whether we <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>specifically </I></FONT>pacified or pummeled men with our speech.</div> <div>     Of course, these are the two effects of speech listed:  calming and infuriating.  And there is an important difference between these two effects.  One communication is transferred deliberately; the other, not necessarily so.  The mild "reply" implies that the answer is thought out.  The sharp "word" could just be a reaction spit out automatically.</div> <div>     We are encouraged to have a gentle defense on standby should we meet someone who's having a bad day and letting everyone know it (either by chronicling his woes or, worse, by fault-finding).  This soft answer would rely heavily on its launch mechanism.  When someone is spewing invectives at you, it is quite difficult to speak calming words rather than destructive ones.  After all, if there's ever a time we're justified in blowing our tops, it's when someone has wrongly accused us, right?  Wrong.  God expects us to be in full control of our emotions, and</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >1 Pet 3:9 </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  Do not give back evil for evil, or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, </FONT><I>giving</I>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >blessing, knowing that you are called to this so that you might inherit blessing. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     So we must be able to take careful aim with our "love anti-aircraft guns", even under heavy fire.  When we pull the trigger, of course, it's just a water pistol of sorts, to cool the flame-thrower dousing us.  We're actually trying to soothe the other person's soul, not even defend ourselves.</div> <div>     Solomon gives us an observation.  The observation suggests a rule.  Peter's quote gives the rule.  But is there an exception to the rule?  Of sorts, yes; Jesus Himself spoke harshly against His critics on occasion.  It came to a point where it was no longer His job to appease them.  This doesn't mean that He sent hate missiles to raise anger; He didn't.  But He spoke the truth about their sin in spite of what they would feel about it.  This was not a harsh word, merely an accurate one; nor did it stir anger, it answered existing anger against God.</div> <div>     So much for the deliberate word.  The careless word is, unfortunately, what characterizes us.  A "harsh", hurtful word is easy to speak.  Again, we don't even have to try.  In fact, we can have the intention of saying something basically nice but end up belittling by poor choice of words.  Why would such words come out?  Because we are not in the habit or making this prayer:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Psa 141:3</FONT>   O Jehovah, <U>set a guard</U> for my mouth; keep watch on the door of my lips. </div> <bR> <div>     When we have hurt others carelessly, we have been put on notice that even thoughtless words can harm.  Do we simply keep excusing ourselves?  When will we take responsibility for what we say?  When we do, we begin to develop an 'early warning system' that measures what we say <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>before </I></FONT>we say it.  Genuine care for the other person is really enough to accomplish this all by itself.</div> <div>     One last lesson.  When we feel anger rising in us, we now realize the power someone's brusque word has on <I><B>us</B></I>.  This warns us to avoid the sin of manifesting or harboring that anger.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="430" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:2<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge: </B></div> <div> <B>but the mouth of fools gushes out folly. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Adorns" is used  of a "cheerful" countenance in 15:13.  It is "stately" or "lovely" in 30:29.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The tongue of the wise</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The mouth of dullards</div> <bR> <div> Their Objects:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Uses knowledge skillfully</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pours forth foolishness</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is a second verse in a row including the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>manner </I></FONT>in which we frame our words.  It contrasts the well-composed and orchestrated words of the wise to the nearly accidental, haphazard ejaculations of the fool.</div> <div>     Solomon chooses a very colorful adjective describing knowledge.  Of the 112 times it is used, only here is it used concerning knowledge.  It usually speaks of something "going well."  The root word includes the basic meaning of being or making "beautiful"; hence also, "happy" and "successful".</div> <div>     So the wise person uses knowledge in a way that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>adorns </I></FONT>it.  This reminds us of the way Paul tells servants to use Christian doctrine:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Tit 2:9, 10 </FONT>  Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting;  not stealing, but showing all good fidelity; that they may <U>adorn</U> the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things. </div> <bR> <div>     So we see that Christian doctrine is to be adorned.  It is not merely to be learned and believed.  Doctrine that is merely learned and believed becomes, in fact, a most hideous thing.  It is so unappealing that our Bridegroom threatened to withdraw His marriage overtures to one church who had so besmirched herself:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rev 2:2</FONT>  "I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can't tolerate evil men, and <U>have tested</U> those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false... </div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rev 2:4, 5</FONT>   <U>But</U> I have this against you, that you <U>left your first love</U>.  Remember therefore from where you have <U>fallen</U>, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent." </div> <bR> <div>     The Church is sad in her pendulum-like relation with her King.  She does everything out of emotion, and so lets false teaching and practice creep in; then she corrects herself and does everything by intellect, and so lets fervor for the Lord seep out.</div> <div>     Our verse commends the combination of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>beauty </I></FONT>and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>knowledge</I></FONT>.  Of course, rightly understood, they always go together anyway, but we need reminders to keep from emphasizing one to the neglect of the other.  Knowledge, true knowledge, is a beautiful thing.  Its possession should yield a most harmonious result in the soul.</div> <div>     This sends up a red flag concerning anyone who merely uses his Biblical knowledge as a tool or a weapon and never like a musical instrument.  If all doctrine means is who is right and who is wrong, we only have the Ephesian kind of knowledge Jesus condemned in the Revelation passage above.  Obviously, anyone who avoids the Bible's use as a weapon is equally mistaken, but we must not excuse one extreme by commending its opposite.  We must all be Davids, who are experts at siege and song.  The use of the one commends our use of the other.</div> <div>     The mature Christian knows how to speak truth in a way befitting that truth.  The imagery he uses will show a deep grasp of the spiritual matters he seeks to elucidate.  Furthermore, his own soul's warmth for the subject will be evident in his tone.  And finally, he will be concerned that the playing of his 'instrument' fall empathetically on the ear of his hearer:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Eph 4:15</FONT>  but speaking the truth <U>in love</U>, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, the Christ </div> <bR> <div>     It should be most grievous to us to ever think that the words of our splendid One are coming across less than appealingly from our lips.  If we do not take care to adorn our speech properly, we will doubtless be guilty of the "gushings forth" of the spiritually dull-witted.  Worse, in having no real depth of knowledge or of soul, we will pour forth what we think is spiritual eloquence, but which in reality is only bucket slop fit for swine; so we will accost our hearers.     </div> <bR> <div>     But we can only speak as we have heard.  </div> <div>     Are Jesus' words pleasant words to our ears in the first place?  Or are they only fuel for an argument or bricks for a construct?  These they must be as well, but without the pleasantness, they are mere ghosts of their real selves. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="430" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:3<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>The eyes of Jehovah </B></FONT><I><B>are</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>in every place </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>Observing the evil and the good. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    "</B>Observing" is from a Hebrew word meaning literally "to lean".  Someone leaning for a look is paying close attention.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Described<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The eyes of Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">In every locale</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Keeping watch on the evil and the good</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is another verse touching 'theology proper', the study of God Himself.  He has given us reams of information about Himself.  Do you suppose He wants us to know Him?  </div> <div>     What of all this talk through Church history of God being completely incomprehensible?  Of course, part of what He has told us about Himself is that His whole cannot be comprehended at once; but completely unintelligible?  So He has wasted His and our time revealing things about Himself that cannot be known?</div> <div>     Today's proverb concerns what is theologically designated God's 'omniscience', His 'all-knowledge'.  He knows everything.  To know everything means that He completely knows Himself, His creation, the future- all things that can possibly be known;  everything about them.  </div> <div>     The part of His knowledge considered in today's verse is His knowledge of all things on earth, particularly all things human.  God is completely tuned in to what you are doing all the time.  Simultaneously, His undistracted attention envelopes everything about me, missing no detail or nuance of motive or mixture of attitudes.  </div> <div>     However aware <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>you </I></FONT>are of your own complex of emotions and reactions to yourself and everything around you- present, past, and future considerations all at once, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>God </I></FONT>comprehends all that, knowing both your subjective experience of it <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>and </I></FONT>the objective truth of it also.  </div> <div>     It actually takes us a few moments of thought to unravel a bit of how amazingly much God does know.  We ourselves, being made in His image, have been granted a partial experience of a multi-dimensional type of knowledge.  This helps us realize how much further beyond our knowledge a complete and unrestricted knowledge must be.</div> <div>     Now having said all this, we can see how blessed we are in a western society with Christian philosophical underpinnings.  We can conceive of a God who made, controls, and knows all things, even if we do not believe in Him.  Eastern countries with Buddhist or Hindu mindsets may not grasp this so easily.  But even in these or animistic places, an understanding of a one-God who rules all is not many steps removed from their analytical ability.  Whatever is the ruling principle in their system, all that must be asked is, "But who is behind <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>that</I></FONT>?"  Ultimately all systems must come down to either one orderly mind behind everything, or one chaotic chance.  The chance can be refuted on the basis of the order all around us and within us.  These orders could not have arisen from disorder.</div> <div>     So most men can easily conceive of, and most actually believe in, a God who controls all things (and Biblically we know that those who believe otherwise are only denying what they know inwardly to be true).  Herein, then, lies a most amazing discovery.  How often has your flow of thought been interrupted by, "Oh my, I forgot.  God is watching."  Think about this!  How can it be that Someone who is watching everything we do could drift out of our own realm of awareness?  </div> <div>     If we were told to be careful of our behavior because we were being shadowed by spies, we would be able to take on a whole second layer of consciousness in which we thought not only of what we were doing, but what the spies were thinking about it.  Why is it we do not exercise this dual-awareness with God?  Is it just that we get bored with it because it never goes away?  No, it is because of this:</div> <bR> <div>  Rom 3:18<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   "There is no fear of God before their eyes." </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     As long as we thought the spies shadowing us might do us harm, we would manage to stave off any possible boredom concerning their investigations.  We forget about God because we don't fear Him.  We have thrown any warnings we have heard about the seriousness of His  evaluations out the window.  Santa Clause threatened to short us at Christmas for bad behavior, yet he came through for us every time.  God wouldn't seriously consider harming a nice chap like me!</div> <div>     So what, therefore, if He's watching?  If I have a conscience pang now and again thinking He might be ashamed of me, well at least He's not going to do anything about it.  At least He's not going to do anything- eternal...  right?</div> <div>     Why does our verse say He's watching the evil and the good?  It can only be because there are two ultimate destinies that His observations are leading to.  This, of course, is what Scriptures abundantly testify.  So someone characterized by evil, characterized by the lack of fearing God, will have all his avoidance of God come crashing upon him like a tidal wave at death.  So what if I conceived of a God who can watch everything?  The point is, do I use this concept to direct my behavior?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="430" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Prov 15:4<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>A healing tongue </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>a tree of life, </B></FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>but subversion in it </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>a fracture in the spirit. </B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B>"Subversion" means "distortion" in the Hebrew, coming from a root word meaning "to wrench."  Deceit is a form of 'wrenching' words, but so is manipulation.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The curative tongue</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Subversion in the tongue</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposite Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is a tree of life</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is a breaking of the spirit</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is the final leg of our Proverbs 'quatrain' on the <U>tree of life</U>.  We have commented on it at 11:30 and 13:12; it also appeared at 3:18.  Elsewhere in Scriptures, we only see it in Genesis in Eden and in Revelation in the New Jerusalem.</div> <div>     In Proverbs 3:18, wisdom and intelligence are a tree of life.  In 11:30 the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, nourishing himself and others.  In 13:12 it is desire being granted that is a tree of life to a person, the Christian's greatest hope being the appearing of Christ.  Now it is a medicinal tongue that is a tree of life.</div> <div>     Of course, Solomon is not necessarily saying that each of these four things is the Tree of Life itself incognito; otherwise, we would be restricting him from using a phrase simply metaphorically.  A tree that yields life is a very expressive image, and it need not be the original Tree of Life or one transplanted from the New Jerusalem to satisfy our Biblical categorizations.  This is not to rule out similarities between the trees either.  We would expect that the good things growing from Solomon's trees of life will have much in common with the fruit of the real one; in fact, all he envisions springing from them would seem implicit to the New Jerusalem Tree.</div> <div>     A healing tongue is a tree of life, ultimately returning all that was forfeited in the original Tree.  This is because the greatest healing a tongue can do is to bring the message of Jesus, the Physician who heals the breach between man and God.  A healing tongue, then, is a healed tongue.  It can pass on healing because it has received healing.  This is why two things are absolutely critical:</div> <div>    1)  that we see how badly damaged <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>we </I></FONT>are by sin; and</div> <div>    2)  that we come to Jesus daily for healing- restoration (therapy).</div> <div>     Someone who stays in this mode will be supplied with a spiritual medicine kit of his own to dispense to others.  </div> <div>     Turning the perspective at a different angle, Jesus' own words to us work healing, being a tree of life from Him to us, but also bearing fruit "after its kind," growing a tree of life <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>in </I></FONT>us.  We, in turn, minister this tree's fruits and pass on it and its seeds to grow in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>others</I></FONT>.</div> <div>     The Christians we want to be around are those who minister healing to our spirits, are they not?  They are the same ones who are drawing healing strength from Christ for their <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>own </I></FONT>wounds, their own lack.</div> <div>     How ugly when we use our tongues to wound.  Remember, we are only as good as our inner weakest link.  We may be able to speak helpfully to most people; but what about that one person?  Someone who threatens us in some way may be the victim of the inner poison we haven't drained off.  We've convinced ourselves that we are wonderful healers, and others are telling us so as well.  It must be <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>your </I></FONT>fault then, if I hate <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>you</I></FONT>.  You deserve snide remarks.  You deserve back-handed compliments.</div> <div>     And which is the 'real me', if I'm ministering healing on the one hand and hurt on the other?  Unfortunately, Jesus says we can't serve two masters in reality.  James says bitter water and sweet can't come from the same spring.  Most people don't need a huge outlet for their bitterness.  Most people don't want to be noticeably acid-tongued.  So that one little outlet that we allow to vent our festering discontent- it tells the whole tale.  Our 'sweet' spring is artificially (deceptively) sweetened.</div> <div>     Subversion in the tongue breaks spirits.  But because the person you hate isn't even counted as a real person, you wouldn't know whether you had broken his spirit.  Parents who yell at their children don't see the hidden hurts their arrows cause.  For these children, it's daily death.  After a while it's no use coming alive again; I'm just going to get yelled at, treated as worthless, and die inwardly.  I'll just stay dead.  Then we wonder why they've 'retreated' beyond our communications.</div> <div>     Ironically, healing and subversion are both addressing deficiency in the human spirit.  The healing tongue says, "I need healing as much as you."  The subversive tongue says, "I'm better than you.  You need to be made to do right or else pay for it."  </div> <div>     Which one would you rather have talking to you?  The Golden Rule of the Great Physician tells us that we, then, should be speaking the same healing words.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="430" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCB2 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:5<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>A fool despises his father's reproof, </B></div> <div> <B>but the one who garners admonition is aware. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B>The root word for "reproof" has to do with chastisement, literally by blows.</div> <div>     The root word for "admonition" means "to be or make right".</div> <div>     The word for "aware" is only used four times in Scripture, twice in Proverbs.  The other two times it has a bad connotation, but, as usual, Solomon shows us the other side of a word for cunning.  This one literally means "to make bare", and so seems to speak of the analytical person who sees through a maze of complicating factors to correctly perceive the nature of a situation.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fool</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The insightful</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Scorns his father's chastisement</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">One who holds on to correction</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Now we are back to the first 'proverb proper', Proverbs 10:1,</div> <bR> <div>  Prov 10:1<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  The proverbs of Solomon: </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >                    A wise son makes a father rejoice, but the foolish son </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >his mother's sorrow. </FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div>     Revisited at 13:1</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 13:1</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  A wise son </FONT><I>hears </I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >his father's instruction, but a scorner does not hear rebuke. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The word for "instruction" in 13:1 is the same for "reproof/ chastisement" in our verse.</div> <bR> <div>     Search no farther.  If you have found a child who minimizes a father's correction, you have found a fool.  If you find an adult who ridicules a parent's misgivings, there is a fool also.</div> <div>     A wise child always sees value in a parent's advice.  A parent's words are a special kind of direction.  This direction is most closely duplicated in a wife's relation to her husband.  It is also seen in a subject's relation to a king.  A child, though, is especially bound to a parent's counsel, since he is not only dependent, but not yet developed to maturity.</div> <div>     Our proverb is mostly about the negative things a parent has to say.  Chastisement and admonition are both types of instruction assuming a wrong bent in a child.  A child, therefore,  will probably not be pleased with a parent's correction immediately, but a wise one will soon accept that it was for his good.  That is as much as to say, the child accepts his own depravity and need for adjusting.</div> <div>     The child who despises correction is basically saying he has no faults.  Either that or he is saying that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>he </I></FONT>is the only one allowed to deal with his faults.  This is a foolish child indeed.</div> <div>     Are there such things as bad parents?  Yes, and unfortunately, in a godless era, they are almost the rule rather than the exception.  But it is natural in a parent to at least be protective of his children.  Even a bad parent, then, will have some good direction to keep children from harmful paths.  It is difficult to cull the good advice amidst verbal abuse and rules that change unjustly.  Sometimes, a child will have to reflect back many years later to understand where there was advice that was beneficial.  This child is still better off than the child who received <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>no </I></FONT>correction, who was left to determine right and wrong for himself.</div> <div>     The ability to honor authority transfers into adult life.  Christians who didn't understand this before conversion have to make the transition.  God places authorities in my life.  They have a special 'pathway' to my spirit.  If I am truly submissive to God, I can be truly, humbly submissive to my human authority.  If I rebel against human authorities, my spirit is not aligned rightly with God.  Very few of us go without need of correction here.  The human spirit rises up in independence so easily.</div> <div>     The rule in church is this:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Heb 13:17</B></FONT><B>   </B><U>Yield</U> to those leading you, and be submissive, for they watch for your souls, <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Verdana" ><I>as those who must</I></FONT> give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief; for that <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Verdana" >is</FONT> unprofitable for you. </div> <bR> <div>     "Yield" is an important word here.  Don't be someone who has to be outright commanded before you'll cooperate.  Take a leader's direction as an inclination he has gleaned from Scriptures.  Do <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>you </I></FONT>have to validate each of these individually, withholding submission until you're satisfied?  If you do, you basically deny any leadership position but your own.  If a leader's direction is not <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>against </I></FONT>Scripture, he needs your cooperation to employ what he perceives to be the Spirit's leading.  If he has to prove everything to everyone's satisfaction (that is, assuming everyone's dissatisfaction), he will be hog-tied.  <I>Their </I>approval becomes his rule rather than <I>God's </I>approval.  Rather, the burden of proof should be on someone who questions his direction.  Let the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>questioner </I></FONT>show what is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>against </I></FONT>Scripture.*  Otherwise, let God's principle of authority work in everyone's favor.  If a leader makes an unwise choice, he will bear responsibility for it.</div> <bR> <div>     The one who invites correction is an aware person, someone who realizes that his own improvement is a matter largely out of his own hands.  Without others' intervention, especially those in authority, we will surely go down the wrong road.</div> <bR> <div> * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >This is what is assumed of the Bereans in Acts 17:11.  Their basic mode was reception, not rejection.  Paul could not have profited them if they were "prove it first" Christians.</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:6<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The house of the righteous </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>is </B></I></FONT><B>a great treasure, </B></div> <div> <B>But in the income of the wicked there is consternation. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The righteous man's house</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The immoral man's gain</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An abundant treasure</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Brings disturbance</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Most translations supply the word "in" for the first half of the verse:  "<I>in </I>the house of the righteous."  The more straightforward reading in Hebrew is "The house of the righteous IS abundant wealth."  The difficulty with this is the taking of "wealth" in a metaphorical sense.  However, Isa. 33:6 uses the word in exactly the same way:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#009999" FACE="Eurostile" > Isa 33:6</FONT>  ... The fear of Jehovah is His <U>treasure</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     The metaphorical use of 'treasure' also corresponds to the context of the surrounding proverbs.</div> <div>     This is not to deny the presence of wealth in a righteous man's house; this has already been discussed in previous proverbs.  But here, it is his house itself that is the treasure.</div> <div>     Our proverb today answers to this preceding one:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 14:1</FONT>  A wise woman builds her <U>house</U>, but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. </div> <bR> <div>    The woman is the "home-guard" Scripturally (Titus 2:5 in the Greek).  The house she builds becomes a great treasure for herself, her husband, her children, and all whom they touch.</div> <div>     A later proverb tells how they will decorate this home:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 24:3, 4</FONT>  Through wisdom a <U>house</U> is built, and by understanding it is established;  and by knowledge the rooms shall be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. </div> <bR> <div>     Again, this is not talking about a physical edifice.  The house here is a metaphor for the family living in it.  By wisdom, they themselves, and everything about their lives, becomes a treasure-house of fine spiritual commodities.</div> <bR> <div>     Contrasted to the <B>house </B>of the righteous is the <B>income </B>of the wicked.  The wicked is pictured, in effect, bringing more and more stuff into his house to try to equal the riches of the righteous, but he cannot do it.  Because he does not have the base of righteousness to build on, all he brings into his house goes sour and is a cause for "consternation".</div> <bR> <div>     Is your house a great treasure to you?  By the fear of God, the wise man makes it so.  When people come into a righteous man's house, what they find in it is irreplaceable.  Peace and love between family members dwell in a righteous man's house.  Whatever is not from God's fear is removed as 'leprosy' from the home (Lev. 14), so that God's people may inhabit dwellings of peace and prosperity.  The wise man 'buys' this treasure by disciplined godliness (Prov 23:23), convinced of the value of his purchase.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="430" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:7<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The lips of the wise disperse knowledge; </B></div> <div> <B>Not so with the heart of dullards. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     The word "so" is from a Hebrew word meaning "set <I>upright</I>", thus also, "just".  So the second half of the verse can be translated, "The heart of dullards is not just."<B> </B></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The lips of the wise</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The heart of the dullard</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions Respectively:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"Scatter" knowledge</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Not so  [does not disperse knowledge]</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is our second proverb comparing one man's organ of speech to the center of another man's being.  The first was</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 10:20</FONT>  The <U>tongue</U> of the just <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is as</I></FONT> choice silver; the <U>heart</U> of the wicked <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I> </FONT>worth little. </div> <bR> <div>     Now we add that the valuable commodity posited in the righteous man's tongue is a resource he shares with others.  In that the word for "disperses" is also translated "scatters", we have a connotation of the just man saying valuable things <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>wherever he goes</I></FONT>.  Furthermore, there is even an idea that he drops bits of wisdom here and there without even taking it fully into account; perhaps like someone with a bag of seed who has been scattering it in a prepared field, then who tosses tads of what's left by the roadside, not much considering whether it will grow.  Maybe this is one of the Scriptures Jesus had in mind when He gave the parable of the sower (Matt. 13).</div> <div>     It goes without saying that the wise man has a wise heart informing his tongue.  The conception of wisdom is 'purer' in the heart, we might say, than on the tongue.  The tongue might have to search out several analogies on several different levels to convey an idea comprehended in the heart.  (This is why poetic language is sometimes a more 'precise', immediate vehicle of knowledge than technical language)*  Part of the point of our proverb is that even an imperfectly expressed piece of wisdom on a good man's <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>tongue </I></FONT>is superior to the same idea expressed in its 'purest' form in the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>heart </I></FONT>of a fool.  That's quite a difference between wisdom and foolishness!  It's almost like saying that<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" > <I>I</I> </FONT>can <B>describe </B>something better than <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>you </I></FONT>can <B>imagine </B>it.</div> <div>     The heart of the spiritually imperceptive cannot be a vehicle for dispersing knowledge.  His grandest thought, taken in the context of his whole system of thinking, deserves the title "knowledge" less than some offhand remarks by wise folk.  The Bible's descriptions of the lost man's dilemma are extreme.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you a wise person?  Do you disperse knowledge?</div> <div>     Rule one in a wise man is:  every word of God is dependable.  Whatever I say based on His words is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>worth </I></FONT>saying.</div> <div>     Rule two in a wise man is:  God put His words inside me so I could be a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>dispenser </I></FONT>of them.</div> <div>     If your knowledge of Scripture is not such that it can be spread from your tongue, you must consider the knowledge further.  It takes practice trying to distill Scriptural teaching in your own words.  If you understand it, you'll be able to convey it.  Again, some concepts may take a number of avenues and illustrations to rightly convey, but this is a talent a dispenser will hone.</div> <div>     Finally, a wise man, as a dispenser, must himself be the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>object </I></FONT>of the wise lessons he spreads.  He himself must be eating of the tree of knowledge** before he can be an authorized distributor of its seeds.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >* </FONT>This is also why we must be careful not to assume that one sentence carries all the truth that there is to convey about a certain matter<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >.</FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >**</FONT>  The tree of knowledge is not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The tree of knowledge <U>begins</U> with the fear of God (Prov 1:7); the Tree of the Knowledge (= Determination) of Good and Evil was the <U>departure</U> from God's fear.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="508" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:8<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>The sacrifice of the wicked </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>a hateful thing to Jehovah, </B></FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>but the prayer of the upright </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>His delight. </B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     This is the first of three times we have "prayer" in Proverbs.  It is used 77 times in the Old Testament.</div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The sacrifice of the immoral</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The prayer of the upright</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposite Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An abomination / hateful / repulsive  to Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jehovah's delight / acceptable to Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here we have a comparison similar to the last verse.  There the 'mere' tongue of the wise was superior to the whole heart of the fool.  Here the 'mere' prayer of the upright, perhaps offered up rather briefly and quickly forgotten, is superior to an animal sacrifice brought to the Temple and offered at great expense of money and time, but by the immoral.</div> <div>     The first thing we notice is that not all religious sacrifice is acceptable to God.  This should put a fairly sizeable dent in the idea that all religions are like spokes on a wagon wheel connected to the same hub, the same God.  Not even His own ordained sacrifices are necessarily acceptable to Him.  A second observation is that it is wicked in and of itself to offer God any religious service He had not ordained:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >John 4:22</FONT>  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews. </div> <bR> <div>     Of course, this was spoken by a Jew, and obviously an intolerant one.  It was spoken to a Samaritan, a 'half-breed' the Jews despised.  She was claiming the hill of Jacob's well, being where God had had dealing with the patriarchs, was a good 'launch pad' for acceptable worship.  The Jew talking to her, Jesus, said that she was ignorant, misled, and offered unacceptable worship to God, because God had ordained Jerusalem as 'worship central' for all nations (a geographical distinction soon to change, according to the previous verse).  </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    Of course, intolerant Jesus was bringing her to Himself, making her into an acceptable worshiper all the while, but the process had to begin with the realization that her worship was</FONT> <I>only acceptable to God on His own terms</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >.</FONT></div> <div>     Note that our proverb not only says that some worship is not acceptable, but that it is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>abominable</I></FONT>.  Solomon has already told us three things that are an abomination to God in the 'proverbs proper'.  He also gave a list of seven abominations in 6:16 - 19.  Solomon has a very firm idea of what is odious to God.  He does not picture God saying, "Well, I can't accept that worship, but, after all, their sincere effort is commendable."  Rather, Solomon has God saying, "That worship offends Me; I find it repulsive."  Well, so much for political correctness with God.</div> <div>     So we have distinguished two crucial factors for acceptable worship.  One is a sincere <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>heart</I></FONT>; the other is the prescribed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>kind </I></FONT>of worship.  Why, after all, would someone with a sincere heart bring worship before God that He had not ordained?</div> <div>   Here, then, is our big question of the day:  Have you ever searched out your own heart as to the worship you bring before God?  Have you ever thought of it in terms of these two factors?</div> <div>     Is your worship what God has <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>prescribed</I></FONT>?  How do you know?  If you were teaching someone 'from scratch' in Scripture what acceptable worship is, what would you present?  Has your approach been, "I just came to praise the Lord; don't bother me with details"?</div> <div>     Is your worship <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>humble</I></FONT>?  Do you come with the basic attitude, "I don't deserve to be in Your presence.  How dare I presume to come before a holy God as a defiled sinner"?  Or do you just 'barge in'?  Is your 'covering' the same as the average Jew, "Well, I've got my sacrifice; that's what makes me acceptable"?  The Christian version, even more abominable: "Well, I've got Jesus' blood, so all my worshipis automatically acceptable."  </div> <div>     The blood of Christ should work the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>opposite </I></FONT>of presumption in us.  Christian assurance, unfathomable as it is to the natural mind, is saturated with self-doubt.  "I am not acceptable" is the only proper foundational thought for "Jesus is acceptable on my behalf."</div> <div>     And there is a prayer.  "I am unacceptable.  Jesus is accepted."  This is a simple prayer of an upright man which is received by God, which delights Him.  This is the basis for all prayer.  Most Christians brush lightly past the first part, if touching it at all.  The real translation of the average Christian basis for prayer is, "Jesus is acceptable; hence, I am acceptable."  But this prayer, in effect becomes simply, "I am acceptable."  It becomes an assumption, a given.  It shows that there was never really any self-doubt to begin with, at least no fundamental self-doubt.  The real foundation of this presumption is the assumption that God really wants me as a worshiper, so let's skip over the introductory details and get to the good part- "I'm OK!"  Whereas, back of every true Christian prayer is the real acknowledgement, "I'm <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>not </I></FONT>OK in myself."  This may never fly with the self-esteem crowd, but Christians are more concerned with esteeming their Savior anyway.</div> <div>     Medieval Christianity apparently emphasized "I'm no good," failing to realize, "Christ IS good on my behalf."  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>We </I></FONT>have fallen into the opposite error, equally dangerous and damnable.  </div> <div>     The true Christian is always straining for the balance, since this is the state of mind of a spiritually-minded man.  If he is not striving, he is admitting that he has given in to one extreme or the other.</div> <div>     The final part of the proper formulation is this:  "I'm no good.  Christ is good on my behalf.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Palatino Linotype" ><I>Christ is making me good</I></FONT>."  The prayer of the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>upright</I></FONT>.  He is not only upright positionally (justification), but experientially also (sanctification).  When his personal uprightness flags, so does his confidence in prayer (1 John 3:22).</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="508" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:9<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The way of the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, </B></div> <div> <B>But He loves him who pursues righteousness. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon uses "love" twenty-seven times in Proverbs in a wide variety of applications.  We have already seen it twice in 12:1 concerning love of instruction and knowledge and once in 13:24 of parental love of child.</div> <div>     "Pursues" is a word also used of hunting.</div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The way of the immoral</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who chases righteousness</div> <bR> <div> God's Responses to Them:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An abomination / hateful / repulsive  to Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jehovah loves</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is a second verse in a row on what is abominable to God.</div> <div>     This one is even more offensive to the natural mind, if that is possible.  This one says that Jehovah loves one kind of person, implying He doesn't love the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>other </I></FONT>kind as much- perhaps not at all!  It's funny, people will be offended that God is repulsed by a worshiper, but they save their gravest indignation for His failure to love, or love as much!  </div> <div>     We truly are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>theological </I></FONT>creatures!  We have an image of God in our minds, and you'd best not mess with it, especially not concerning His love!  The assumption that God loves everybody is just settled dogma, even amongst unbelievers.  Very amazing.  The flavor of the 'spirit of the age' in our generation is quite decided.  And Satan doesn't care much to which extreme we go.  He can lock people away from salvation by the opposite extreme also, that God hates everyone.</div> <div>     This verse advances the thought of the previous one in that not only is the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>religious exercise</I></FONT><I> </I>of the immoral repulsive to God, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>everything about him</I></FONT> is repulsive.  The <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>way </I></FONT>of the wicked, it says.</div> <div>     There is a silly distinction drawn up in our day to safeguard God's love to every creature.  He hates the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>sin</I></FONT>, you see, and not the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>sinner</I></FONT>.  Oh, I see!  That makes a lot of sense!  </div> <div>     Foolishness!  Where did the sin come from anyway?  Was it non-voluntary?  Is it separate from the sinner himself?</div> <div>     But in case we were wondering, not just the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>way </I></FONT>of the unbeliever, but he <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>himself </I></FONT>is hateful to God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 16:5</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   Everyone proud in heart </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >hateful to Jehovah</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Actually, there is something quite sinister about our doctrine of God's universal love.  It robs Him of His personality.  That's right.  If God has to love everybody, He's just a machine that doesn't make any real choices.  But that's what people want.  They want a God who is 'safe' and under their control.  They don't want Him to think about whom He loves, just love everybody!   So that God is not even personal. </div> <div>     Furthermore, they don't want love to be a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>choice </I></FONT>with God, even though love <I>is </I>a choice with <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>them</I></FONT>!  That's right.  We exalt our own freedom of choice but limit God's!  This is really just another stone in the altar of man's self-worship.  We deify ourselves by granting man greater freedom of will than God.  We limit God so He's more under our control.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    One final offensive thought in the verse:  </FONT><I>God loves someone because of what they </I><I><B>do</B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >.  He loves the one who pursues righteousness.  No fair, God!  That gives him an unfair advantage!  Salvation is supposed to be by grace!  Now You love someone because of what they </FONT><I>do</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >!  Now You've put me under pressure to pursue righteousness or You won't love me!  No fair!</FONT></div> <div>     (If we can't be God, at least we can be his chief-of-staff and tell Him where He's stepping into a P.R. nightmare.  That really makes us more important than God.  He's the nuke, but I aim it.)</div> <div>     But note that our verse doesn't deny grace, it merely goes <B>past </B>the stage in a man's life when grace has granted <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>justification </I></FONT><B>to </B>its working of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>sanctification </I></FONT>in his soul.  Would we deny that God can actually create a new creature in Christ who actually loves righteousness?  But our skewed theology wants to hold out the possibility of a newly created being who still follows unrighteousness.</div> <div>     We haven't learned yet that such a thought must be answered by Scriptural absolutes.  "By their fruits you shall know them."  A Christian can stray; the question is whether a person <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>characterized </I></FONT>by unrighteousness fits the description of someone God loves.  Can someone who <U>loves iniquity</U> and <U>doesn't love righteousness</U> be a Christian?  Or to phrase it another way, can a Christian be abominable to God?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" ><B>1 John 3:7</B></FONT>  Little children, let no one deceive you. The <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>one</I></FONT> who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. </div> <bR> <div>     What we really want to ask <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>ourselves </I></FONT>is whether or not <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>we </I></FONT>are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>pursuers </I></FONT>of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>righteousness</I></FONT>.  Are we hunting after it like a frontier hunter pursues game in the winter for his family's survival?  The verse implies that if not, if we are lax about the whole matter of righteousness, our <I>way/ character </I>betrays us as <I>un</I>righteous, as immoral, as those untransformed by the grace of God.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="508" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#EEEEEE > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:10<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>Correction </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT><B> evil to him who abandons the way;</B></div> <div> <B>he who hates admonition shall die. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     This verse can be translated with equal grammatical correctness, "Grievous (evil) correction <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Palatino Linotype" ><I>is </I></FONT>for him who abandons the path."  "Is" has to be supplied in the Hebrew, and can go equally well either place grammatically.  "Evil correction", however, may be a misnomer.</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Complements<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who abandons the path</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The one who hates admonition</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Discipline is evil to him</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Shall die</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Man's natural spirit does not like correction.  Left to ourselves, we would reject any piece of advice that contradicted us in any way.  On the last day, we will see the multitude of God's mercies whereby He trained our spirits <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>away </I></FONT>from this stubborn pride.  Even in the 'little things' He is helping us; even in the overlooked things, and in the odd:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Job 33:15 - 17 </FONT>  In a <U>dream</U>, a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men; while <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>they</I> </FONT>slumber on the bed,  then He opens the ear of men and seals their instruction,  that He may turn man <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>from his</I> </FONT>deed; that He might <U>conceal pride</U> from man. </div> <bR> <div>     Many dreams have an unsettling quality that tends to break or soften our dangerous self-confidence.  Many other situations and relationships in life are downright unpleasant to us, but these God orchestrates to force us to agree with the sane conclusion that we are not all that our vaunted self-concept leads us to believe we are:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > Rom 12:3</FONT>  For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, <U>not to think of himself more highly than he ought</U> to think; but to <U>think reasonably</U>, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. </div> <bR> <div>     Our problem is not that we think too low of ourselves.  What we mistake for low self-esteem is really frustration with our inability to carry out our haughty agenda, or frustration over others' failure to concede our high self-worth.  Now we're talking about the fellow in our verse.  Correction is evil to him.  Our natural, high self-esteem makes us hate people and circumstances that confirm to us one way or another that we are deficient and/or have done wrong.</div> <div>     A godly man, though, has come to agreement with God that there's nothing good at all in him.  Correction still pains him, but it is a pain that he has learned does him good, so he doesn't hate it.  He will chafe under its burden like anyone else, but he will not ultimately despise and reject it.  He has learned that difficulties keep him from 'abandoning the path'.</div> <div>     The hatred of correction so comprehensively defines the unbeliever that when we have described him thus,we have showed his ultimate destiny.  The end of his stubbornness is <B>death</B>.  His refusal of correction is daily confirmation of his death.  It is his hardening <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>in </I></FONT>death day by day.  It is death solidified and finally made eternal in the Second Death (Rev. 2, 20, 21).</div> <bR> <div>     How utterly important that we value the criticism we receive!  God uses many means to graciously point out our deficiencies.  Peoples' hateful, spiteful, or thoughtless words are usually the ones we like the least.  The acidic nature of these is often what is necessary, though, to burn through our natural resistance to other forms of correction.</div> <div>     A lovely child of God who truly images Him is ever humble, inviting critique in whatever form God may be giving it, ashamed of the dragon of pride whenever it arises in him, slaying the dragon with sane verses about our deep depravity and natural worthiness of nothing but death.  Our proverb is one such verse.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="508" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:11<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>Sheol and Abaddon are before Jehovah: </B></div> <div> <B>How much more then the hearts of the children of men! </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     Solomon has used the term Sheol four times already; this is the first of five times he uses it in the 'proverbs proper'.  Sheol is the waiting place of the dead before Judgment.  The word is used 66 times in the Old Testament.  Its counterpart in the New Testament seems to be Hell (Gk., Hades).  Sheol/ Hell is eventually thrown into the Lake of Fire, Rev. 20:14.</div> <div>     Abaddon is another designation for where the dead go.  A different place?  A deeper compartment of sheol?  It is only used six times in the Old Testament, twice in Proverbs.  It is used once in the New Testament of an angel who leads dreadful hordes from the Abyss (Old Testament- 'Shachat').</div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sheol and Abaddon</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The hearts of the children of men</div> <bR> <div> The Comparison Between Them:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Before Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Even more before Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is another theological verse.  Solomon certainly sees no separation between 'practical' and 'conceptual' doctrine.  God's being and attributes are very relevant to everyday life, properly understood.  God's omniscience has everything to do with the way we live.</div> <div>     Neither does Solomon 'adjust' his theological teachings to 'make' them practical.  They are practical already.  They are part of the knowledge a godly person must have to walk wisely in this world.  They are part of the mechanism that lifts the simple out of his simplicity.</div> <div>     "Sheol" is a word implying "hideaway."  Its root means "to inquire."  It is the place we have no experience of.  It will be a new mode of existence for those who go there.  That is why the Old Testament saints sometimes speak of Sheol as oblivion.  It will be detachment from earthly life and earthly service of God.  </div> <div>     Yet this essentially mysterious place is no mystery to God.  It is fully known to Him.  There is no Yin and Yang, with God at one end of the spectrum and sin at the other.  Although sin is the one thing God is not the author of, yet it is an activity of creatures He made and falls within the boundaries of their natures.  As the abode of the unrighteous dead, Sheol does not polarize God.  God encompasses Sheol.  God created Sheol.  Even Sheol finally cast into the Lake of Fire does not distance God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rev 14:10</FONT>  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and <U>in the presence of the Lamb</U></div> <bR> <div>     Abaddon, likewise, is incomprehensible to man.  It is, perhaps, the abode of certain demonic spirits (Jude 1:6), a compartment within Sheol perhaps.  Its root word means "to perish," but God's knowledge does not perish there.  He is the Judge and Executioner.  He knows the crimes intimately.  He fits the punishments precisely.  God, as its Creator, knows Abaddon as well as He knows Sheol.</div> <div>     These two places, utterly unknowable to men, are set before us to teach us how well God knows <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>another </I></FONT>place.  This other place we are tempted to class with Sheol and Abaddon as deep and unfathomable to those outside it.  We like to think that this place is too complex and subtle for God to fully penetrate.  But He knows it too.  Our verse implies that Sheol and Abaddon are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>more </I></FONT>impenetrable than this other place, so certainly if He knows them, He knows it.  The other place, the one we'd like to keep hidden from God, is the human heart.</div> <div>     By saying "the hearts of the sons of men," Solomon is communicating the commonality of human nature.  No human has a heart in a different category than others.  All hearts are human.  Each unique human heart is still a human heart and shares fundamental characteristics with all other human hearts.  We are thus limited by our race.</div> <div>     So we see that the maker of the original human heart would have an inside track on knowing the rest of them, all of them.  So He knows your heart.  All the subtle shiftings and nuances- He is comfortably ahead of them.  All the mysterious contradictions we perceive as yarn knotted tightly upon itself an inch thick lie before Him unraveled as by a single shoestring pull.</div> <div>     Yet let us not deny that we behave as though we escape His gaze from time to time.  It requires a certain amount of special effort to analyze our own thoughts; it requires even more effort to consider what God is thinking about us- that is, what He is plainly seeing.  </div> <div>     Usually any notice we have of God's penetrating stare is relegated to the conscience-free room of "What else is new?"  If God sees my thoughts all the time, I quickly lose the proper embarrassment of the sudden realization that He is seeing my present lurid thought.  God becomes the one thing He should never be- taken for granted.  The very thing that should caution us- His constant intervention into our thinking- instead loosens us.</div> <div>     So Solomon doesn't expect that this realization will revolutionize us all by itself.  He is giving the godly man the confidence to live a life truly laid-out before God if he will but expend the effort.  He is also giving us the confidence to tell unbelievers that they should fear a God from whom they can hide no motives, no secrets.</div> <div>     The tool that puts us in touch with God's penetrating stare is the Word of God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Heb 4:12, 13</FONT>  For the <U>Word of God</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>is</I></FONT> living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, <U>piercing</U> even to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>the</I></FONT> dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a <U>discerner</U> of the thoughts and <U>intents of the heart</U>.   Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are</I></FONT> naked and <U>opened to the eyes</U> of Him with whom we have to do. </div> <div>  </div> <div>     Happy is the man who uses his time in Scriptures to lay himself open before God, uncovering all those inner thoughts that he'd rather not admit before God, even before himself.  As long as those thoughts linger in the dark, we treat them like ghosts lurking in the gloom of Sheol, as though God's light did not penetrate there.  Simply <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>knowing </I></FONT>that God sees these thoughts is not enough.  We must <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>lay </I></FONT>them before His blazing searchlight so they can be kindled by His consuming fire.*</div> <bR> <div> * <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" >This verse is therefore intimately connected with the previous one.</FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="394" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:12<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>A scoffer doesn't love to be reproved; </B></div> <div> <B>He will not go to the wise. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Considered<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The scoffer</div> <bR> <div> His Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Doesn't love to be corrected</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Will not go to the wise</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The scoffer is portrayed as deficient because of his lack of love for people setting him straight.  It's not just that he hates correction while it is happening to him, it's that he fails to love its fruits enough to go to someone he knows will correct him.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    This verse also teaches us one definite practice of wise men- they </FONT><I>set straight</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >those who need it.  They will do it gently (James 3:17), but they will do it, because wisdom dwells with love:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Lev 19:17</FONT>  You shall <U>not hate</U> your brother in your heart. You shall <U>always rebuke</U> your neighbor, and not allow sin on him. </div> <bR> <div>     In the matter of loving correction, there is a thin line between any regular Joe and a scoffer.  Pride can take hold of any of us and cause us to avoid the company of those who would set us straight.  The sting of correction also threatens to show even the best of us as having strong scoffing tendencies in that it irritates us rather than evoking gratitude.  These tendencies are only kept in check by the powerful grace of God.</div> <div>     So the wise 'correctee' possesses such a strong core of humility that the sting of the 'corrector' automatically sets off an 'honesty alarm.'   This alarm recognizes the truth in the rebuke and refuses to deny it, despite the irritation it might produce.      </div> <div>     Our lips are a very great foe to us in this regard.  Our lips will often send off a counteractive missile strike more automatically than our honesty alarm can be sounded.  These counterattacks will often do enough damage to force us completely into self-defense mode; hence, any truth we had sensed in the rebuke is buried under our defensive lockdown.  The wise man, therefore, keeps control of his lips, especially withholding defensive words when correction is given.</div> <bR> <div>     So how do you respond to correction?  Is it too painful for you to receive?  Is it- "No fair!  Other people deserve the correction more than me!"- so you won't take it?</div> <div>     Furthermore, what company do you seek out?  Only people who will second your own opinions?  Where is the wisdom in that?  </div> <div>     The scoffer with your name is always sitting in the back seat, leaning forward, looking for the slightest opportunity to jump in the front seat and take the wheel.  The ability to handle pain- not pain for its own sake, but pain that works necessary daily repentance- is all that keeps him a harmless passenger.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="467" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCC99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:13<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>A happy heart makes the appearance wholesome, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>but by grief of heart the spirit is stricken. </B><B> </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Appearance" is literally "face".</div> <div>     "Wholesome" in the Hebrew means sound or beautiful.</div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Happiness of heart</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Misery of heart</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Makes a resplendent countenance</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Crushes the spirit</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     God made us two-tiered beings in one respect.  There is an <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>inward </I></FONT>world in which we consider unto ourselves all that is around us and within us.  Then there is our <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>outer </I></FONT>'shell', ably designed by God to express that inward world, otherwise invisible to view.  The fact that our face can accurately portray our inner feelings is an amazing testimony to the creative genius of God.  But He is instructing us even in the very <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>fact </I></FONT>of an outward that expresses the inward.  He is telling us that we are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>interactive </I></FONT>creatures.  We are not designed to be unto ourselves only.  If we were, we would only need the inner part.  God gave us faces to express to<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><U> </U><I><U>one another</U></I></FONT> what is in our hearts.  We are meant to express <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>and so to</I></FONT><I> </I><I><B>interact</B></I>.</div> <div>     Therefore, when we see someone with a brightened countenance, what are we to think?  More accurately, how are we to respond?</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 12:15</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  Rejoice with those who rejoice.  Weep with those who weep. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     We are supposed to be <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>sympathetic </I></FONT>creatures.  This is why Solomon is telling us this.  He is giving us an anthropology lesson certainly; he is telling us how humans work, and this we need to know.  But he is telling us so that we will know how to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>respond </I></FONT>to others when these tell-tale signs appear. </div> <div>     He is also telling us these signs for our own sakes.  When there is a great boulder situated immovably on our hearts, crushing it, we need to be aware of what is going on.  The Hebrew word for "grief/ misery" of heart can accurately be translated "depression."  We might hesitate to use this designation, since it has come to carry a clinical connotation, but depression, as in being weighed down, is a precise description of what we feel when our spirit is broken.  We need to know when we are depressed. </div> <div>     The heart is shown at the two ends of its spectrum.  At one end is happiness, at the other, sadness.  All life is lived within the range of these emotions (not to exclude other opposing pairs).  One feeling pushes up like an underground fountain and springs into the air and sunshine in a beaming face.  The other feeling is a great weight pulling down and down on the spirit, until it feels that there is no more interior space to fathom this bottomless pit.  </div> <div>     When life is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>withdrawn </I></FONT>from the face and other outward expressions (drooping hands, slumped shoulders), this also tells a story.  It is not a message <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>sent </I></FONT>so much as it is a message <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>denied</I></FONT>.  No signal to the face, and we take on an unnatural android appearance that is pitiful in its incompatibility.  The word 'drawn' is often used to describe the face of someone thus afflicted.  The happiness proper to man is 'drawn' out, drained from his expression.  His spirit is crushed and crumpled.</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is making us <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>counselors </I></FONT>in telling us these simple truths.  Considered abstractly, they seem almost too simple, but tucked away as helpful guides, they return to us in the hour of need, when we would have otherwise been unable to think objectively about our condition because of its pressure forcing out all other considerations.  Now we have a tool that can return to us.  Now in depression we can look at ourselves and say, "Ah, this is what is happening.  I should have known as much.  This is common to man.  I am not isolated.  I will go to my Friend.  I will go to His friends" (who, by the way, might have to rebuke us, according to the previous verse, since we might have gotten into this funk by selfishness or improper self-maintenance).</div> <div>     And when we see someone else drooping, we will sympathize with his weight, and, far from despising him, we will extend a lifting word and offer a lifting hand; or simply come alongside and sit in the sinkhole a while, too.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="496" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:14<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>The heart of the discerning one seeks knowledge, </B></div> <div> <B>but the mouth of dullards feeds on folly. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Feeds" is from a word also translated "shepherd" (noun and verb); "grazes" might be a good translation.</div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The heart of the discerning</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The mouth of dullards</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Searches out knowledge</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Feeds on foolishness</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     We have almost come to expect the unusual pairings of Proverbs.  This one again compares a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>heart </I></FONT>with a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>mouth</I></FONT>.  Why?  The function of a wise man's heart being considered can only be approximated by the corresponding function of a fool's mouth.  </div> <div>     Whereas, we might insist that the comparison of a heart with a heart would yield a more accurate study, we would only thereby betray our ignorance of human functioning.  So much for our Western 'scientific' approach to things.  (Science can be used rightly; but a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>seemingly </I></FONT>scientific approach can also be way off.  Solomon is very scientific, rightly so called.)</div> <div>     Now what are the two <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>activities </I></FONT>in which this intelligent and this dull man are engaged?  Searching out and feeding.  The intelligent man's heart <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>searches </I></FONT>while the dull one's mouth <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>feeds</I></FONT>.  Both are interested in taking in.  One is envisioned as attaining and the other not.  The dullard is gratified, while the discerning is pictured as on the hunt.  This is one important point of comparison.</div> <div>     A fool will tend to forgo any search for what he wants.  Once he finds 'pasture land', he's going to graze there.  He's satisfied with the particulars of independence from God per his preference for the countless forms those perversities take.</div> <div>     The insightful man, though, has had such a taste of knowledge that satisfaction with mere repeat fare will not do.  He will return to the same source for his wisdom, but he knows that source is vast beyond reckoning.  And that very vastness calls him back and back again, empty-handed, as it were, seeking what he has not yet found.</div> <div>     Let's jump to an application.  Are you the fellow just described?  Is the discovery of truth exciting to you?  Or are you basically satisfied with 'old hat'?  Does laziness overcome any appetite you might have for Scriptural learning?</div> <div>     Let's make a further application.  Some folks are excited about Scriptural learning, but in a wrong way:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >2 Tim 3:7</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   always learning, but never being able to come to a full knowledge of </FONT><I>the</I>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >truth. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     There is a prideful approach to knowledge that actually keeps knowledge <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>out</I></FONT>.  Lots of facts can be mastered, but they don't lead anywhere profitable.  They don't lead to obedience, for one thing.  </div> <div>     The pseudo search for knowledge can also take on two other contrasting forms:  one where only human sources and quotations are mastered, the other where books and creeds are despised and no higher earthly authority is sought than self and those in one's own circle.  </div> <div>     There are a thousand ways to seek knowledge wrongly, rendering the searcher's attempts a mere feeding on folly.  There are abundant descriptions in the Bible about those who refuse the right kind of Bible knowledge.  One good summary is:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >1 Tim 6:3, 4</FONT>  If anyone teaches otherwise, and does not consent to wholesome words (those of our Lord Jesus Christ), and to the <U>doctrine according to godliness</U>,  he is proud, knowing nothing. <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>He is</I></FONT>  sick concerning doubts and arguments, from which comes envy, strife, evil speakings, evil suspicions </div> <bR> <div>     True doctrine accords with a certain lifestyle and a certain attitude.  Its counterfeits will be found in the realm of strife, trying to squeeze God's tenets into a self-satisfying package.  Those who don't also fit into that package become the heretics to these heresy-makers, such as Jeremiah was to the false prophets in his day.</div> <div>     The fool is identified in this proverb either as the one who does not search <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>or </I></FONT>as the one who, in searching, does not attain true knowledge.  Let us examine our lives for a godliness that has grown from true doctrine.</div> <div>     Also, considering the previous proverb, "the happy heart makes the appearance wholesome," the uninterested are like cattle with their heads down to the sod; the intelligent explorer's head is up, smiling, looking for adventure.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="435" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FF99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:15<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>All the days of the afflicted </B></FONT><I><B>are</B></I><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>evil, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>but gladness of heart is a continual feast. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     The "afflicted" are the "downtrodden" or the "lowly".  It is translated "poor" the vast majority of the 73 times it occurs in Scripture, including four other times in Proverbs.    </div> <div>     "Gladness" of heart is literally "a good heart", or "the good of heart".  "Good" is used in a wide variety of senses in Hebrew.  The wideness of application can be seen in Eccl. 7:14, "In the day of prosperity be joyful"- literally, "in the good day be good."  A "favored" or "contented" heart might capture the meaning also.  It is used as "merry" elsewhere as well.</div> <div>     A "feast" is literally a "drink", but is almost always translated "feast".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Compared<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The existence of the low</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Gladness of heart</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Yucky (not to sling slang too freely)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An ongoing banquet</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon is drawing a very interesting comparison.  It is obviously parallel in several ways, and this proverb is the best way to express all of them.</div> <div>     First there is the parallel between <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>outward </I></FONT>circumstance and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>inward </I></FONT>attitude.  The "afflicted" are seen as the downtrodden, those whom life has <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>outwardly </I></FONT>stepped on and ground into the dirt.  Gladness of heart is an <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>interior </I></FONT>view, without reference to outward circumstance.  The most important thing to note in the whole proverb is that, to someone viewing their circumstances, these could be <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Sylfaen" ><I>one and the same person</I></FONT>.  Nothing keeps the downtrodden from joy except his manner of receiving events.  THE afflicted, then, are those who <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>accept </I></FONT>bad outward circumstances as a definition for themselves.  'Bad luck' becomes a tenant camped out at their doorstep.</div> <div>     Then there is the parallel between the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>modes </I></FONT>of existence.  The afflicted has an evil life.  All his days are bad.  Nothing good happens because his poverty or affliction is insufferable.  He won't be able to see good in anything until his fortunes turn.  On the other hand, the state of "whole-heartedness", let us say, fills in what is lacking from outward circumstance with optimism.  Gladness of heart makes a banquet out of every circumstance, because it sees the good in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>overall </I></FONT>circumstances.  At least it sees where things could be worse, or where other people <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>are </I></FONT>doing worse.  The afflicted are not able to thus shift their focus.  They hate it and count it false or insipid when someone says, "At least we don't have it as bad as poor old Mr. So-and-so."</div> <div>     The next parallel is between the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>durations </I></FONT>of the modes of existence.  "All" the days of the afflicted are bad.  The whole of his life is yuck.  But putting prosperity of attitude in a man's heart makes the banquet that he sets a "never-ending" one!  He continues to lay a merry table in every room and every circumstance, everywhere he goes!  His banquet hall, banquet provisions, and banquet invitations are all wonderfully portable.  They are all carried around in his heart.</div> <div>     We might also add a final parallel, between a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>state </I></FONT>and an <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>attitude</I></FONT>.  Solomon has purposely compared a man's state- that of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>affliction</I></FONT>- with an attitude: <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>gladness </I></FONT>of heart.  In so doing, he has shown us the attitude of the state, and the state of the attitude.  See here:  </div> <div>     The man who daily dons his T-shirt, "Bum Luck's Best Friend," whether angrily or dejectedly, has imprinted his <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>outward </I></FONT>circumstances on his <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>inward </I></FONT>character.  </div> <div>     But the man who has found a glad heart has done just the opposite.  He has taken his <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>inward </I></FONT>attitude and painted his whole <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>surrounding </I></FONT>world with it.  Now there <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>are </I></FONT>those who do this superficially, who are not really glad of heart but are just too afraid they will buckle under the strain once they admit it is there.  But a true glad heart is easy to recognize, though you might not immediately fit him into this proverb.  He's simply a contented person.  He says God is good by his every word, his every act.  Nothing can fake or replace this inner attitude.  And nothing is sufficient but God's goodness to sustain it.  He does not compare himself with others.  Nor does he demand that others be like him.  Other people are in God's hands.  The optimist will help if they want, but his contentedness includes the understanding that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>he </I></FONT>is the only person he is directly responsible for.</div> <div>     How nice if we could order in this man's banquet table today and never see it depart.</div> <div>     The wickedness of refusing it is seen herein:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 8:32</FONT>  Truly <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>He</I></FONT>  who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? </div> <bR> <div>     The inwardly pessimistic says either:</div> <div>  1)  God didn't give me His Son; or</div> <div>  2)  God wouldn't necessarily give me anything beyond His Son.</div> <bR> <div>     The non-banqueting Christian is a walking contradiction, no?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#33FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:16<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Better </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>a little with the fear of Jehovah </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>than a large storehouse </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Verdana" ><I><B>of assets</B></I></FONT><B> and turmoil with it. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "A large storehouse <I>of assets</I>" can also be translated simply "great treasure".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A little with God's fear</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Many assets with turmoil</div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Better</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">[Worse]</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     If we imagine ourselves with a little and with a lot, it is hard to honestly say that a little is more appealing.  If we could pick our own "alot", how could it be less desirable than scant provision- uncomfortably small living quarters poorly furnished and marginally in repair, money doled out carefully for food, and not always enough for gas to drive around?  Or drop that down a notch- no car; only feet or a borrowed bicycle to get around.  This state calls to mind the maxim of the apostle:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >1 Tim 6:8</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     By God's national blessings, not many Americans have to put that maxim to the ultimate test.</div> <div>     But what if we did?  Would we still consider ourselves blessed if all we had were food, clothing, and the fear of God?  To be honest, most of us would have to say we'd accept a little turmoil in our lives if it meant rising above the minimum of life's provisions.  Our natural way of looking at things, then, is not in gear with this verse.</div> <div>     Why is that?  It is because we don't properly value God's fear in our lives.</div> <div>     Let us return to the statement that most of us would accept a little turmoil to avoid poverty.  Furthermore, most of us would accept <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>more </I></FONT>than a little turmoil.  In point of fact, most of us <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>do </I></FONT>accept a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>fair amount</I> </FONT>of turmoil in our lives.  And this brings us to one of Solomon's subtly made points.  What is necessarily the factor that holds our lives together if it is not the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>ordering </I></FONT>principle of God's fear?  Mustn't it be the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>disordering </I></FONT>principle of turmoil?  </div> <div>     This helps to give us a broader definition of turmoil than we probably had.  Turmoil at its root, as Solomon is portraying it here, is really just chaos.  And what is chaos?  Lack of cohesion; in man's case, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>rebellion </I></FONT>against cohesion.  And rebellion against cohesion is ultimately rebellion against Christ in whom all things hold together:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Col 1:17</FONT>   He is before all things, and in Him all things are <U>held together</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Even the man whom we would mock as 'Mr. Orderly', whom we feel needs to have a little mischief to rumple his clinically tidy life, is really only reacting in ungodly fear to the sensation that things are pulled apart.  He is desperately trying to provide his <U>own</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>kosmos</I></FONT>, his own cohesion, to the surrounding and internal chaos.  Of course, at the same time, he is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>unsuccessfully </I></FONT>answering the call of the image of God in him and the call of the work of God's Law written on his heart.  Most pitiable is he.  </div> <div>     But there's a little of him in all of us, when all the while, the only real ordering principle in the Universe stands by unnoticed.  The simple acknowledgement (a simple but total acknowledgement) of His lordship would bring the order that we desperately need.  It is an order that does not stifle.  It is a cohesion that breathes.  It is a binding force that frees.  It is a mechanism that is fully human.  Instead, it is all of our attempts to cast off God's bindings that have dehumanized and disordered us.</div> <div>     With this fear of God we would be satisfied, even owning few earthly goods.  With it, we would cast out chaos.  </div> <div>     What is that worth?  </div> <div>     But our unbelief makes it hard to fathom what's being offered us in this proverb.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="464" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66CCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:17<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Better </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>a dish of greens where love is, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>than a foddered bullock and hatred with it. </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Dish" can also be well translated "allowance" or "portion".</div> <div>     A "foddered" bullock, or ox, is given only prepared feed to produce the best meat for eating (meaning any grazing would be limited to inspected fields).</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A meal of greens and love present</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A fed bullock and hatred with it</div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Better</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">[Worse]</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is the third part of a triptych begun in 15:15.  The three together go like this:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 15:15</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  All the days of the afflicted </FONT><I>are</I>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >evil, but gladness of heart is a continual feast. </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > Prov 15:16</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  Better </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >a little with the fear of Jehovah than great treasure and tumult with it. </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > Prov 15:17</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  Better </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >a dinner of vegetables where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred with it. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Contentedness.  Certainly the lesson here is contentedness.  Whether your outward circumstances seem evil, whether you have only a little, whether your palate, of necessity, is restricted to greens, contentedness makes all this bearable- yea, triumphant!  We all <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>think </I></FONT>we could bear possessing wealth, bear the foregoing of hardship, and bear portions of plenty- all while still being good.  Let us see whether we could be good <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I>without </I></FONT>first.  Most of us cannot.  Most of us are not contented.  Contentedness is the state of heart in which God is enough.</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Psa 73:25</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  Whom have I in Heaven? And I have no desire on earth besides You.</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Contentedness is not the state in which we <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>know </B></I></FONT>God is enough.  It is the state in which He <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I><B>is</B></I></FONT>, in fact, enough.  The sad reality of our lack of this state is evident every time our circumstances turn against us.  We complain inwardly, usually outwardly.  And God is testing us all the time.  Life tests us all by itself (by its workings which He maintains).  Our creatureliness tests us all by itself.</div> <div>     Contentedness with God exists right alongside the joyful use of all good things He gives:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >1 Tim 6:17</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  ... the living God, who is giving to us all things richly for enjoyment</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     So our proverb today extends the lesson of contentment to this point:  you have to have <B>love </B>to be content.</div> <div>     Prov. 15:16 told us we had to have the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>fear of God</I></FONT>  to be content.  Prov. 15:17 tells us we must have <U>love</U> also.  Without love, the humble dish of greens won't be enough.  Without love, we, in our poverty, won't be able to think of the 'undeserving' rich without envy or resentment.  Hmm, love would seem to be in short supply on earth.</div> <div>      Love was, in fact, dumped by mankind back in the Garden of Eden; well, at least any love worthy of the name.  We can still love selfishly, but real love, unbounded love- we lost it when we lost our love for God.  We loved ourselves and preferred ourselves, consigning God's motives to selfishness.  "He has kept something from us!  We deserve it!  He hasn't loved us enough to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>give </I></FONT>it to us, so we will love ourselves enough to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>take </I></FONT>it!"</div> <div>     Ah, sad man.  Sad me.  Sad you.  Loveless and oblivious to it.</div> <div>     How will we relearn love?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Rom 5:5</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   And hope does not put </FONT><I>us </I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through </FONT><I>the</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >Holy Spirit given to us</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     If we are Christians, we have love in principle within us again, but will we necessarily practice it?  No.  Whenever we do not walk in the Spirit, whenever we do not walk in prayer, whenever we are not near God by meditation in His Word, how can His love be active in us?  It lies dormant as long as we walk in the flesh (that is, lacking the just-mentioned commodities).</div> <div>     We might think of snippy, high-strung, conceited people around a table when we think of quality meals "with hatred," but our proverb is telling us that if we don't have love- that is, if we do not engender and nurture love by the disciplines of life that bring us near Him who <I>is </I>love- then <U>hatred rules our lives</U> whether we eat epicureally or not.  The point of the proverb is that love is infinitely better than hatred, but not love selelctively- rather, love as a life-ruling principle.</div> <div>     People in humble circumstances, who never envision themselves rising above their poverty, are usually the only ones who learn true contentedness.  They are also the only ones who know what it is to love.  Their love almost <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>has </I></FONT>to be unconditional, because what conditions could they place on one another anyway?  Surely, most poor people are dissatisfied people, just like most rich folk; but if we would find love on the earth, we would do best to start among the poor:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Luke 6:20, 21</FONT>  And lifting up His eyes to His disciples, He said, Blessed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are</I></FONT>  the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  <U>Blessed </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I><U>are</U></I><U>  </U></FONT><U>you who hunger now</U>, for you shall be filled. Blessed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Eurostile" ><I>are you</I></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Eurostile" ><I> </I></FONT> who weep now, for you shall laugh ...</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > Luke 6:24, 25</FONT>  But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.  <U>Woe to you who are full</U>! For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now! For you shall mourn and weep. </div> <bR> <div>     Scary stuff, eh, fellow-American?  If all your stuff were God's, you'd be poor, at least technically.  But the fact that it's all yours and God's ownership is mostly only a concept is evident by your complaints and your ungrateful spirit.</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_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="464" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:18<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>An enflamed person incites debates, </B></div> <div> <B>but he who is slow to anger puts wrangling to rest. </B><B> </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Enflamed" is from a word for heat.</div> <div>     "Debates" is from a root word with a bit of a legal flavor.</div> <div>     "Wrangling" comes from a root meaning "to toss, to grapple".</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The fuming person</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">One who is slow to ignite <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>in anger</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Aggravates <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>unto </I></FONT>argument</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Lays rivalries to rest</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>   First of all, notice the exact difference between the two types of people.  One seems to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>stay </I></FONT>angry (not meaning he always <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>seems </I></FONT>angry; he may not <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>seem </I></FONT>angry <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>ever</I></FONT>), the other doesn't get angry easily- he's slow to anger.  He may get angry, but it will either be with very good reason, as when Jesus was angered at the Pharisees for resisting His healing of the lame man, or it will take a great deal of provocation before he gets angry, as when Paul retorted when he was struck during his hearing.  So the contrast is not between someone who gets angry and someone who does not.  The Bible reserves a very definite place for good anger:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" > Eph 4:26</FONT>  <U>Be angry</U>, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >2 Cor 7:11</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >  For behold this same thing (you being grieved according to God); how much it worked out earnestness in you; but </FONT><I>also</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >defense; but </FONT><I>also</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" ><U>indignation</U>; but </FONT><I>also</I>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >fear; but </FONT><I>also</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >desire; but </FONT><I>also </I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >zeal; but </FONT><I>also</I>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" ><U>vengeance</U>!  In everything you approved yourselves to be clear in the matter. </FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div>     We are supposed to be angry at sin and angry at ourselves when we sin.  It is only that anger must not <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>control </I></FONT>us.  We must be able to let go of it and operate in our <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>normal </I></FONT>mode of patience and kindness.</div> <div>     Let us notice again that an "enflamed" person may not show red around the collar.  He may handle it very coolly, with the composure of an assassin.  He may have swallowed his anger into an indigestible chamber; from there, he calls it up to feed the softly glowing coals of his revenge.  He bides his time until he sees the opportunity for the harm he wishes to impose.  </div> <div>     Most people controlled by this kind of anger do not even recognize it as anger themselves.  They may not acknowledge to themselves that they hate anyone.  Their normal mode has become that of a furnace, so they are accustomed to the heat inside and the hard metallic exterior.  In fact, they may not hate anyone specific; they may just hate in general.</div> <div>     Solomon is giving <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>us </I></FONT>the clue as to who they are (assuming we're not one of them ourselves).  Find <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>arguments</I></FONT> and you probably have a fuming person in your company.  Again, his tactics may deflect suspicion from himself.  In fact, he may be one step removed.  If you are hearing a dispute, it may have been caused by gossip he spoke about someone in the group.  So you may have some detective work to do, but if you have strife, you can probably find an angry person (at least one) behind it.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    Will you be able to find the reason for the anger?  Probably not.  If their fuming is of the deep-seated kind, there is probably some sour relation or event in their past that they never got over:  a parent who didn't love them, a confidant who betrayed them.  They</FONT> <I>didn't</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" > deal with it properly, so it's a darker secret to </FONT><I>them </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >than to anyone.</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The person who is slow to anger may have had as bad a past or worst, but he has learned to move on.  He has taken responsibility for his own actions <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>and </I></FONT>his response to others'.  He knows that whoever can get under his skin controls him, and he doesn't want to give up that ground; so he maintains an even temper under pressure.  He is not necessarily more cool-tempered <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>naturally </I></FONT>than others, but he has seen the damage that anger can do, and he has vowed not to be guilty of it.</div> <div>     Therefore, when a battle of wills or sparking of personalities begins to take shape, he recognizes the monster and immediately begins posturing for a resolution.  People can develop just as intuitive a genius for this as they do for getting people mad.  That doesn't mean they can quell all arguments, for the furious person may simply break out in an unquenchable flame that will simply have to be fled.  But even a strategic retreat does the work of retiring a wrangle.</div> <bR> <div>     So which guy are you?  Are there arguments in your circle of acquaintances?  Or does your intervention tend to make them disappear?</div> <div>     The answer to this question gives us a very good indicator who we are spiritually:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Matt 5:9</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   Blessed </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >the peacemakers!  For they shall be called the sons of God. </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_29_1"><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="464" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FF99FF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:19<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>The path of the indolent </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>like a hedge of briers, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>But the road of the upright is elevated.</B><B> </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Road" in the Hebrew represents a more traversed trail than the word for "path".</div> <div>     An "elevated" road is basically the kind we drive on.  Even when roads were only built to support cart travel, etc., they were still built higher than the surrounding terrain to keep them from washing out when it rained.</div> <div>     The "indolent" root word pictures him as a 'leaner'; someone who leans against a wall or into a chair instead of moving on to a task.</div> <div>     The "upright" is "straight."</div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The path of the slothful</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The road of the upright</div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Like a thorny hedge</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Built up</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is an interesting comparison; the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>lazy </I></FONT>person is being contrasted to the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>upright</I></FONT>.  The expected comparison is between the lazy and the diligent.  Actually, out of the fourteen times the lazy is mentioned in Scripture (all of them in Proverbs), he is only contrasted to the diligent once.  Twelve other times, he is studied independently, without comparison to another type.  Hence, the lazy man is compared to the upright as much as he is to the diligent.</div> <div>     What is suggested by this comparison?  Simply that the lazy man is lacking the quality of uprightness in his life.  His laziness precludes his being a straightforward person.  A lazy person is disinclined to work, therefore he has to think of reasons why he has to stay put or retreat to a 'no-work' zone.  Kids who make excuses to stay away from schoolwork are already honing this art.</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >    And laziness is usually accompanied by a highly developed skill.  The excuses the lazy has to create to avoid work draw greatly on his imaginative powers.  What a waste of talent!  But our verse today tells us that his excuses are of no use anyway.  God has so designed life that those who try to create their own world where they don't have to pull their share of the load are never able to design it without quirks.  And these quirks end up costing the lazy man </FONT><I>twice the energy</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" > he would have expended to </FONT><I>just do the work</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" >he was avoiding!</FONT></div> <div>     That's what our proverb means when it says that the lazy man's path is like a hedge of thorns.  He ends up making things more difficult for himself by side-stepping responsibilities.  It's like he's always trying to machete his way through a painful wall blocking his path.  Except, according to our verse, his whole <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>path </I></FONT>is like this wall made of a bush of sharp-edged leaves or thorns.  His life becomes a wading through difficulties.</div> <div>     And this is the clue Solomon is giving us as to who the lazy are.  Remember, their excuses are going to sound plausible, so we might not immediately recognize them that way.  We recognize them first by the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>unusual difficulty</I></FONT> of their lives.  They seem to have twice the trouble besetting them in everything they do.  If we see this, we might think we've found a Job, but if we then observe how they handle a responsibility they must exercise regularly, we can identify the indolent.  A regular job will eventually wear down his patience, and you will soon begin hearing reasons why it couldn't get done, couldn't get done on time, or couldn't get done right.  </div> <div>     From the lazy man's point of view, that's when job avoidance becomes a burden weighing down his whole life.  It begins to take him more work to avoid work than it's really worth.  But that's why the lazy man is also a dullard.  He fails to put this together.</div> <bR> <div>     The upright man is upright in that he accepts work as his portion, even though he doesn't feel like doing it.  By the way, this is why many otherwise responsible people cover for the lazy and accept their excuses.  There is a bit of a guilty conscience in some of us that says, "Hey, I'd get out of the work if I could, too!"  And we perhaps even admire the lazy for their cleverness.  But a truly responsible person will not abide the lazy; not so much because "<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>I'm</I></FONT> pulling my end, so everyone <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>else </I></FONT>has to pull an equal load," but because the lazy man hurts those around him by his laziness:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Eurostile" >Prov 18:9</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eurostile" >   Also he who is slack in his work is brother to a great destroyer. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Whether or not he cares that he hurts himself, we should avert his harm to others if we can.</div> <div>     Our proverb is mainly comparing the <B>ease of travel</B> in life for two types of people.  The upright has the easier path.  Because he accepts responsibility the first time, his overall road is easier.  All roads are subject to some difficulties, and all roads need maintenance; but uprightness makes life's path as burden-free as it <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>can </I></FONT>be.  It is his diligence that has largely made his path an elevated one in the first place (God's grace kicking in a generous portion).</div> <bR> <div>     There is a great spiritual application here.  Many Christians seem to stay in constant trouble spiritually.  They never seem to succeed in the spiritual realm.  They are always trying to find someone else's one-two-three method for walking with the Lord.  They assume that there is some trick to it, and they want to hurry up and master it so they can have what they want in the spiritual realm- peace, wisdom, freedom from temptations.  Everything they try only seems to make matters worse.  They just feel like giving up (It won't be <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>their </I></FONT>fault, after all, since they did give it their best effort).  These are the spiritually lazy.</div> <div>     The spiritually diligent take it upon themselves to read Scripture and pray daily whether they 'feel' like it or not.  They soon recognize that valuable spiritual gems come to them in all sizes and varieties.  Not all of them are 'marketable' in the same way.  The upright despises none of them.  The <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>effort </I></FONT>of the upright includes, by the way, the effort to actually draw near to the Lord, not just to go through the motions.</div> <bR> <div>     All of us have a lazy man in us crying to get out.  We may be diligent in earthly labors and lazy in spiritual ones.  Whenever we pamper ourselves and think ourselves too good for the labor required for a productive outcome, we are setting our course for Thornbush Avenue.  The effort to build and maintain an elevated road gives us the better pampering in the end.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_30"><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="419" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FF9980 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:20<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <B>A wise son makes a glad father, </B></div> <div> <B>but a fool of a man despises his mother</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000033" FACE="Verdana" ><B>.</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Fool of a man" is closer to the Hebrew than "foolish man" here.    </div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" ><B>:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A wise son / child</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A man <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>of the</I></FONT> fool <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>kind</I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Makes a father glad</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Disrespects his mother</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is a repeat of the first of the proverbs proper, 10:1, until the second line.  "Despises his mother" here was "is a grief to his mother" in 10:1.  "A fool man" was "A foolish son" in 10:1.  Both halves of 10:1 spoke passively, of the effect of the child's behavior on his parents.  Our proverb today switches from the passive voice of the first half to the active voice of the second half of the verse; the child is first viewed by the e<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>ffect </I></FONT>he has <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>on </I></FONT>his father; then he is viewed by the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>attitude </I></FONT>he has <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>toward </I></FONT>his mother.</div> <div>     This may also signal another beginning of a section, perhaps more significant than the former one at 13:1, which also commented on the fifth commandment.  In any event, 15:20 does commence a paragraph with the word for "glad', which appears in two of the following three verses.</div> <div>     Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of this verse is the direct use of the word "man" in relating to a parent.  We commented earlier on the continuous nature of relations with our parents.  They are not always in authority over us, but they are always our parents.  As such, the command to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>honor </I></FONT>them always remains in place.  We honor them with obedience as children; we honor them with respect when we become adults.  We honor them eventually with our caretaking if that becomes necessary.</div> <bR> <div>     A wise son brings joy to his father.  This concerns both the father and the son.</div> <div>     Fathers should be concerned that they raise wise children.  They should make good use of Proverbs to that end.</div> <div>     Children should be concerned whether their behavior makes their parents proud.  A child can measure his progress in life and before God almost solely by this:  Is my behavior pleasing to my parents?  If he operates by the rule of wisdom, he can be sure his parents will recognize it, at least in its effects.</div> <bR> <div>     The next part of the verse says that a fool of a man despises his mother.  He looks back on all her attentions as wasted effort.  He hates her for her good advice which he failed to carry out.  He sneers at her for not caring enough to provide this or that for him.</div> <div>     One who despises his mother has set a pattern for his life.  He uses people God gives to him as excuses for his bad behavior.  He either blames them for what he has done wrong or he puts his behavior beyond criticism by his superiority to them.</div> <div>     Can a coddling mother foster such an attitude in her son?  Yes, her failure to rein in his pride or laziness can feed his natural bad tendencies.  She operates, through whatever motive, to gain her child's favor, but she attains the opposite.  </div> <div>     The child, of course, is still responsible to honor his parent despite this.  He must simply count her coddling as a weakness in her and make adjustments in his own self-image (pegging himself down a few notches).  Many parents desperately need this level of maturity and responsibility in their children <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>whenever </I></FONT>the child can develop it; but for most who were raised poorly, they probably won't develop it (a sane ego) until their teens or after, for they will barely have had a chance to recognize it (their overinflated ego) by then.</div> <div>     If a child never rids himself of this blaming or disrespecting attitude, he simply keeps himself "a fool of a man."</div> <bR> <div>     What is your present relation with your parents like?  What is your heart attitude towards them?  This question counts just as heavily even if they are deceased.  What memory do you carry of them?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="mar_31"><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="419" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 78 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 15:21<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Kabel Bk BT" >  </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>Folly </B></FONT><I><B>is</B></I><B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Verdana" ><B>joy to one who is without heart, </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>but a keen man walks uprightly. </B><B> </B></div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Walks uprightly" can also be "directs/ makes straight  his  walking/ proceeding".    </div> <div>     </div> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Being Compared</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">One devoid of heart</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An insightful man</div> <bR> <div> <B>Their Descriptions</B>:</div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Foolishness is gladness to him</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Straightens his walk</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Here is a verse on restraint.  A person who lacks sufficient inner guidance to check his own impulses will simply assume that the fun he pursues is a justified end result.  The thoughtful man, though, will consider his behavior and keep it in line with a certain rule, especially where <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>un</I></FONT>ruliness is calling him to step <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>out </I></FONT>of line.</div> <div>     The fool is here called a man "devoid of heart".  Solomon is the only one who uses this phrase, which he does eleven times in Proverbs and once in Ecclesiastes.  We have already seen it in 10:13, 21, 11:12, and 12:11.  The heart is usually considered the seat or center of man's being, especially in the Old Testament.  Therefore a man void of heart is almost not a man.  Solomon is nearly saying that this person has reverted to a bestial level.  His heart certainly doesn't do what it's supposed to do- namely, check behavior before engaging in it.  The New Testament might specify the deficient inner faculty as conscience.</div> <div>     Solomon also seems to be working off of the word "joy" just used in the previous verse.  There Solomon spoke of the joy a wise child gave a father.  Now he expands on that by showing why it is irrelevant to the fool whether he gladdens his dad.  It is because he himself is more gladdened by foolishness.  His joy in reckless behavior nullifies any consideration of joy anyone else receives.  So the fool is also pegged as utterly selfish.</div> <div>     Solomon wishes us to recognize someone who is 'turned on' by foolish behavior.  He wants us to see that they're not just high-spirited nor just having a little fun.  Once their frivolity takes them into destructive territory, Solomon wants us to see lack of heart.  Destructive means any blatant disregard for God's commands: destruction of property, harm to people or animals, theft, disrespect for authority, etc.</div> <div>     By the same token, someone who loves fun is not necessarily a fool.  We just saw in 15:15 the commendation of the fellow for whom life is one big banquet.  Pleasure is a God-given gift, but it must be spent on worthy objects.  When spent thus, it should be spent freely.</div> <div>     So someone who perverts the proper use of pleasure and spends it on destructive things needs a heart transplant.  He has an empty spot in his heart, or where his heart should be.  This is just the opposite of what we might have judged.  We tend to see those who 'go for the gusto' as the only truly hearty people on the planet.  Again, Solomon is giving <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>us </I></FONT>a radical change of view.</div> <div>     A Biblical evidence that heart and mind work <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>together </I></FONT>rather than competing is seen in the second half of the verse.  The keen man, the man who sees into the workings of things, is obviously a man <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>not </I></FONT>lacking heart.  His <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>presence </I></FONT>of heart is evidenced by his insight, his <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>mental </I></FONT>activity.</div> <div>     And how is this mind itself evidenced?  He "makes his goings straight."  This is partly an expression <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>opposite </I></FONT>of taking joy in folly.  Someone who 'straightens his walk' sets a ruler before him, so to speak, and walks by its straight line.  He therefore sees when he would step out of line.  When folly is calling him, he can judge, "No, that activity would clearly take me out of this straight course."</div> <div>     Funny, some people see this straight way of life as 'puritanical', overly-restrictive; yet they will set goals for <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>themselves </I></FONT>that they would never think of altering.  All they're doing is exchanging one ruler for another.  </div> <div>     True, many professing Christians make the pursuit of the straight path a drudgery.  They think that to be opposite the fool they must take out their <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>own </I></FONT>hearts and have no pleasure of <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>any </I></FONT>kind!  This is its own miserable brand of folly <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>and </I></FONT>is its own punishment; except that it punishes others also and gives Christianity a bad name (2 Pet. 2:2).</div> <bR> <div>     Do you take pleasure in harm?  How about when you see it in movies or on TV?  A desensitized generation is indeed lacking heart.</div> <div>     Do you use the Word of God for your straight rule in life?  Is it indeed a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>straight </I></FONT>rule?  Does it actually <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>restrict </I></FONT>you from things, or do you bend it to give yourself what you want?</div> <div>     Or do you walk by your <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Poor Richard" ><I>own </I></FONT>straight rule and <I>call </I>it the Word of God (legalism in the sanctification realm)?</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>