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<div> <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="contact"><B>Pastor Cain</B></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="41"><div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="map"><B><IMG SRC="03c0e0e0.png" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="map"><B>Map</B></A></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> <B>Devotional     for    September</B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="699" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><B>Back to calendar </B></A><A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><IMG SRC="0400e0e0.jpg" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></A>  </div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <B>For PREVIOUS PROVERBS : Scroll up, </B><I><B>OR</B></I><B>  Return to Devotional Calendar</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=365 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>  <A NAME="august_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="482" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:27</div> <div> Cease, my son, to hear instruction</div> <div> <I>only </I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >to deviate from the sayings of knowledge </FONT><I>thereby</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >. </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>     "Cease, my son, to hear <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Palatino Linotype" ><I>the </I></FONT>instruction <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Palatino Linotype" ><I>that causes one</I></FONT> to deviate..." is another understanding of the verse.</div> <div>     "Cease, my son, to hear instruction <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Palatino Linotype" ><I>and you will begin</I></FONT> to deviate..." is yet another way the Hebrew is taken.  In this version, you could almost replace the words in italics with an 'equals' sign.</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">A son/child under instruction</div> <bR> <div> Admonition<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Stop taking in instruction only to justify your deviations</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is an instruction about instruction.  It is a word to a student about the way he receives instruction.  It is a warning not to process teaching for the purpose of refuting it.</div> <div>     This is also a rather stark word from Solomon to his 'instructee'.  You would not think he would call him "my son" in this case.  But if it is being used as a corrective to bring his student back on track, it is quite understandable.</div> <div>     In fact, it is most <I>usual </I>that a student should question his instruction.  Basic thinking skills require us to ask questions, at least in our own minds, concerning what we are being taught.  We have not really learned until we have asked questions.   </div> <div>     However, a student can ask questions in such a way as to become a veritable cynic.  He does not accept anything as true in his mind.  All he is hearing is the opinions of a narrow-minded instructor.  He can actually become an 'anti-student', rejecting what he is being told and walking contrary to it.</div> <div>     Solomon warns him of that tendency in this proverb.  Questions are alright.  Questions are necessary.  But we must use questions to AFFIRM, not merely to deny.  When questioning becomes the whole point, we place ourselves at the center of our own little universe of unbelief.  "Nothing is true unless I let it be."</div> <div>     Questioning as a learning process should be used to <I>rule out</I> false possibilities.  What <I>remains</I> after questioning should be the truth, if we have made proper use of the process.</div> <div>     When a student learns the skill of critical thinking, it is tempting for him to play 'the devil's advocate' a little too seriously.  "Hey, I can disprove anything my teacher can assert!"  And, of course, logic <I>can </I>be used as a game to any end we wish.  But ultimately, a student who seeks to divert good teaching from lodging in his soul is manifesting a <I>spirit of independence</I>.  </div> <div>     Again, a little of this is to be expected as a student differentiates himself from his teacher.  "That's your conclusion.  Well, this is mine."  It takes a certain amount of pluck to match wits with our instructors.  This is to be encouraged.  The student who merely says, "Yes.  Yes.  I agree.  I never disagree," has probably not thought through any of the premises for himself.  He is more of a parrot.</div> <div>     But it is frighteningly easy for a bright student to become enthused with his own unique insights.  He easily begins to assume that he is smarter than his instructors and that they are wrong.</div> <div>     At this point, the proud little man inside speaks to him, "Your way is right.  They can't understand, because they're too stuck in the rut of their own thinking."  And the student begins to despise his instruction.  He begins to justify sinful practices because no one has proved to his satisfaction that they are really harmful.  He begins to approach his teaching as an adversary.  "You're trying to teach me this.  Well fine!  I will listen only to find more reasons to despise it all!"</div> <div>     So Solomon teaches us as instructors to call our students back out of their little dream worlds before those become reality; <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Broadway" >for they do become reality</FONT>!</div> <div>     He asks us as students of Scriptures whether we learn in order to submit, or whether we come to overturn reason and conclusions properly deduced.  All heresy does the latter.  Every immoral lifestyle does also.  Every individually-tailored Christianity likewise learns only to convert into its own schemata.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="august_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="482" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:28</div> <div> A disreputable witness scoffs at justice,</div> <div> And the mouth of the wicked gulps down iniquity. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Iniquity" is from a Hebrew word meaning literally "to pant", with the implication of exertion in vain; so meaning vanity, trouble, wickedness.</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">A worthless witness</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The immoral</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions Respectively<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Scoffs at justice</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His mouth swallows vanity whole</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This will be the seventh instruction we have considered on witnesses.  Most of it has been a direct comment on the Ninth Commandment.  This verse is more directly related to courtroom proceedings, but, as with the Ninth Commandment itself, recognizes an application to all speaking as testimony in some sense.</div> <div>     The man void of moral bearing who is called upon as a witness understands the impact his testimony will have but is unmoved at the possible damage he may cause.  If someone's life, livelihood, or reputation are at stake, that is the fault of the court system, he thinks.  They should not have put so much power in his hands.</div> <div>     The "worthless" witness in our proverb is found in several Old Testament passages as well.  In 1 Kings 21:1 - 16 we read of Jezebel's plot to acquire another man's field for Ahab by hiring "sons of Belial" to testify against the man.  This "Belial" is our same word for "worthless".  It is most commonly used with "son/daughter of".</div> <div>     So a worthless witness already had a storied history for Solomon's readers.  He was willing to sell his testimony.  By doing so he mocked at justice.  Justice, for him, was something to be used for personal advantage, not a tool for arriving at righteous decisions.</div> <div>     Anyone who takes spoken testimony lightly is in this same category.  Someone who realizes that his word will be taken as fact and who wishes to craft the 'facts' to his own advantage gives evidence of a soul with a mangled conscience.</div> <bR> <div>     The second half of the proverb has the mouth of the wicked working in reverse.  Instead of belching up lies, it is guzzling down unprofitable information and habits.  This gives us the background information necessary to understand the first half of the verse.  The ungodly makes a mockery of justice with his testimony because he has already ingested any number of lies and bad practices.  He is only emitting what he has taken in.</div> <div>     There is a note of irony in the huge mouthful the ungodly consumes.  He swallows vanity or iniquity itself as though he were a cat nabbing a fly flying by.  No big deal.  Connect this capacity with the false testimony of the first half of the verse and we have a whale of a tale becoming a 'minner dinner'.  He can be counted on to lie big because he makes bite-sized snacks of grand vices.</div> <div>     Someone like this might not seem too great a threat outside an actual courtroom setting, but we should realize the great destructive potential in such a person.  He proceeds on the assumption, "If what I say cannot be disproved, then it is true."  So he feels free to invent 'facts' at his whim.  God calls him immoral and paints his soul in a most menacing hue.</div> <bR> <div>     How sacred is your testimony when <I>you </I>speak?</div> <div>     Do you realize that life is God's courtroom, and all you say you must give account for?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *********************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="407" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 19:29</div> <div> Penalties have been prepared for scoffers, </div> <div> And beatings for the backs of fools. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Penalties" is from a Hebrew word meaning a "sentence". </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">Scoffers</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Fools</div> <bR> <div> Their Consequences Respectively<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Sentencings are appointed for them</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Blows are prepared for their backs</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     There is a 'hand-in-glove' fit between an ungodly person and punishment.  Punishment for the unjust is as fitting a thing as there is in the universe.  Many cannot imagine that a God of love could express such symmetry about anyone's pain.  They would be right if love were all that comprised God.  </div> <div>     But God is not an unbalanced being.  He hates just as intensely and purely as He loves.  His love would not be what it is except for what he conversely hates.  Love and hate are quite different, to be sure- opposites.  But to pit them against one another as though one had to be ultimate is like saying that God either has to be merciful OR He has to be just- He cannot be both.  This is absurd.  Differing qualities in God are not in competition.</div> <div>     Therefore, it is equally absurd to say that God cannot show His love to whom He wishes, nor to show His hate on the other hand.  They are opposite responses, so they are not going to be shown to the same people.  But for God to love some and hate others is not at all unreasonable.  For Him to have to either love <I>or </I>hate- one to the exclusion of the other- <I>that </I>is what would be irrational.  And hate would be no more unthinkable than love if one had to be chosen over the other.</div> <div>     Finally, it is perfectly sound to conclude that an <I>eternal </I>punishment is fitting for the scoffer.  He is a being created in God's image, with immense privileges.  God says that this man knows perfectly well who God is, yet arrogantly denies it:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rom 1:19</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     It is no use soft-peddling the crimes of the unbeliever.  God speaks of them in the severest terms.  They have broken the <I>eternal </I>law of an <I>eternal </I>Creator with every bit of their <I>eternal </I>souls.  Why would their deaths be <I>temporal</I>?</div> <div>     So the ultimate fulfillment of our verse today is the Lake of Fire.  That is where the unbeliever receives what is fitting.  Hades, his 'holding pen' for the present, is not his punishment.  His sentence does not begin until the verdicts are read at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20).  Then, and then only, will the scoffer and the fool receive what is appropriate.  Until then, something is unbalanced in the Universe.  Just as things aren't right until the meek inherit the earth, so things are out of kilter until the monstrous are banished from it.</div> <div>     <I>You</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>  </I></FONT>will not be kindling the flame of the unbeliever.  <I>I  </I>will not be putting them to torment.  It is strictly a matter between them and their Creator.  We are foolish to think that because <I>we </I>do not have enough against an unbeliever to consign him to perdition, that therefore <I>God </I>also does not.  It is His affair.  Leave it with Him.  But express it as He does.  There is no deficit for depicting the ungodly's fate.  Every aspect is covered in Scriptures.  It is amazing that anyone could take issue with it.  </div> <div>     We must wonder why it is that no one objects to God <I>loving</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>  </I></FONT>creatures who are so villainous.  It could as easily be argued in His honor that He should not countenance creatures that have flouted His goodness and made gods of themselves.  Why no arguments here?  Is it not a patent commentary on our unequal sense of justice?  On our massive self-love?</div> <div>     Punishment is prepared for the scoffer.  Punishments begin in this life but are only completed in the next.  God uses men and circumstances to give the scoffer a foretaste of His full retribution.</div> <div>     Beatings are appointed for the backs of fools.  Again, their folly will reward them with many pains while on earth, but the Creator's justice does not truly begin until the final sentencing.</div> <div>     Interestingly, 'Christians' who minimize the Lord's justice are among those pictured as objects of His sentencing in the end:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 12:45 - 48</FONT>  But if that servant says in his heart, <U>My lord delays</U> his coming, and shall begin to beat the male servants and women servants, and to eat and drink and to be drunk,  the lord of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect, and at an hour when he does not know. And he <U>will cut him apart</U>, and will <U>appoint him</U> his <U>portion</U> <U>with the unbelievers</U>.  And that servant who knew his lord's will and did not prepare, nor did according to His will, shall be <U>beaten</U> with <U>many</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>stripes</I></FONT>.  But he not knowing, and doing <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>things</I> </FONT>worthy of <U>stripes</U>, shall be beaten with <U>few</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>stripes</I></FONT>. For to whomever much is given, of him much shall be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. </div> <bR> <div>     The worst "beatings" the wicked servant deals to his fellow servants are his misrepresentations of God and His works.</div> <div>     Again, justice will be exact.  God is not overreacting in the Lake of Fire.  It is simply a matter of justice.  And God is just.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *********************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="407" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:1</div> <div> Wine is a mocker, and liquor is a brawler; </div> <div> All who are led astray by them are not wise. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Led astray" also carries the meaning of "to lurch"; so Solomon has used a double entendre.</div> <div>     "Brawler" is  from a Hebrew word meaning "to make a loud sound; by implication, to be in great commotion."</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">Alcoholic drink</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">All those misled by them</div> <bR> <div> Their Two Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A scoffer (wine) and boisterous (liquor)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Not wise</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     In our quest to find the wise man, we have come across another exclusion, and it is absolute.  Solomon says one man you will never find among the wise is the man who gets drunk.  We may find other qualities of wisdom in the man, but if he gets intoxicated, he cannot be truly wise.  This would apply when any substance with intoxicating effects is drunk, eaten, smoked, or taken intravenously.  Those who cloud their minds with intoxicants can never be counted wise.</div> <div>     This is the first time Solomon deals with intoxicants as such.  He has used wine metaphorically a couple of times in chapters 1 - 9, but this is his first comment on drunkenness.  It is a sort of complement to his teaching on self-control:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:32</FONT>  He who is slow to anger <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>better than the mighty, and he who <U>rules his spirit</U> is better than he who takes a city. </div> <bR> <div>     Someone who is drunk does not rule his own spirit.  The drunkard will not agree that he has lost control, but that denial is part of his drunkenness.</div> <div>     Wine is personified in our proverb.  It is pictured as a scoffing man.  That makes the third verse in a row where "scoffer" is used.  Solomon has just said that a worthless witness "scorns" justice, and that penalties are prepared for "scoffers".  By making wine itself a "scoffer", Solomon is making the man under wine's power a pitiful figure indeed.  It is as if he were saying, "There is one kind of person who is controlled by scoffing, but in a cowardly way; he lets wine make him its puppet.  He comes into the hands of punishment by means of a third party."</div> <div>     This pathetic clown is so seen later in proverbs as well:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 31:4 - 7</FONT>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>It is</I></FONT> not for kings, O Lemuel, not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>to lust</I></FONT> for strong drink;  lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.  Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and <U>wine</U> to those who are of <U>heavy hearts</U>.  Let him drink, and <U>forget</U> his poverty, and remember his <U>misery</U> no more. </div> <bR> <div>     Here the drunkard is seen as someone who has checked out of life.  He wants no part of it.  He only seeks oblivion.  So he hands his keys to wine and says, "Take me away."</div> <div>     Wine is a scoffer who mocks those under its sway.  The most wine we are ever encouraged to drink is "a little":</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Tim 5:23</FONT>  Drink water no longer, but use <U>a little wine</U> for your stomach's sake, and for your frequent infirmities. </div> <bR> <div>     Here pastor Timothy's stomach is ministered to by a daily portion of wine.  Alcohol has the  capacity to kill bacteria that might otherwise flourish to our detriment.  But how much wine does it take to do the trick?  "A little."  </div> <div>     By this we know that neither wine itself nor its partaking is evil.  Sin is its overindulgence.  When is that line crossed?  Those who love wine/its effects wish to locate the limit as far into a drinking session as possible.  They will certainly therefore exceed the limit.  At that point, <I>others </I>will know what their conscience was telling <I>them </I>while they took sip after sip, glass after glass.  Slurred speech, lack of balance, lolling eyes- there are definite signs of overindulgence.</div> <div>     So wine <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >mocks </FONT>its slaves, looking them in the eye:  "I have you.  I <I>hurt </I>you.  Yet you love me."</div> <div>     Strong drink is <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >boisterous</FONT>.  It releases inhibitions and causes men to be foolish and loud.</div> <div>     Solomon is categorical.  "All" who are deceived by drink are devoid of wisdom.  Some will appear otherwise prudent, but that one 'outlet', that one relinquishing of the keys of their judgment is all we need to establish their lack of wisdom.</div> <div>     Can a drunkard reestablish wisdom in his life?  Yes.  But he may have to forgo wine's services on any level but communion or a drink at someone else's house.  Wine in his own house will probably be too strong a source of temptation.  If he has stomach problems, it is probably the ulcer caused by his drinking.  Wine won't help that.</div> <div>     Wine provides us with a crucial lesson about maturity.  We might ask why God would <I>at all</I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT>allow something <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" > </FONT>which can have these devastating effects.  Why not say, "No wine, no time, ever"?  Why even create grapes, God?  But wine, we see, is only a magnification of life as a whole.  </div> <div>     When God created a creature with moral choices, He made <I>everything </I>in the world a temptation and <I>nothing </I>a temptation at the same time.  For a weak man, <I>any </I>inducement will lead to sin.  For the man strengthened by God, <I>no </I>inducement, however strong, will lead to sin.  Many men have gone their whole lives as wine drinkers but not as drunkards.  So we see that the thankful use of earthly gifts is one thing; self-indulgence by them is its opposite.  In one sense there is a fine line between them.  But in the real sense, the difference between a pure conscience and a defiled one is the greatest chasm in the world.</div> <bR> <div>     Side note:  Have you heard of being "drunk in the Spirit?"  The phrase does not occur in Scriptures, nor is it described anywhere therein.  The apostles were not staggering or silly on the day of Pentecost, but rather the unknown languages they spoke moved some in the crowd to conclude they were drunk.  Paul does not advise drunkenness in Eph. 5:18 when he says <I>not </I>to be drunk with wine, but filled with the Spirit.  Filling with the Spirit is a form of <B>being controlled by another</B> that is <I><B>contrasted  </B></I>to drunkenness.  They are not otherwise alike.  It should be obvious from our proverb today that drunkenness is a form of <I>irresponsibility</I>.  Spirit-filling is the highest form of <I>responsibility</I>, since the Spirit is the One who works self-control in us as an aspect of His fruit.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="609" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:2</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >The fear </FONT><I>caused by</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > a king </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >as </FONT><I>that caused by</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > the roaring of a lion; </FONT></div> <div> whoever crosses him sins <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>against </I></FONT>his own soul. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Sins <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Palatino Linotype" ><I>against</I></FONT>" can simply be translated "forfeits".</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 fear of a king</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The snarl of a lion</div> <bR> <div> Counsel<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Do not cross him unless you wish to forfeit your life</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     You may recall a similar admonition not too far back:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 19:12</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The king's wrath </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >like the roaring of a lion; but his favor </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >like dew on the grass. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     And farther back:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:14</FONT>  The wrath of a king <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is as</I></FONT> messengers of death, but a wise man will quiet it. </div> <bR> <div>     Now we are dealing with a king's fear, not his anger.</div> <div>     The fear "of a" king can be taken, as we have done, as the fear <I>caused by</I> a king.  Once again, that fear is compared to a growl- that of a lion.</div> <div>     What does such a growl or roar imply?  It is either a territorial announcement of supremacy or a strategy in moving game in a certain direction so they can be caught.  For its enemies or its prey, the lion's roar is a <B>threat</B>.</div> <div>     After three verses in a row on scoffers and scoffing, we are now told, in effect, sheath your scorning, for by it you may run afoul of the authorities.  Scorners by definition flout authority.  Here we are told that they do so at their own peril.  Even a drunk man who begins to rant about excessive taxes and curses the king is in jeopardy of committing treason.</div> <div>     The Christian is not being told to curtail his ministry to those in authority by simply doing what they say with no response.  When opportunity is presented, Christians must speak to leaders in the name of the Lord.  But our respect for God-ordained authority should be evident in our manner of speech.  That respect should even carry over into our private conversations:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eccl 10:20</FONT>  Do not curse a king, no, <U>not in your thought</U>; and do not curse the rich in your bedroom; for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter. </div> <bR> <div>     God has so connected citizens to their authorities that our disrespect tends to come to their attention.  Solomon says that this should put a guard in our minds.  There should always be the 'little man' stationed in our thoughts who reminds us when we are tempted to say something disrespectful about a leader.</div> <div>     Does this mean that we cannot say that a leader has sinned?  No.  John the baptizer was very frank with king Herod about his adultery.  Of course Solomon's warning in our verse eventually came to pass in John's life.  He forfeited his soul to the executioner.  Should he have withheld his rebukes of Herod for his own sake, though?  No.  To bring about our own death, to "forfeit our soul", is not always a dishonorable thing.  Sometimes forfeiting our soul is demanded to <I>retain </I>our honor. </div> <div>     But even if we rebuke a king, are we ever to abandon a general demeanor of respect?  No.  We are always to recognize that those in authority are placed there by God, even if our message to them was that they took power unrighteously.  There is a balance that is difficult to maintain between our fear of God and speaking in His name on the one hand and our acknowledgment of those He has enthroned on the other.  As long as we have both realities firmly established in our souls, though- God's supremacy <I>and </I>fear of the king- we should be able to carry ourselves as worthy ambassadors, pleasing to God and useful to men.  Even our execution can serve both these purposes.</div> <bR> <div>     God is also a roaring lion, and a king is only prey in <I>His </I>forest.  Since we are all in THE King's forest too, we know that He does not tell us to fear the human king for nothing:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Pet 2:17</FONT>  Honor all. Love the brotherhood. <U>Fear God</U>. <U>Honor the king</U>. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Rom 13:7</FONT>  Therefore give to all <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>their</I> </FONT>dues; to the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>one due</I></FONT> tax, the tax; tribute to whom tribute <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is due</I></FONT>, <U>fear</U> to whom fear <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is due</I></FONT>, and honor to whom honor <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is due</I></FONT>. </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="521" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#FFCCCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:3</div> <div> It is an honor for a man to cease from strife; </div> <div> but every fool rushes into it.</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Rushes into it" is from a word with the basic meaning of exposing, so rolling forward, or breaking 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 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 man finding honor</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Every fool</div> <bR> <div> Their Opposing Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Desists from a dispute</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Commits the breach</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     It is a man's honor, his "weight" or "glory", to desist from a conflict.  This is the same word used for God's "glory".  God's substance, perfections, and virtues are what give him "weight".</div> <div>     Man gains real substance and rises above a merely instinctive creature by (for one thing) retaining control of his defense mechanisms.  Defending oneself against reproach by an impulsive counterattack is seen as something any fool can do.</div> <div>     Exactly how should we respond when our character or deeds are questioned?</div> <div>     The answer to this which will take you from A to Z is to<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" > <B>justify God</B></FONT>, <I>not </I>yourself.</div> <div>     This lesson is derived from Job whose volume of accusations is greater than any other man in Scriptures.  Job is a long book- 42 chapters.  Most of those chapters, 28 of them, from 4 through 31, comprise an argument between Job and three of his friends, Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz.  They were asserting that Job must have sinned against God somehow to invite the massive calamities that had come upon him.</div> <div>     At first, Job showed wisdom and retained honor by squelching any impulse to quarrel.  He did have some reverse advice, insisting that this was not the time to 'get to the bottom' of the matter, but was a time for friends to comfort a friend in distress.  His response was fairly measured and was mainly a cry for help.</div> <div>     His friends' minds, though, were made up.  Who in history before (or since, we might add) had had so many awful things happen to him all at once?  And their suspicions had been cemented when Job's first response, after a seven day silence of sitting and scraping his head-to-toe boils, was to curse the day he was born.</div> <div>     When Eliphaz got on to him for that, Job responded with a, "Come on!  You'd do the same in my shoes.  Give me a hand back, don't push me over the ledge!"</div> <div>     But after that, the whole situation went steadily downhill.  Job gave in little by little to their suggestions that he had sinned, until finally, he basically said, "Fine.  If God is repaying me, His account books are wrong!  If only I had an impartial auditor!"</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Job 23:3 - 7</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Oh that I knew </FONT><I>where</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >I might find Him, </FONT><I>that</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >I might come even to His seat!  I would order </FONT><I>my</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.  I would know the words </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>which</I> </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.  Will He plead against me with </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>His</I> </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >great power? No, surely He would give heed to me.  There the righteous might reason with Him; and I would be delivered forever from my Judge. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Job still partially asserted God's justice, but, in effect, he had lost sight of it.</div> <div>     When we find out where Job had fundamentally erred, we also find out how he could have had the 'honor of desisting from strife', in the words of our proverb.  Elihu was the man sent by God to untangle the mess of arguments that had ended in a stalemate.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Job 32:1, 2</FONT>  And these three men ceased from answering Job, because he <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT>righteous in his own eyes.  And the anger of Elihu burned- <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>he who was</I></FONT> the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. His wrath burned against Job, because he had <U>justified himself</U> rather than <U>God</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     There it is.  How had Job been pulled into dishonor?  How had he been made to argue unwisely?  He had "<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>justified himself</B></FONT>."  There is no other reason a man will quarrel.  Even if the topic is <I>officially </I>God's honor, as it often was with Job, his <I>real motivation</I> was to defend <I>himself </I>against his friends' accusations and against his own conscience which was beginning to accept their false premises.</div> <div>     So what should Job have been doing?  What should <I>everyone </I>do who is being pulled into self-defense and a dispute?  JUSTIFY GOD.  That's it.  Too simple.</div> <div>     Job should have simply maintained, as long and as often as necessary, "Whatever God is doing to me, and for whatever reason, I know He is right.  I'm not aware of any sin He might be punishing, but there are more possible reasons for my trials than punishing my sins.  Glory to God."</div> <div>     Are we saying that <I>we </I>would have responded the right way?  We probably wouldn't have made it past the wifely suggestion to curse God and die, if that far.  The point is for us all to learn what Job learned.  Any fool can burst in with a line of self-defense and/or counterattack, and every fool does.  A wise man distinguishes himself with a peek behind the Heavens to God's blueprint room where no mistakes are made.  As long as we DO justify <I>Him </I>and DON'T justify <I>us</I>, we should come out alright.  There is a demeanor that accompanies this that is very difficult- a patience and a maturity- but that is why it <I>becomes </I>a man's honor when he can pull back from a debate.</div> <div>     There is a time for argument- in defense of God and His truth.  There is even a time for self-defense.  But the spirit directing both of these defenses must be ever apprehensive about its own tendency to self-<I>oriented</I>, self-<I>centered </I>debate.</div> <div>     The <I>principle </I>isn't that hard to understand and agree with; the <I>practice </I>of it is.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="521" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#EEEEEE > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:4</div> <div> The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; </div> <div> <I>therefore</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >shall he beg in harvest, and </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>have</I> </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >nothing. </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>     "Harvest" is from a Hebrew word meaning "severed", as in the crops that are cut down.</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">The lazy man</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Does not plow by reason of winter</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">"Inquires" during harvest, but there is nothing</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>      There are two kinds of people when it comes to diligence.  There are those for whom the timetable laid out by the seasons taps them on the shoulder and says, "If you want crops, now's the time to begin."  And so they begin.</div> <div>     The other type of person gets tapped on the shoulder and notices the cold of the touch.  So instead of hearing the goading of the season, he hears his own inner voice saying, "There will probably be a few warmer days left in winter.  Those would be better days to start than this one."</div> <div>     In Solomon's part of the world, plowing for the later spring crops had to begin in November or December, when cold northerly winds were beginning to bear down on Israel.  This was hard work, and the temptation was to let it go and hope that the ground was already soft enough to establish the seeds and their first root systems.</div> <div>     The one word for the lazy man is "excuses".  He has a never-ending list of them.</div> <div>     The diligent person has as many excuses handy in his life if he wanted to use them.  He simply sees the JOB as more important than his DISADVANTAGES.</div> <div>     The lazy guy says, "Oh, what the winter does to my bones!"  Or, "The skin on my hands cracks so badly they bleed."  Or, "Plowing makes me sweat, then the northerly wind chills me; I catch cold every time."  And on and on his inventiveness goes.</div> <div>     NOTE:  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>The sluggard's excuses may well be real</B></FONT>.  It is his use of them to avoid work that makes him a sloth.</div> <div>     Again, all the excuses offered by the lazy person above may be just as true of the diligent person, but the diligent knows <B>the work has to be done anyway</B>.</div> <div>     Therefore, one distinction between a sluggard and an industrious type is that the sluggard is able to weave a dream world around him, while the industrious lives in reality.  The sluggard's dream world consists in his USE of facts.  Again, he is hard to accuse of laziness, because he <I>does </I>use facts.  Eventually, it seems like the only appropriate word to him is, "Buddy, we all have our excuses.  You just let yours stop you."</div> <div>     Of course, there are people who truly are unusually impaired, but even they can manifest a sprit of diligence in the way they approach their impairment.</div> <bR> <div>     There are consequences for laziness, and, as in everything else, God the designer makes the punishment fit the crime.  The same ground the lazy man refused to plow in winter will stare back into his hungry eyes at harvest time.</div> <div>     So with every area where we lack diligence.  The tasks we leave undone become empty cupboards.  Where we did no sowing, we can do no reaping.</div> <div>     The fellow who worked despite his drawbacks will have the very simple satisfaction of the fruit which that labor yields.</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon says the lazy man will "inquire", meaning either that he will ask food from others which he did not provide for himself, <I>or </I>that he will inquire of the land, saying, "Well, I didn't plow much, but I did sow seed.  Certainly <I>some </I>of it put down roots!"  Perhaps Solomon refers to <I>both </I>of these consequences.  The lazy man just becomes an inquirer.  Questions, questions; but the answers are all back during plowing time:  the hard, initial dirty work that no one wanted to do.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you a plower?</div> <div>     Or do you put off tough preliminary work, ever waiting for the 'perfect' opportunity?</div> <bR> <div>     In Bible study and prayer, the same spirit of "This isn't bearing me any fruit <I>right now</I>" leads to countless spiritual mortalities.  Plowing, in a way, is the farthest thing in the world from eating the bowl of beans that came from once-plowed ground.  Some Bible and prayer times yield only one satisfying 'bean' per hour of unsatisfying 'plowing', especially for young Christians.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="467" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:5</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Counsel in the heart of a man </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >deep water, </FONT></div> <div> But a man of understanding draws it up.</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Draws it up" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to dangle", as in letting down a bucket to draw water.</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">Counsel in a man's heart</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It is deep waters (a metaphor)</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A discerning man draws it out</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     There's good advice and there's bad advice.  Both kinds can emanate from the human heart.  There is some 'advice' in very raw form that is simply a human response to another human:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Cor 2:11</FONT>  For who among men <U>knows</U> <U>the things of a man</U> except the spirit of man within him?</div> <bR> <div>     There is a very natural perception by any human about certain things in other humans:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 20:11</FONT>  Even a child is <U>known</U> by his own doings, whether his work <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#333333" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>pure and whether <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> right. </div> <bR> <div>     The above proverb says something about being known, but it also therefore says something about <I>knowing</I>.  We naturally know things about other humans by our own 'reflecting' humanness (See 1 Cor. 2:11 above).</div> <div>     We therefore also make instinctive <I>assessments </I>about other humans; i.e., we have advice, counsel concerning them.</div> <div>     Solomon's first point in this proverb is that our instinctive assessments are like deep waters.  Since they are reflections of our <I>own </I>depths, they tend to be hard to define.</div> <div>     So we have the main point of our proverb:  the discerning man learns how to put a bucket down into the deep water of his soul, bring it up, and look into it.  The discerning man gets in touch with those instinctive assessments and can put words to them; he can define them.  This does not mean he can say everything there is to say about them, but that is actually part of his wisdom also- he doesn't try to over-define where there's still ambiguity in his thoughts.</div> <div>     Now consider this.  A discerning man is not only able to get in touch with his own thoughts about others, he is also able to plumb the depths of others' thoughts as well.  There are obviously limitations to this, but usually the discerning man can read another man better than the man can read himself.</div> <bR> <div>     What we have said so far is really a particular application of a more general truth.  We have focused on the particular truth of counsel concerning self or another, for this is probably the easiest way to initially grasp what is being said, and it is one of the primary lessons.  But the general principle is that ANY counsel that rests in the deep, still parts of a man's soul is difficult to reach, and only a discerning man has the 'bucket' to get down to it.</div> <div>     Take a natural man's knowledge of God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rom 1:19</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  because the thing which may be known of God is clearly revealed within them, for God revealed </FONT><I>it</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >to them. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The unbeliever knows there is a God, but if he were offered a bucket to retrieve the knowledge, he would smash the bucket, disregard it, or fail in the proper use of it.</div> <div>     The discerning man is the only one who can retrieve this knowledge.  In this regard, every Christian should be a discerning man.</div> <div>     How discerning a Christian is beyond this depends on his attention to Scriptures and their application to himself:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Heb 4:12, 13</FONT>  For the <U>Word of God</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, <U>piercing</U> even to <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><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 intents of the <U>heart</U>.  Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT><U>naked and opened</U> to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. </div> <bR> <div>     The more we are exposed by the Word of God, the 'closer' the bottom of the well gets.  God tells us who we are.  We confess it, believe it, and begin to look for evidences of it.  As we see them, the eyes of discernment develop.  Where things about ourselves are invisible, we let down the bucket of Scriptures so its piercing truths can dissect and collect our inner parts.  We bring those parts up and learn who we are, remembering the Scriptural issues that raised them.</div> <div>     Most people realize that they know more than they can express.  Most people, unfortunately, therefore think that they are more discerning than those around them.  But only the <I>man who can draw the thought out</I> is the wise man, according to our verse.  </div> <div>     When you first try to define your own deep thoughts, you will find that you were apparently thinking gibberish.  The defining process tends to make the 'wisdom' of our thought vanish.  We can't put it into words accurately because we didn't understand it as well as we thought.  This is why tending this bucket and its well is an advanced art and science, and few have the patience to master it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="498" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:6</div> <div> Many a man will proclaim each his own benevolence, </div> <div> But a faithful man who can find?</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Benevolence" is from the regular Hebrew word for God's "mercy", also used frequently for men's "kindness".</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">A man's self-proclamation</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">What he really is</div> <bR> <div> Opposing Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">That he is considerate</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Rarely a man of steadfastness</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Following a verse on discerning our own inner thoughts, we have here the more common trait of <I>mistaking </I>our character.</div> <div>     "Many men will proclaim each his own mercy."  And if many will proclaim it, many more believe it of themselves without saying it.  But then try to find such a man in reality.  A synonym for proven character is used in the second half of the proverb:  faithfulness.  "Who can find a faithful man?"</div> <div>     Man naturally believes good things about himself:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:2</FONT>  All the ways of a man <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT><U>pure in his own eyes</U>, but Jehovah weighs the spirits.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     We naturally see through rose-colored lenses when we are looking at ourselves.  We get so used to the lovely view, we don't mind others knowing about it, especially when our motives are questioned.</div> <div>     As Christians, we should be highly suspicious of any self-justifications that paint a picture of inner goodness.  Someone does something bad but then proclaims, "I'm not really like that."  Well, of course you're like that!  You did it!</div> <div>     Our proverb does say "many", though, and not "all".  This is because God's own redeeming grace changes men's hearts so that they <I>are </I>merciful and faithful:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 18:24</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And Jehovah has returned to me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The psalmist is under no illusions about his nature.  He knows he is still a sinner.  But he is also now a regenerated man with the capacity to do good.  Furthermore, his good has the power to dominate his evil tendencies.  If he denied any evil tendencies or their effects, he would be a liar (1 Jn. 1:8, 10).  But it would be just as dishonest to deny his goodness if God had indeed worked goodness in him.</div> <div>     How many men could honestly quote a verse like Psalm 18:24 about themselves?  Not many according to our proverb.  So the answer to the question in the second half of our proverb, "Who can find a faithful man?"- Not many.</div> <bR> <div>     The particular context of our proverb would seem to be friendship.</div> <div>     Many would-be friends proclaim their sympathy with you.  They say they understand you, including your weaknesses, and they won't abandon you.  But then a test comes, and their professed steadfast affection dissipates like a morning mist.</div> <div>     In this context, Jesus is the truest friend.  He came to us in our worst state and befriended us.  He has pledged Himself to us, and He already knows what faithless acts we have yet to perform, what treasonous words we have yet to speak.</div> <div>     Here, the other side of man's perverse nature comes into view.  Whereas every man has a natural confidence in his own goodness, yet few can outright deny their big blunders.  They therefore like to emphasize that Jesus accepts them unconditionally.  So on the one hand, they are very slow to admit their faults, but on the other, they are quick to imagine them excused without review.</div> <div>     Those few who do possess steadfast love have it because they do not wallow in excuses.  When they do wrong, they seek their Savior's forgiveness, but then they press on to learn His goodness so they will more consistently reflect it.  They won't have to <I>proclaim </I>their own mercy; their lives will <I>show </I>it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_10"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="498" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCFF99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:7</div> <div> A righteous <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>man </I></FONT>who walks in his completeness- </div> <div> blessed are his children after him! </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Completeness" is usually translated "blameless" or "integrity", but the meaning of "wholeness" or "maturity" is nearer the literal meaning.</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">A righteous man</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He walks in his maturity</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His children after him are blessed</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is a cause and effect verse, but the cause is often far removed from the effect in this life's measurements.  The cause here is a parent's godly life; the effect is blessings on his children.</div> <div>     This is a great faith-builder.  There are times when we don't feel like pressing on in righteousness for our own sakes; we lack the desire to "walk in our completeness."  At times like those, our concern for our children becomes a buoying force that supplies the motivation for not 'giving up the ship'.</div> <div>     What we do in our lives today affects what will transpire in our children's lives forty years from now.  That's what our verse is telling us.  We will even be long gone, and the fruits of our lives will be borne in the lives of our children!  Remarkable truth!</div> <div>     Baptistic theology- that only believers should be baptized, therefore excluding infants- tends to make its adherents overly individualistic concerning salvation.  True, every man is saved only for himself, and a parent's salvation does not 'filter down' to his children, saving them.  But a person of baptistic theology must realize this:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Cor 7:14</FONT>  For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else <U>your children</U> would be unclean, but now they <U>are holy</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     A believing parent makes his children holy.  Holy means "set apart".  We've already said that doesn't necessarily mean they will be saved, but it surely means that there is a connection between a parent's sanctification (same Greek root word as "holy") and his children's.  That's what our proverb says too.  <I>Our </I>spiritual maturity results in our <I>children's</I><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >  </FONT>blessing.</div> <bR> <div>     Notice the 'double bubble' motif, if you will.  There is a 'bubble' we are to walk in- our spiritual maturity:  "The righteous walks <I>in </I>..."  Each Christian is a little universe unto himself with everything he needs for spiritual growth.  Of course, part of that package is the indispensable need for other brothers' input and our input into them, but each of us decides for himself whether holiness suits him and whether he will prefer that path above any other.  There's one bubble.</div> <div>     When we have created this bubble, another bubble is automatically woven for our children.  They, too, will walk in a degree of the blessedness we attained, simply because of us.  Obviously, by the rule of the first half of the proverb, the child must become a person of his own spiritual maturity, not depending on parent or anyone else for his trust in Jehovah and His way.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you weaving blessings for your children?  If you are young, for your future children?  Your decisions today are already irrevocably affecting them.</div> <div>     Are your children grown?  Parents always have a special place in their children's lives.  The most powerful tool of a parent who failed to walk in holiness before his children is this:  to come back and confess the same.  When he states his regret over neglecting to provide blessing for his child, the child will probably realize some blessing he <I>did </I>receive, but, more importantly, the burden will be properly shifted to <I>his </I>shoulders as an adult to seek spiritual wholeness on his own.  If the parent's present course is real holiness, it will still have a blessed effect on his children.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="446" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#CCCCE4 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:8</div> <div> A king who sits on the throne of judgment </div> <div> scatters away all evil with his eyes. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Scatters away" is also the Hebrew word for "winnows", as in the separating of the wheat from the chaff when the grain has been harvested. </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">The king who sits upon the throne of judgment</div> <bR> <div> Description<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Winnows all evil with his eyes</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon as king knew much about rulership.  He sat as an unrivaled monarch in his day; Israel had reached her zenith.  He was able to observe lesser dominions and the behaviors of their potentates from his lofty vantage point.</div> <div>     He also knew that there was a King over all kings, including himself in that inferior number.  He has already given us a weighty bit of instruction on that Divine-human interplay:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:10</FONT>  A divine sentence <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I></FONT> in the lips of the <U>king</U>; his mouth does not transgress in judgment. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:11</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  A just weight and balance </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Jehovah's; all the weights of the bag </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >His work. </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:12</FONT>  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>It is</I></FONT> a hateful thing for <U>kings</U> to commit wickedness; for the throne <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>established by righteousness. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:13</FONT>  Righteous lips <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>the delight of <U>kings</U>, and they love him who speaks right. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:14</FONT>  The wrath of a <U>king</U> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is as</I></FONT> messengers of death, but a wise man will quiet it. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:15</FONT>  In the light of the <U>king's</U> face <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I></FONT> life, and his favor <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>like a cloud of the latter rain. </div> <bR> <div>     Solomon now makes an observation on the righteous dominion of kings.  He is aware, though, that the proper pattern for the reign of human kings is that of the heavenly King.</div> <div>     First, concerning the dominion of human kings.</div> <div>     The king who sits on the throne of judgment is the king in official judicial session.  As the highest, or perhaps only judicial source in the land, many decisions concerning men's guilt or innocence would come before him.  Sometimes, their very lives would be in his hands; other times, their fortunes; others, their reputations.</div> <div>     A weak king would not hold such session; or if he did, it would be a mockery.  A corrupt king would merely sell his decisions to the highest bidder.  So a king who actually held session and tried cases based on right and wrong was probably a rarity.  The kings of Israel were commanded by God to make just decisions for all, regardless of their rank or social status.</div> <div>     Solomon is picturing a king who took his job as chief judiciary seriously.  In a sense, he would never leave the throne of judgment.  In everything he did, he would carry the burden of enforcing righteousness.  The purpose of judgment was to insure justice among his subjects; therefore, dishonest or violent people must be made unwelcome.  </div> <div>     In an official judgment session, such a king could 'burn a whole in a person' with his gaze.  He might demand that they look at him, so he could evaluate their conscience thereby.  In any case, his solemnity would be apparent to anyone around.  The message would be clear:  Do evil, and you'll pay.  So his gaze was like a winnowing fan that would blow the crushed grain, scattering away the lighter chaff and allowing the heavier wheat to fall back into the safety of its own pile.  Evil was unable to stand before him.</div> <div>     We have record of several of Solomon's judicial cases.  He was a king who sat on the judgment seat.</div> <bR> <div>     Each of us is also a king:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rev 5:10</FONT>  And You <U>made us</U> <U>kings</U> and priests to our God, and we will reign over the earth. </div> <bR> <div>     We have the individual responsibility to winnow ourselves, putting sin to death in <I>our </I>dominions, the region of our souls.  When sin sees us approaching the throne of judgment, however, its only probable threat of execution is if it laughed itself to death.  We are a generation of buffoon judges.</div> <bR> <div>     But what of God?  How did Solomon think God corresponded to this description?</div> <div>     We have already dealt with several proverbs in which Solomon makes it clear that God <I>will judge</I> the wicked and they will not escape.  But the wicked still seem to be in business now.  God apparently hasn't scattered them yet.  Why not?</div> <div>     The answer to this question largely reveals your eschatology- your belief in last things.  There are three basic approaches to eschatology, each named in relation to the Millennium- the 1,000 year reign of Christ mentioned in Revelation 20.</div> <div>     <B>Amillennial</B> ("<B>No </B>[literal] millennium") teaching says that we are in the Millennium now, that it is figurative and purely spiritual and only in the Church; therefore, King Jesus is winnowing sinners in the Church now (all three views agree with this), and everyone else will be winnowed in the Last Judgment (all three views agree with this, too).</div> <div>     The <B>Postmillennial</B> ("[Full] Millennium <B>after</B>" the Church comes to power) view  also teaches that we are in the Millennium now, but that the world is becoming more and more Christian.  They believe the Church will be God's instrument to winnow the world and remove its evil-doers.</div> <div>     <B>Premillenial </B>(Christ returns "<B>before </B>the Millennium") teaching is that the Millennium won't begin until Christ returns.  That is when He will take His judgment seat and weed out wrongdoers.</div> <bR> <div>     Each view holds that God limits evil now by his partial execution of justice on notorious sinners.  The Postmillennial view is the only one that believes that a throne of judgment will be fully set up on earth before Christ returns.</div> <bR> <div>     Pray for our leaders, that lawmakers will make just laws, that police forces will implement them, and judges will deal with criminals in such a way as to separate them from the law-abiding population, mainly by intimidating would-be criminals into deciding <I>against </I>delinquency.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="446" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:9</div> <div> Who can say, I have made my heart clean, </div> <div> I am pure from my sin?</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Pure" is the same Hebrew word for "clean" used to describe cases in Leviticus 13 - 15 where uncleanness had departed .</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Being Questioned<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">Can a certain man be found?</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Has cleansed his heart </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Is pure from his sin</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Today's proverb asks a question:  Can we find a person who can truthfully make the claim that he has cleansed his heart and is purified from his sin?</div> <div>     Notice that a certain assumption is being allowed- that <B>we have sin</B> in us to start with.  There has never been a religion or philosophy that denied that there is something wrong with man.  No other belief sees man so radically bent as Christianity, though.  Neither does any other system make the cure for man's flaw so drastic.</div> <div>     But the question is:  Can we take the taint that is within us and cleanse it <I>ourselves</I>?</div> <div>     Once again, Solomon catches us off guard with an excursion into theology.  For him, practical advice and spiritual reality cannot be separated.  There is no direction for daily living without the proper theological underpinnings.</div> <div>     Having raised the whole question of <B>how sin</B> can be <B>removed,</B> two possibilities are implied:  a process accomplished 'in-house' <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="BRADDON" >or </FONT>a cure found outside ourselves.  This is really the only issue that is being directly addressed. </div> <div>     As with all true theology, how practical this is!  What do we need to know more in life than how we can deal with our intrinsic stain?</div> <div>     Of course, Solomon's clearly implied answer to who can do it is- <U>nobody</U>.  He is suggesting that if we could ask every man alive, <I>each </I>would have to give the same answer:  "Not me.  I can't say I've purified my fault."  To a man we are without remedy.</div> <div>     This is an all-important conclusion.  If man cannot fix his own drawback, he must seek <B>outside himself </B>for mending.  </div> <div>     This, then, provides one great dividing line in all religions, philosophies, psychologies, etc.  There are those in which man is shown a way in which he <I><B>can </B></I><B>help himself</B>, thus ultimately disagreeing with Solomon's view; and there are those that agree that someone or something <I>outside </I>man must help him.</div> <div>     To go ahead and complete the picture, there is one more dividing line.  There is only one religion or philosophy in which God basically takes in hand the whole matter of man's renovation Himself.  Every system outside Christianity has man in some kind of 'co-op' with God.  Most 'Christian' systems are 'co-ops', too, the most famous throughout history being Catholicism, in which the Church is the means by which the sinner is cleansed.  God is officially credited, but the Church applies the actual remedy.*</div> <div>     So true religion is discovered by <U>first</U> finding who is wise enough to seek help outside of man, and <U>then</U> by assuring that that help does not <I>return </I>and find part of the cure <I>back in man again!</I>  </div> <div>     Every false religion is a system of <B>works</B>.  Man is left with some crucial part in administering his own fix.  Hence, these religions really <I>don't</I> agree with the principle in Solomon's proverb today, that man needs help exclusively <I>outside </I>himself.</div> <div>     In Christianity, an impure person (and that's all of us, remember?) looks away from himself to another who promises cleansing from his impurity.  "Looks away from himself" defines "faith."  Faith is simply the reception of God's promise that Christ's death (and it alone) will cleanse me.</div> <bR> <div>     Ironically, the only system that provides for <B>true good works</B> is the one which begins with the loud and clear assertion that good works are not what saves us.  The only system producing truly pure and holy people is the one in which they testify that they have no purity of their own.  They began as incurably defiled, and someone else came and transformed them.  This system is Biblical Christianity.</div> <bR> <div> *  Arminianism is a system which officially credits man with the power to turn himself towards God.  It still makes Christ's cross our only cleansing but only has God making it <B>available</B>, thereby making <B>man </B>the deciding factor in who is cleansed.  This comes dangerously close to giving the wrong answer to our proverb's question<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >.</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="475" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:10</div> <div> Differing weights and differing measures, </div> <div> Both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh. </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 first line literally runs, "<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >A stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >."</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 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">Substitute weights and measures in business</div> <bR> <div> Description<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Repulse Jehovah</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This proverb comes almost directly from the Law:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Deut 25:13 - 16</FONT>  You shall not have in your bag <U>a stone and a stone</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>weight</I></FONT>, a great and a small.  You shall not have in your house <U>an ephah and an ephah</U>, a great and a small.  You shall have a perfect and just weight; you shall have a perfect and just ephah; so that they prolong your days in the land which Jehovah your God is giving to you.  For anyone doing these things <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT><U>hateful</U> to Jehovah your God, everyone doing unrighteously. </div> <bR> <div>     Stones and ephahs were measures of weight.  Having a "bag" meant going to market with a bag of weights.  Having ephahs at home meant even being in possession of differing weights. </div> <div>     "A stone and a stone" meant one kind of stone along with a different kind.  The dishonest businessman might have one set of weights in one bag and another set in another, and he'd pull out the bag desired for the situation.  A stone lighter than standard would mean it would take more of them to equal a certain weight; therefore the product would seem heavier than it actually was, and more money could be charged for it.</div> <div>     "An ephah and an ephah" meant the same thing.  If I'm buying goods from my neighbor, I could pull out the ephah weight I knew was heavier.  It wouldn't take as many ephah weights to measure his carrots, say, so it would seem there were less of them, and I could pay less.</div> <div>     The proverbial situation similar to this a couple of generations ago was the butcher who had his thumb on the scales.  Fresh meat was chopped and put on a scales to weigh.  As the butcher looked intently at the pointer rocking back and forth, he would secretly sneak his thumb up on the edge of the scale with the meat on it, holding the scale down, thus adding to the apparent weight, thus making a higher sale.</div> <div>     The remarkable factor about all this is God's attitude towards it.  He <B>hates </B>it deeply.  It is an "abomination" to Him, something that repulses Him.  An abomination seems to be something that affects God at a soul level.  Something similar is said against those who love violence:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 11:5</FONT>  Jehovah tries the righteous, but <U>His soul hates</U> the wicked and the <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#555555" FACE="Georgia" ><I>one</I> </FONT>loving violence. </div> <bR> <div>     This is very similar to saying that the wicked and the lover of violence are an abomination to God.</div> <div>     Try to imagine something that affects God that way.  It's hard to do, unless we happened to be affected by it similarly.  Why would God be so contrary to a little shrewd business etiquette?  It is because He is so conscientiously even-handed.  God always has a mind towards how much of a thing He hands out at a time.  </div> <div>     You and I might have a hard time relating to that claim, having been the recipients of trials we know were ultimately sent by Him.  If we were asked, we might suspect that God was a little too big too realize how much difficulty He was putting on our plate.  Why, He nearly squashed us!</div> <div>     But God actually measured both the trial <I>and </I>our soul's ability to withstand it, knowing that we would <I>feel </I>like we were going to become the first of a new race of pancake people.  But He also knew how much we could actually take.  In God's bag of trials, He wasn't missing the trial 'between sizes', causing Him to skip up to the next higher bracket (higher by a megaton or two, says us!).  </div> <div>     No, He brought out of His bag exactly what answered to our need for stretching at the moment.  In fact, He was answering our prayers!  Remember that time not too long ago when you yearned for greater faith?  Faith is strengthened <I>through </I>trials.</div> <div>     God's measuring accuracy never conflicts with His personal care and compassion.  In other words, He isn't concerned about weights and measures for their own sakes, but only as a means to the end of righteousness in all things.</div> <div>     So our <I>deceptive </I>weights and measures are acts of defiance against righteousness.</div> <div>     And, as has been suggested in the kinds of things God measures, the whole area of weights and measures is very far-reaching.  </div> <div>     How about a far-flung example?  A girl is rather fond of a fellah, and she asks him how much he likes her.  He senses that this is an opportunity to have access to the girl at her most 'generous', so he says he loves her more than he's ever loved anyone, or that he has <I>only </I>loved her, or <I>something </I>to answer her desire for a unique expression of love.  If she is indeed forthcoming with a sexual 'gift' in exchange for his confession, the question arises- was his declaration of the same 'weight' <I>she </I>assigned it?  Is his love still so undying afterwards?  </div> <div>     The real weights and measures are on the table then.  Then it is seen that he was not using the same ephah she was.  Hers were too heavy, his were too light.  Both were foolish, deceived, deceitful, and deserving of the high price they paid, including increased insensitivity to the whole 'business' of love, and a renewed sense of rigging the 'bag' more in their own favor next time.</div> <div>     In the sphere of love, accuracy of measure is difficult because of our confusing passions.  That is why our whole definition of sexual and romantic matters has to be defined <I>before </I>we find ourselves at the check-out counter.  The only proper check-out counter is marriage.  In any other arrangement, an ephah is not merely wrongly weighted, it is wrongly <I>named! </I> Righteousness certainly cannot be achieved when we work from varying definitions.</div> <div>     In the realm of forgiveness, we tend to measure others' offenses with a heavy, black stone; our own offenses against others with a smooth, porous pebble.</div> <bR> <div>     Changing the perspective, e<I>verything </I>in life and in our souls is in the scales.  You and I are being measured and will give a complete account before God.  Belief that this is true = the fear of God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Eccl 12:13, 14</FONT>  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: <U>Fear God</U>, and keep His commandments; for this <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>applies to</I></FONT> every man.  <U>For</U> God shall bring <U>every work</U> <U>into judgment</U>, with all that is hidden, whether <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> good, or whether <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> evil. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="475" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:11</div> <div> Even a child is appraised by his doings, </div> <div> whether his work <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>pure and whether <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> right. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Right" literally means "straight".</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">The evaluation of a child</div> <bR> <div> Description<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Who he is can be discerned by his deeds</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Those deeds tell you whether the child's basic behavior is pure and whether it is upright</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Even a child can be evaluated by the things he does.  This means that we are <I>assuming </I>that an <I>adult </I>can be evaluated by the acts he performs.  On first glance, there is some question whether a child's character can also be correctly discerned by his behavior.  After all, isn't his character <I>being formed</I> during childhood?  Isn't almost any assessment you make of him likely to change in just a few years?</div> <div>     Solomon's answers to these questions are very important and give us invaluable insight into human nature.</div> <div>     There are two components to Solomon's answer that must be considered to arrive at the correct conclusion.  One is that we <I>are </I>dealing with a child.  Solomon uses the word for a "youth".  So there is such a thing as a human 'in development', so to speak.  The other component is the one that Solomon is revealing, that, though a child, he is still 100% human, with a soul which can therefore still be fathomed through the child's output.</div> <div>     We may logically ask the question, "At what point does a child pass from infancy into childhood?", the assumption being that there is too little information about an infant to really discern his character.</div> <div>     Here we show the probable influence of Evolution on our thinking.  It is assumed on many levels that humans progress from simple to complex.  Christians have adapted this thinking into an 'age of accountability' doctrine.  </div> <div>     Though rather hazy in the details, the basic thinking in an 'age of accountability' is that until a child can understand speech and then use the concepts of speech to discern right from wrong, he is not held accountable for his deeds.  He therefore gets a 'free pass' into Heaven if he dies before that point.    </div> <div>     Some would very reasonably bypass the need for comprehension of speech, since they can see that many children have a highly developed conscience before they can speak a word.  But most 'age of accountability' proponents assume that if the child cannot <I>communicate </I>the ideas of right and wrong, that he therefore has <I>no </I>real <I>notion </I>of them, and is therefore clear of any guilt.</div> <div>     If we desire Biblical input on the subject, there is one vital passage to be considered.  When Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she went to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who was carrying John the Baptist:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 1:41 - 44</FONT>  And it happened as Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the <U>babe leaped</U> <U>in her womb</U>. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,  and cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>you among women, and blessed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>the fruit of your womb.  And from where <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For lo, as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the <U>babe leaped</U> in my womb <U>for joy</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Again, if we are willing to formulate our beliefs around Biblical information, there is no need for speculation on certain matters.  There are several certainties in this passage which give us exact data concerning our question.</div> <div>  1)  John had no speech ability in the womb, yet he experienced joy at a specific event;</div> <div>  2)  A human soul is therefore fully functional from conception (a belief that abortion already forced us to think about), otherwise, how can we say it is human?  Being human means having a human soul;</div> <div>  3)  Infants experience human functions which adults can additionally describe in words;</div> <div>  4)  John had a spiritual response in his soul to the presence of the Son of God;</div> <div>  5)  John was indwelt by the Holy Spirit as an infant (Luke 1:15), just as other believers are as adults.</div> <bR> <div>     Now let us indulge in a bit more speculative conclusions, but ones which seem warranted given the above information.</div> <div>  6)  If infants can love Christ, they can also hate him, just as adults do;</div> <div>  7)  This hate is deeply imbedded and not normally manifested in any obvious way, just as with adults;</div> <div>  8)  Unregenerated infants know there is a God but reject Him (Rom. 1:21), just like adults;</div> <div>  9)  Unregenerated infants are worthy of the Lake of Fire, just like adults.</div> <bR> <div>     And, finally, let us consider one item that is much more speculative, but which might help give emotional closure to many who will be panting for relief by now.</div> <div>  10)  God can choose to save as many infants as He desires; He could even choose to save the entire infant population (which some believe He will do, thereby reversing the population proportions between Heaven and Hell).</div> <bR> <div>     A better way to say this is that God elects whom He will save, and we don't need to worry about whom or how many that is.</div> <bR> <div>     Now that is a very long tangent to cover a fundamental consideration raised by our proverb.</div> <div>     The proverb itself is really concerned to teach us these three things:</div> <div>  1)  Adult human character is not too subtle or complex to be knowable; it is demonstrated in deeds.  People are known by their doings;</div> <div>  2)  A child is not <I>simply </I>a work-in-progress, but is a real human with a definite character which is either basically good or bad;</div> <div>  3)  The standard against which adult <I>or </I>youth behavior is measured is purity- meaning non-hypocrisy, and uprightness- meaning held to a straight standard.</div> <bR> <div>     When's the last time you took a straightforward look at your character via your actions and words?   We accept our own subtlety and complexity so fully that we rarely take a square look at ourselves.  Too bad others don't look at us with squinty eyes too.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************** </div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="424" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:12</div> <div> The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, </div> <div> Yahweh has made even both of them. </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 can also be "<U>a</U> hearing ear and <U>a</U> seeing eye."</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">Eyes that see and ears that hear</div> <bR> <div> Description<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jehovah has made even the both of them</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The full account of this wondrous truth was told to Moses by God as He commissioned him for his prophet's work:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Exod 4:11</FONT>  And Jehovah said to him, Who has made man's mouth? Or <U>who makes</U> the dumb, or <U>the deaf</U>, or the seeing, or <U>the blind</U>? <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>Is</I> </FONT>it not I, Jehovah? </div> <bR> <div>     Yes, God makes not only the <I>operative </I>eye, but the <I>non-functioning</I> one as well.     </div> <div>     There is a Christian virtue which used to be accepted but now seems unpopular called <I>resignation</I>.  Perhaps it sounds too much like giving up.  But all it means is resigning oneself to the will of God as it is summed up in our life situation.  A synonym for it is surrender; another is contentedness.  Nowadays it is assumed that God will better our circumstances if we have faith, so we should not resign ourselves to anything unpleasant.  The blind should not settle for blindness, nor the deaf for deafness.</div> <div>     Of course, we can always ask God to restore broken or missing functions.  We can ask knowing that He is both compassionate and capable of complete repair.  But does God have a plan for the blind to glorify Him without removing his blindness yet?  Can the deaf find the complete will of God being deaf in this life?  Yes.  </div> <div>     If you think of it, most of us have some little infirmities which, removed, would make life much more bearable.  Are we failing our full potential not to be rid of them?  This raises the whole question of the nature and purpose of life.  </div> <div>     Those who seek 100% health and healing are at least aware that death and infirmity are unwelcome visitors in God's universe.  They at least know that He can remove them.  But is that His immediate will, or does He use infirmity for His glory until the time of complete restoration?</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >2 Cor 12:7 - 10</FONT>  and by the surpassing revelations, lest I be made haughty, <U>a thorn in the flesh</U> was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be made haughty.  For this thing I <U>besought the Lord</U> three times, that it <U>might depart</U> from me.  And He said to me, <U>My grace is sufficient</U> for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may overshadow me.  Therefore <U>I am pleased in weaknesses</U>, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am powerful. </div> <bR> <div>     Paul accepted his physical infirmity?  Yes.  He was better off with it.  Most of us are.  No problem asking for infirmity's removal, but no problem getting no for an answer either.</div> <bR> <div>     In this light, our verse is very significant.</div> <div>     On the physical level, how marvelous a gift is sight or hearing!  Who can believe in evolution when examining the wonders of the ear, and more so of the eye!  Atheists have become theists in the study of them.</div> <div>     But is that what Solomon is mainly talking about?  No.  He is certainly pointing us deeper, to the area of perception, the very focus of his book:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Pro 1:1 - 6</FONT>  The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;  <U>to know wisdom</U> and instruction; <U>to recognize</U> the words of understanding;  <U>to receive the instruction</U> of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and uprightness;  <U>to give sense</U> to the simple, knowledge and judgment to the young man; the wise hears and increases learning; and understanding ones get wisdom; <U>to understand</U> a proverb and its meaning; the words of the wise, and their acute sayings. </div> <bR> <div>     It is very simple and very deep.  If we ever understand anything correctly, it is God who has accomplished it.  This is especially so of spiritual truth:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >John 10:27</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Did the sheep give themselves listening ears?  Did they tune in to His frequency on their own?  It is abundantly and simply plain that God must provide listening ears for people to hear and follow Jesus.</div> <div>     It is deeply sad that this truth is not received by this generation.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Footlight MT Light" ><I>Man's free will is now paramount, so God's creative power cannot be</I></FONT>.</div> <div>     Have you received listening ears?  Are you profoundly humbled by God's election if you have?</div> <div>     What does one do with listening ears?</div> <div>     He fixes them to do their job- to listen: to listen to the Shepherd's voice in Scriptures.  As His voice becomes clearer, the seeing eye takes in a better sight of Him, by which it runs a straight race home.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="424" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#33FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:13</div> <div> Do not love sleep, lest you become poor; </div> <div> open your eyes, be satisfied with bread. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Become poor" is literally "be occupied; be disinherited."  It is used mostly of one nation "driving out" another or "possessing" it.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Admonitions<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">Do not love sleep</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Open your eyes</div> <bR> <div> Opposing Reasons<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">You may be dispossessed</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">You will have food</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Sleep is something good:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Psa 127:2</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  </FONT><I>It is</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > in vain for you to rise early, sit up late, to eat the bread of toils; </FONT><I>for</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >so He gives His beloved sleep. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Eccl 5:12</FONT>  The <U>sleep</U> of the laboring man <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>is</U></I><U> </U></FONT><U>sweet</U></div> <bR> <div>     Just like many other good things, though, sleep can be misused.  Things that have a natural pleasantness carry an inherent danger.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="High Tower Text" ><I>It is dangerous to love something we enjoy</I></FONT>.</div> <div>     "Love" is a key word here.  It implies an intimate relation.  Love is not the proper emotion for sleep.  "Enjoyment" should pretty much cover our description of its pleasantness to us.</div> <div>     This, of course, is problematic.  We commonly say "I love" before anything we enjoy.  "I love pizza" means nothing to us but great enjoyment.  Or does it?</div> <div>     Here is the question.  Does our misuse of the word "love" betray an idolatry that is simply embedded in our society and in our lives?</div> <div>     Do we not sense this dilemma in certain situations?  When we see a fat person eating more food than anyone else, an observation on his idolatry might be made:  "Well, he just loves food too much."  We might say that we love food, too, but he loves it too much<I>.  </I>We see an excess of emotion.  Solomon seems to be saying that excess = love, whereas proper portions = only appropriate enjoyment.</div> <div>     So with sleep.  Sleep is pleasant to us in itself.  But add a psychological <I>dependence </I>on it as an <I>escape </I>from work or other unpleasantness and you have a major problem.  However, all a man needs for sleep to be a problem to him is simply an over-enjoyment of it.  That's probably how Solomon would define "love" of sleep: over-enjoyment.  Enjoyment is <I>use</I>; excess is <I>abuse</I>.</div> <div>     While the sleeper enjoys his rest, he is dispossessed.  He is not there to speak for his possessions, so they slip away.  Daylight hours are for working.  If we miss our opportunity to work, we invite poverty.</div> <div>     "Open your eyes," Solomon warns.  Break the spell yourself!  Say, "Enough sleep!  I can go back to sleep tonight.  For now, I must rise to the day's tasks."  Far from being dispossessed, you will now have plenty of life's necessities- so our proverb.</div> <bR> <div>     On the spiritual side:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Rom 13:11 - 14</FONT>  This also, knowing the time, that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> already <U>time to awake</U> <U>out of sleep</U>; for now our salvation <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>nearer than when we believed.  The night <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>far spent, the day is at hand; therefore let us <U>cast off</U> the works of <U>darkness</U>, and let us put on the armor of light.  Let us walk becomingly, as in <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>the</I> </FONT>day; not in carousings and drinking; not in co-habitation and lustful acts; not in strife and envy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not take thought beforehand for the lusts of the flesh. </div> <bR> <div>     Here Paul contrasts spiritual sleep to WATCHFULNESS.  The stakes are higher here.  Now, simply forgoing watchfulness is equated with sleep!</div> <div>     Furthermore, sleep is then equated with fleshliness!  If we're not spiritually wakeful and aware, we are indulging in pleasures in an idolatrous way!</div> <div>     Our morning prayers are the time to shake off dullness and become spiritually sharp.  If we pray "do not lead me into temptation" intelligently, we have sharpened ourselves.  We are on the lookout for our weaknesses being exploited to our downfall.  Without this preparation, we will walk sleepily into a trap and be too spiritually sleepy to even know we are caught.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="424" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#66FF99 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:14</div> <div> Bad! Bad! says the buyer, </div> <div> but when <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>he </I></FONT>gets off to himself, then he boasts. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Boasts" is from the common Old Testament word for "praise".  </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 buyer when he is buying</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The buyer after he buys</div> <bR> <div> Differing Outcomes<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Says "Evil!  Wicked!"</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Glories</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon here makes a simple observation from the marketplace.</div> <div>     The buyer says one thing when he is haggling over the price; then he says quite another when the item is in his possession.  We might picture ourselves at a garage sale or making a purchase from an individual rather than from a store.</div> <div>     With these two juxtaposed snapshots- in the act of buying, then in showing off our purchase- we are supposed to draw some basic conclusions.  </div> <div>     One is that men naturally seek their own ends.  This frequently puts them at odds with justice.</div> <div>     Another is that men naturally adapt their communications <I>to </I>their desired ends.  This frequently puts them at odds with truth.</div> <div>     Our example is a blatant, almost humorous one.  Of course, the seller in Solomon's day knew his bottom price to start with.  He knew the various tricks customers used to reach that price.  A whining customer may have gotten the bottom price, but he's wasn't going to cheat the vendor.  </div> <div>     So our proverb is not so much about dishonesty as it is about human nature in general.  Men don't have a fixed foundation in their characters to make them consistent.  This means that they are apt to be in contradictory modes only moments apart, as in our proverb.  </div> <div>     The scene enacted in the marketplace is a typical one, even expected.  It demonstrates a general axiom.  Even when we don't <U>say</U> that something is of inferior quality or that we are practically being ripped off, we still <U>treat</U> the item<I> </I><I>for sale</I> <B>differently </B>than the item <I>in our possession</I>.  It is the same item both times, but if we have a chance to get it at a lower price, we <I>do </I>look at the merchandise as if it wasn't worth as much!</div> <div>     Solomon wants us to take a look at ourselves through this common human attitude.  How easy it is for someone instinctively seeking an advantage to compromise justice- to compromise truth!  One lesson of the proverb is that we constantly have to be setting our feet on even ground when dealing with others- aware of our <I>tendency </I>to seek an advantage but not giving in to it.</div> <div>     This must especially be the case when we have a buyer or seller at our mercy.  If we could make a huge but dishonest profit and they would be none the wiser, do we go ahead, or do we keep things on an even keel?</div> <div>     It is very easy for an adversarial attitude to develop towards stores.  When they have ripped us off a time or two, we begin to think that some payback would be just.  Of course, it they accidentally rang up my <I>one </I>bag of apples twice last time, and they only ring my <I>two </I>bags of apples once this time, that may be a situation where justice has worked itself out.  In that case, I don't necessarily need to go back in the store and have them charge me for the second bag of apples when I discover it.</div> <div>     But if they charged me for a $25 watch last time, and I come to find out it was really only a $20 watch, then they accidentally charge me the $175 price for the cheaper gas grill when the one I got was really $250- I'd better bring that to their attention.  Justice is not working itself out in that situation.  A Christian should rather see that as a test of his honesty.</div> <bR> <div>     In Church matters we are not supposed to operate by marketplace principles.  We are not looking for the 'best deal' in a church, meaning the one that has the most programs or ministries I can take advantage of.  We are only to seek a church that is the truest representative of Jesus Christ and His Word.  Unfortunately, the modern Church has swallowed marketplace principles whole, and we have become a community of buyers and sellers.  </div> <div>     The man in the pew doesn't even need to disguise his tactices.  He simply cries, "This is a terrible situation!  We need more of <I>this</I>, less of <I>that</I>!"  The church adjusts to his liking, and he sits smugly- "Yeah.  They know who's in charge around here!"</div> <bR> <div>     Indeed.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="458" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:15</div> <div> There is gold and a multitude of gems, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >but the lips of knowledge </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >an honored vessel. </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>     "Honored vessel" is usually translated "rare jewel", but "vessel of dignity/honored apparatus" accords with the vast majority of occurrences of both Hebrew words. </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">Gold and many gems</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Knowledgeable lips</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Available</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The truly valuable commodity</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon seems to be giving us a selective tour of a king's treasures, at least giving us an inventory of his treasuries, or the treasuries of kings in general.  It is as though he tells us of his room of most famous and prized ornaments; perhaps a walk-in tour would have been offered on occasion in his day.  </div> <div>     Then he brings out the real treasure.  Perhaps he would walk us to another room, promising a view of the kingdom's rarest article.  We come to a room that looks like a study or an office.  A man is working within.  We think, "What a clever place to hide a nearly priceless piece; but how odd!"</div> <div>    He introduces us to the room's occupant, no doubt the caretaker of this pinnacle among assets.  As we speak with the officer, we wonder if this grave yet pleasant fellow is perhaps also a martial arts expert for the protection of the trophy.  Our mind begins to wander.  Where in the room is it?  When will we be shown it?</div> <div>     To our surprise, we are shown out of the room.  But we haven't seen it yet!  Ah, we must need to stand outside before they can expose the gem's hiding place.  But we keep going, away from the room.</div> <div>     Solomon reads our expression of surprise.  We explain our confusion over the order of events.  Is the rare jewel actually in another room?  </div> <div>     "But I thought you understood," Solomon begins. "That was one of my most knowledgeable counselors.  Ten words from him on an important matter are worth more than fifty of the other treasure rooms you saw!"</div> <bR> <div>     Or we could modify the above scenario a bit and have Solomon taking us to the plant containing the water-purifying and storing apparatus for the city first.  <I>Then </I>he would take us to his wise counselor.  Then he would explain:  "In a drought, who in the city would prefer a ruby to a cup of water?  Therefore, our machines for keeping good water flowing are my most honored possessions.  But more honorable still is the man who brings us water from heavenly springs!  Where would we be without him!"</div> <div>     Unfortunately, most of us would have to answer, "Right where we are now!"  Meaning that wise words really don't affect us that much.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Tim 5:17</FONT>  Let the elders who take the lead well be counted worthy of <U>double honor</U>, <U>especially</U> those <U>laboring in</U> <U>Word</U> and <U>teaching</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Just like the overlooked official in the room, the studious pastor in our day is overlooked.  The Church is distracted looking for the secret key to the Christian life, and they despise, in effect, the sweat of the men who actually mine a little bit of iron, a presentable amount of some useful or valuable ore, by many strokes and blisters, in the forgotten shafts of the King's quarries.  The King, in any case, doesn't forget.</div> <div>     <I>Lips </I>of knowledge must come from <I>minds and hearts</I> of knowledge.  Minds and hearts of knowledge can only come from their saturation with Scriptures.  When you squeeze a saturated item, that with which it is saturated comes out.  Because of the ignorance of the Church, we don't realize that our favorite leaders of the day have been wrung of their total depository of knowledge after a few quotes, usually on some one or two favorite topics.  They certainly can't say with Paul:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Acts 20:27</FONT>  For I did not keep back from declaring to you <U>all</U> the counsel of God. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="606" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:16</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Take the garment of the one who puts up collateral </FONT><I>for</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a stranger, </FONT></div> <div> and take a pledge from one who <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>guarantees</I> </FONT>for foreigners. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Puts up collateral" is from a Hebrew word meaning "to braid; i.e., to intermix", speaking in this case of the close connections we make when we loan or borrow money.</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">One who puts up collateral for a <U>stranger</U></div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">One who co-signs a loan for <U>foreigners</U></div> <bR> <div> Action Prescribed<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Take his garment</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Take a pledge</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The Israelites had strict instructions about taking someone's garment as collateral for a loan:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Exod 22:25 - 27</FONT>  If you lend money to My people, <U>the poor</U> with you, you shall not be as a money-lender to him; you shall not put interest on him.  <U>If</U> you indeed <U>take the clothing</U> of your neighbor <U>as a pledge</U>, you shall <U>return</U> it to him by the going of the sun, for that is <U>his only covering</U>, that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>his covering for his skin. In what shall he lie down? And it shall be, when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>am</I> </FONT>compassionate. </div> <bR> <div>     This restriction applies only to the poor, though, and the reason is that he has no other blanket at night.</div> <div>     So when Solomon tells us to take a garment, he obviously is not talking about a poor man's garment.  Even without our Exodus passage (also found in Deut. 24:10-13), we know that the man in our verse is not poor, because he has sufficient assets to cover the loan of a third party.  Actually, the man we're concerned with is the one who is the third party in this loan.  A non-community member (a "<B>stranger</B>") is borrowing money, and the Israelite is putting up collateral for it.  Solomon treats this as craziness on the Israelite's part.</div> <div>     Solomon is therefore advising us to take his garment and/or some substantial collateral when he enters into this rash kind of pledge.  Actually, he is telling the officials who oversee the loan transaction to take the garment, etc.</div> <div>     Solomon may be communicating one of two things here.  </div> <div>     He may be telling the loaning party in this transaction to be sure to take sufficient collateral, because he is unlikely to be repaid.</div> <div>     OR he may be advising us as friend of the co-signer to take <I>his </I>garment so he'll have something to call his own when the rest of his goods used as collateral go bye-bye.</div> <div>     In either case, there is something basic to Solomon's instruction.  <I>Don't trust</I> someone who is not a member of your community with a loan.  Give him bread if he needs it; let him work for money or goods.  But do not enter into a binding relation with someone who has no ties to your community.</div> <div>     Solomon's underlying principle, then, is that those in our community serve as the basis for our trusting interactions, especially financial ones.</div> <div>    Israelites had national and community boundaries which defined outsiders.  For Christians, though, there is a different border.  It is a spiritual one.  Therefore:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Heb 13:2</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Do not forget hospitality, for by this some unknowingly took in angels as guests. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Of course, Abraham is the first example that comes to mind of someone who showed hospitality to a visitor who was actually an angel.  So in our age, the Hebrews addressed in the above verse were instructed to take in traveling Christians.  This was especially important because so many Christians had been run out of their homes and towns.  There were many brothers on the road and in need of assistance.  These were not strangers, though, because they were in the family of faith, the nation of believers:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Pet 2:9</FONT>  But <U>you </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>are</U></I> </FONT>a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, <U>a holy nation</U>, a people for possession, so that you might speak of the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light</div> <bR> <div>     "Stranger" had a variety of connotations in its Hebrew usages.  A foreigner who had become a regular part of the community would not have been included in Solomon's warning.  A vagrant Israelite with no ties, though, would fit the description of "stranger" with whom no binding commitments should be made.  Again, if they need help, help them as you are able; but Solomon is telling us what should be common sense:  if you don't know the background of a person, you have no business making a serious, long-term financial commitment on his behalf.</div> <div>     His advice would probably be most pertinent when a traveling businessman came to town.  The man might have a considerable amount of cash to flash around, but he's now looking for investors to make a killing with him in some financial enterprise.  Solomon is telling us that grand talk and an impressive front CANNOT REPLACE community ties as indicators of stability and hence trustworthiness.</div> <bR> <div>     In the spiritual realm, we should be reticint to place our spiritual fortunes into the hands of a 'Johnny-come-lately' to our area.  Those with no investments in the lives of people in our church should have to prove that they actually possess spiritual 'collateral'.  Whose lives have they become part of in another community?  What church or group of churches would trust their very souls to him for his self-sacrifice to them?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="512" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:17</div> <div> The bread of deceit <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is </I></FONT>appealing to a man, </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >But afterwards his mouth is filled </FONT><I>with</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >gravel.</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>     "Appealing" is from the same Hebrew word in the previoius verse, whose root meaning is  "to braid; i.e., to intermix", there connoting collateral (through the idea of close association), here connoting an 'attractive', or 'drawing' quality.</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 bread of deceit</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Its aftertaste</div> <bR> <div> Their Descriptions in that order<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Pleasing to a man</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A mouthful of gravel</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     It seems strange that Solomon would make a connection between this verse and the last based on the word for "intermix" = collateral & = attractive.  He uses the word again in 20:19.  He could be simply pointing us to two kinds of 'entanglements' to avoid, one outside us- a foolish loan, and one inside us- a foolish desire.</div> <div>     The foolish desire we are to avoid is the desire to 'get away with' something.  It is put in the category of a desire based on its appeal of being <I>sneaky</I>.  </div> <div>     What exactly <I>is </I>the appeal of being sneaky?  It is either the excitement associated with the danger of getting caught- so a 'thrill freak' would be pulled towards deceit for that reason.  It could also be the notion of 'putting one over' on whoever was supposed to have been watching.  That is a motivation of arrogance.  If it involves theft, it could also be a way to reward oneself where approval seems otherwise lacking.  Yet further, it could simply be part of an elaborate psychological drama a person puts himself in for escape, where everything becomes role-playing; so deceit (probably rather innocuous at first) more and more becomes the rule of the day.  It could be any combination of these, or more.</div> <div>     In any case, our maxim is a comment on <B>human nature</B>.  There is something inside of us that finds <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Britannic Bold" >trickery </FONT>appealing.  The sweetness of it shows a major bend in our psyche.  This is a sinfulness <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bradley Hand ITC" ><B>inherited rather directly from the first sin:</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Gen 3:5, 6</FONT>  for <U>God knows</U> that in the day you eat of it, even your eyes shall be opened, and <U>you shall be</U> <U>as God</U>, knowing good and evil.  And the woman saw that the tree <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT>good for food, and that it <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT>pleasant to the eyes, and the tree <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>was</I> </FONT>desirable to make <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>one</I> </FONT>wise. And she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. </div> <bR> <div>     Eve perceived this as a direct challenge to God, yet she went ahead.  </div> <div>     You and I are no different.  We are so attuned to insolence, we are likely to choose an act <I>because </I>we know it's something we shouldn't do.  The choice for its own sake might not have held sufficient appeal, but the knowledge that it is forbidden strengthens our motivation to proceed.  Again, sometimes that is the motivation <I>altogether</I>.</div> <div>     This is as much as to say that the attractiveness of deceit is a theological one- it is related to God.  Sometimes we may be more directly aware of a human motivation, but our conscience always keeps us apprised of the eye of God.  We just become impudent little beasts.  "I know He's looking, but He's <I>always </I>looking and rarely seems to act."</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Deut 8:13, 14</FONT>  and <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>when</I> </FONT>your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied,  then your <U>heart</U> might be <U>lifted up</U>, and you might <U>forget Jehovah</U> your God who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves. </div> <bR> <div>     It is shameful and should be frightening to Christians how much like atheists <I>we </I>are.  We practically forget God a thousand times a day.  More importantly, there are a thousand <I>ways </I>in which we have forgotten God altogether.  But we just remind ourselves of one or two pitiful little ways in which we remember God, then our life of deceitful hiding ... well, it stays hidden from us!</div> <div>     We treat God like some big trick lion, who is king of the jungle, but <I>we </I>know all the trees for hiding from Him and every escaping bypath.  Oh, we have no desire to challenge for rule of the forest.  That would take all the fun out of our incessant little scurryings.  Let Him rule.  That keeps Him out of our hair.  We just rule the bypaths.</div> <div>     But our proverb says that God is aware of every palmetto we duck behind to indulge each forbidden fancy.  His rule extends rather intrusively into our playground.  Every bite of forbidden fruit we continue to eat is one more mouthful of gravel we will have to chew later.</div> <div>     Here's the really frightening thing.  Most adults are well into their gravel-eating years, but they don't care.  As long as they can get a bite of forbidden fruit in, they'll chew the gravel just for a <I>taste </I>of fraud.  Eventually, mouths get so full of gravel, there's no room for anything else.  Then we just make ourselves say, "Yum, good.  Me like."   We just can't stop playing the game.  No one's going to find out that <I>our </I>bread of deceit is no longer sweet!  </div> <div>     Men's characters, then, become simply this- 999 poses and processes for disguising a mouthful of gravel.  As deceivers, none of us are quite sure whether to believe everyone <I>else's</I> lie.  Maybe they really <I>are </I>still enjoying their sin, gravel-free!  Or maybe <I>my </I>mouthful will become tasty again!  Of course, as long as we love sin, we will always love bragging to ourselves about what we've gotten away with.</div> <div>     We can't help that shameful little (or not-so-little) pleasure we experience in deceit.  As Christians, we <I>can </I>help letting it rule our lives, though.  We can also develop a <I>counter</I>-pleasure in truth and reality, beginning with the painful truth of our natural, arrogant deceitfulness.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="512" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:18</div> <div> Designs are solidified by deliberation: </div> <div> and  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>you should</I></FONT> wage war via strategizing. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Strategizing", meaning "steerage", is from a root word  meaning "ropes".</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">Deliberation / advice</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Strategizing / planning</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The means to make a plan firm</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Exhorted for waging war</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <div>     </div> <div>     The primary implication of this proverb is that we are short-sighted as individuals.  The fact that we need advice says that no one has sufficient wisdom in himself.</div> <div>     The main simile of the proverb is war.  Solomon, as chief military authority in Israel, tells all his subjects that <I>they </I>have enemies against whom plans must be implemented as well.  Furthermore, he is likening his own mobilization of the resources of the kingdom to a citizen's organizing the resources of his own domain.  He is saying that life in general is very much like battle.  </div> <div>     Battle plans, in fact, are simply one mode of addressing obstacles that face people.  As battle plans are a concentrated and dramatic example of arranging our resources against potential damage, they are a perfect teaching tool for the <I>general </I>need to seek advice.  So everything he says applies to military operations but can also be applied to all of life.</div> <div>     The scenario Solomon paints for our mind's eye is a planning room.  Charts or papers are probably the key accessories at hand.  This is because people are trying to prove, teach or arrive at the proper means of approaching a particular problem.  Someone probably had the responsibility of drawing up an initial plan, whether it was a war room or a corporate meeting.  </div> <div>     Usually it is understood that the final plan will materialize through the process of debate.  Here's a weakness I see in your proposal.  Wouldn't this be a more direct way to arrive at this particular objective?  This part of the blueprint needs additional research.</div> <div>     When it is a <I>war </I>counsel, there is the highest sense of urgency.  Our very existence as a people may be at stake.  <I>Business </I>meetings can take on a similar tone of alarm, for a thousand peoples' jobs may be at stake; their lives, though, at least, are not directly at stake.  In our <I>household</I>, we often arrive at a like state of near-panic.  The stakes somehow seem just as high, perhaps because we know that the knotty factors will reappear day by day until we learn how to manage them properly.  And perhaps the intensity is heightened by our inability to make one all-important attack to end the war or gain one business account that will keep us funded for the rest of the year.  The fact that the 'war' of my <I>individual </I>life is, in a sense, unwinnable- no conclusive, near objective- provides it with its own unique anxiety.</div> <div>     The main advice of the proverb is to seek advice.  The most important question, then, becomes, <I>from where</I> do we seek advice?</div> <div>     The first place everyone should seek advice is from God:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Josh 9:3 - 6</FONT>  And when those who lived in Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,  <U>they worked slyly</U>. For they came and acted as if they were ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, and old and torn and bound up wineskins, and old and patched sandals on their feet, and old clothes on them.  And all the <U>bread</U> they had taken was <U>dry </U><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I><U>and</U></I><U> </U></FONT><U>moldy</U>.  And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country. Now therefore, make a treaty with us. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > ... Josh 9:12</FONT>  <U>We took this bread hot</U> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>for</I> </FONT>our provision out of our houses on the day we came out to go to you. But now, see, <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>it is</I></FONT> dry, and it is moldy. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > ... Josh 9:14</FONT>  And they received the men because of their provisions, and <U>did not ask</U> at the mouth of <U>Jehovah</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Joshua committed a major blunder by failing to pause before God prior to finalizing a decision.  Sometimes it may seem that we have all the necessary information in hand, when in reality we are missing the key factor.</div> <div>     We have the "mouth of Jehovah" to inquire from today, and it is the <I>Scriptures</I>.  The Scriptures are our fundamental map for planning every strategy of life.</div> <div>     But our proverb is still not being followed by merely consulting the Scriptures.  The implication is that we are still most likely to err when we interpret Scriptures on our own.  We need the wise input of others.  This, far from being an admission that God's counsel is insufficient, is the very and sole means of <I>arriving </I>at His complete counsel!  Even when we have interpreted correctly, we need counsel to <I>confirm </I>our accurate understanding.</div> <div>     One particular application of this is to prayer.  Prayer is a military exercise (Eph. 6:12).  Satan has divided the Church into two fairly ineffective camps on prayer in our day in terms of our proverb.  </div> <div>     One camp thinks that taking counsel on prayer is a surrendering of one's personal sincerity before the Lord.  They will pray according to no format, including the Model Prayer.  </div> <div>     The opposite camp simply repeats verbatim prayer handed down by previous generations (with the same effect even if the Lord's Prayer is included) and does no real thinking before the Lord in prayer.  </div> <div>     <B>Neither group</B> is 'in counsel' as our proverb directs.  Neither, therefore, can ever arrive at true wisdom.  As an act of pride in the first instance and laziness in the second, grace will be withheld by God until the pride gives way to receiving counsel and the laziness gives way to thoughtfulness before God.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="587" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#99FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 87 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:19</div> <div> He who goes about as a tale-bearer divulges a secret; </div> <div> Therefore don't keep company with him who opens <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#663366" FACE="Georgia" ><I>wide </I></FONT>his lips. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "He who opens wide", has the basic meaning of "open."  It is also translated "fool", as in one whose brains are a bit too 'aired out'.  It is most often translated by some form of "entice".  "Flatterer" is therefore a common translation here.</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">One who walks about as a gossip</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Reveals a confidence & flatters</div> <bR> <div> Advice<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Don't associate with him</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     The tale-bearer's previous two-part Hebrew name, 'gossip-walker', from 11:13, is here broken down as a separate verb and noun, 'the one who walks gossiping'.  The Gossip is seen as a social creature, moving in and out of various company rather continuously.</div> <div>     Solomon says the same thing about the gossip here that he said back in 11:13- that he betrays a confidence, or brings to light something that should've stayed secret.  There the Gossip was contrasted to his opposite, the faithful man, who is able to conceal a matter.  Here we are advised to break fellowship with a Gossip if we are his associate.  This advice is always hard to follow when we are already friendly with someone.</div> <div>     The reason given for our need to rebuff a Gossip is that they have no principles when it comes to gossiping.  They will gossip about <B>you </B>even if they consider you a friend.  They do not look at people as real people when they are gossiping.  To a gossip, people are only topics of interest .  Every person has a 'stock market value' to a gossip.  Your value as an item of discussion depends both on the gossip's present audience AND any unusually juicy situations you may have been involved in lately.</div> <div>     The gossip lives for power.  Power is wielded by possession of <B>information</B>.  Since the gossip knows that all men are judges (though he probably wouldn't put it in those words), he knows that they <I>all want to hear</I> negative information about others.  The gossip feeds off of the hungry looks of his listeners as he feeds them the latest dirt.</div> <div>     The power fix the gossip needs may be for the sake of feeling important.  It may be for the thrill of moving people around like chess pieces, pitting this person against that, making a certain person generally unpopular.</div> <div>     Solomon's point is that </div> <div>  1) if we hang around such a person, we are filling them with information about <I>ourselves</I>, so that in time to come, when they are no longer a close friend (if not sooner), you can be sure that we will be even more useful to them as scandal information;</div> <div>  2) even if they don't talk about us, we still become guilty by association, meaning that we're going to <I>hear </I>a lot of gossip if we're <I>around </I>a gossip.  <I>Listening </I>to gossip is as condemnable as <I>telling </I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I> </I></FONT>it.  If we hang around a gossip, like it or not, we are feeding our own craving as a judge to get the lowdown on others.</div> <div>     If Solomon is referencing flattery here, we should be aware that the best way for someone to loosen our tongues is to compliment us.  We feel he is in our confidence and he likes us.  This is one way a gossip replenishes his stock of information.</div> <div>     People who simply speak too freely, who "open wide their lips", will usually find themselves talking about things they ought not.  </div> <div>     We cannot afford to love to talk.  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="489" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 83 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:20</div> <div> He that curses his father or his mother-</div> <div> His light shall be extinguished in midnight darkness.</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Midnight" is from a Hebrew word translated "apple of the eye" in the KJV.  It is literally, "little man (of the eye)", meaning the pupil.  It is part of a similar expression of darkness back in Proverbs 7:9, after having been "apple of his eye" in 7:2.</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">One who curses his father or his mother</div> <bR> <div> Consequence<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">His lamp will be put out in layered darkness</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <div>    </div> <div>     In revisiting the fundamental principle of parental authority, Solomon arrives at a milestone here.  He uses the worst imprecation so far in the book.  A similar curse appeared earlier:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 13:9</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. </FONT></div> <div>  </div> <div>     But now Solomon adds "central darkness" as the place where the lamp will be put out.</div> <div>     The lamp represents life itself, but more so, our sense of our surroundings and so our direction, our orientation, our balance.</div> <div>     When we disdain our father or mother, we are actually cursing our own existence, for they are the ones who gave us life.  God made us so we do not come directly from His hand, but mediately, by means of parents.  Our makeup is certainly part of our parents' makeup.</div> <div>     Those who mock or hate their parents do so in arrogance, as though they would condemn their parents to banishment.  In fact, they banish themselves by their perversity.</div> <div>     What if a parent is truly worthy of a curse?  Let <I>God </I>curse them, for He certainly will if they have abused their station by routinely damaging their children.  Let God curse, because a child may not.  Withhold praise, withhold blessing?  Perhaps.  But a child may not enter into the direct insult of a parent.</div> <div>     Someone whose basic attitude includes hate and rude speech concerning parents is already lost.  His lamp is already extinguished, and he is put in a special category of 'astray'.  He is in a labyrinth of darkness that was not built with a way out.  He will proceed from darkness in the presence of light here to outer darkness, ever away from the light in the next life.</div> <div>     Our generation <I>encourages </I>disrespect of parents.  Parents are taken lightly routinely.  The media commonly portrays parents as bumbling morons in television shows marketed to children and teens.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 30:17</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The eye </FONT><I>that</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >mocks at </FONT><I>his</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >father and despises to obey </FONT><I>his</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This picture of post-war carnage may have already been scheduled by God for our land.  If so, we got the Appointment-maker's attention by long exercise of insolence.</div> <bR> <div>     What is in your heart concerning your parents?</div> <div>     Is there heart honor, thankful prayer, and supplication for God's blessing?</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="546" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:21</div> <div> An inheritance <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>may be</I></FONT> gotten quickly in the beginning, </div> <div> but the end of it shall not be blessed. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "In the beginning" is right next to "the end of it" in the Hebrew.  The whole Hebrew verse is only six words long, unless you count "in" and "but" separately, which are actually prefixes in Hebrew.</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">An inheritance obtained hastily at first</div> <bR> <div> Consequence<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Afterwards it will not be blessed</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <div>     </div> <div>     Here is something Proverbs tells us about handling our own possessions.  Customarily, Americans don't like to be told what to do with what is theirs.  It seems intrusive.  Of course, that is a characteristic of Scriptures- it is a communication from the God who <I>intrudes </I>into every area of our lives.  Only it's not intruding, really, because He made and owns everything.  This is what His being 'jealous' means:  acting responsibly with what's His own.</div> <div>     Private property is definitely sanctioned by God, but improper use of it is not.  When we inherit family assets, these are possessions that belong to us.  What is wrong is our <I>haste </I>in obtaining them.</div> <div>     How can one manifest haste in obtaining an inheritance?  There are two main ways.</div> <div>     One is to seek to come into possession of an inheritance before the estate owner has died.  There are certain exceptional cases, such as when the estate holder is sick for an extended period and some of his possessions must be sold to pay his medical bills.  In that case, he may wish to impart some of his more meaningful belongings to his family before the keepsakes have a chance to be liquidated.  An inheritor need not feel that these are items obtained in haste.</div> <div>     Haste would be indicated when an inheritor is putting pressure on dad or mom to part with assets early.  Again, simply mentioning the possibility of an early divvying may not be unwarranted in a justifiable case.  The key is to fix it firmly in mind that those possessions are truly not yours until they have been willingly passed along.  If they must be wrung from mom or dad, they will not be blessed.  If you are coveting assets, you will almost surely exert unrighteous pressure.</div> <div>     The other way an inheritance might be obtained hastily is if the estate was settled too quickly after the parent or holder's death.  There is a protocol in dealing with such matters.  One consideration is respect for the departed through temperate dealing with what was theirs.  There is a period of mourning in which undue attention to doling out of goods is unattractive.  Again, if matters flow at a normal pace and everyone remains composed, there is no reason that affairs cannot be resolved expeditiously.</div> <div>     Most people do not have several encounters with obtaining an inheritance in their lives.  Most have only one.  Therefore, that event tends to take on unnatural proportions of whatever emotions are involved.  It is easy to get lost in the whirl of events and lose track of an appropriate anchor by which to gauge our actions.  That is why this proverb is handy.  While most people would have to be inventing their etiquette for the situation as they went, the Christian has clear direction from God's Word to keep him from moving with unadvised haste.</div> <div>     "What if someone else gets the jump on me in the claims process?"  First come first served is not the rule in inheritances, so we usually will worry in vain about any 'claim-jumping'.  Firstborn may be first served, but that is a factor which will not change with or without haste.  Again, if a competitive inheritor spoils the process for everyone, it is simply a reminder that we still live where 'moth and rust decompose, and thieves break through and steal.'</div> <bR> <div>     In our day, there is a spiritual application of this verse as well.  There is a sizeable segment of Christianity that, if effect, seeks to take <I>early possession</I> of certain items of our spiritual inheritance:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Rom 16:20</FONT>  And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet <U>shortly</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     We are in pitched battle with Satan presently.  Many Christians teach that we can basically whip Satan here and now.  Paul indicates that the battle will only be over in Heaven.  </div> <div>     Other varieties of this hasty spiritual inheritance include the obtaining of continuous perfect health or abundance of possessions in this life.  For many Christian benefits, having their down payment does not imply their present possession- nor the erasing of their opposites.  Otherwise, for instance, we would not experience death.</div> <div>     There is therefore a 'protocol' in how we treat sickness, poverty, and death in this life.  In view of this, the 'decorum' of today's Church is an unsightly thing.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="425" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0C0C0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:22</div> <div> Do not say, I will repay evil; </div> <div> hope on Jehovah, and He will save you. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Save" is from a Hebrew word with the basic meaning of "be open, wide, or free". </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Analysis of the Verse</U></B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="GoudyOlSt BT" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Improper Stance<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">Declaring one's own rectification of a wrong</div> <bR> <div> Compared to the Proper Stance<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Bring yourself to Jehovah, and He will bring deliverance to you</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Notice that deliverance from wrongdoing in the second half of the verse is equated with the payback mentioned in the first half.  This is perhaps the most important insight of this verse.  It is therefore <I>not </I>saying that God will repay your <I>enemy </I>(not that He won't, but that is not His described action here); it says He will deliver <I>you</I>.</div> <div>     Hence, the proper way to look at situations where harm has been/is being inflicted is in terms of our <I>last standing</I>:  NOT whether we are standing with our foot on our enemy's neck, but whether or not we have been vindicated as righteous by our deliverance from his evil.</div> <div>     Hence, further, this is the important kind of payback following grievances.  God is putting Himself on the line to answer the injury, so He is not making light of the wrongdoing or our pain.  He is simply saying that the real answer we need is not our enemy's grief, but our own rescue.  Rescue is therefore what we must look forward to.  That is what our expectation should be- deliverance.</div> <div>     In fact, this verse is not even strictly about those who do us personal harm.  It is about our total response to evil in the <I>world</I>.  If we have a vengeful attitude towards criminals and hypocrites in general, we are taking judgment out of God's hands and placing it in our own.  But <I>personal </I>vengeance is certainly one type of global redress that concerns us, and perhaps the most pressing one.</div> <div>     When someone harms us, we are, by faith, to look to the end of the process.  "I will be vindicated as right.  This person's subterfuge will therefore be seen in its true evil light.  That <I>will be</I> enough.  That <I>is </I>therefore enough to anticipate now."</div> <div>     That is the response of faith.  Again, this is not to say that God will not repay an evildoer for his wrongdoing.  God <I>will </I>repay.  The point here is that an evildoer's harm should not be our focus.  In fact, visualizing a fool's harm will LOSE our focus for us.  Furthermore, most people, Christians included, <I>never </I>gain the proper focus in a personal conflict.  We always tend to be preoccupied by two improper reactions:  <I>anger </I>at the perpetrator and <I>worry </I>that he will get away with it.</div> <div>     This proverb is not a bland denial of evil.  Nor is it telling us to pretend that nothing wrong has been done.  Nor is it a means of self-help by avoiding negative emotions.  We should mourn over evil.  We should even be angry at it within limits.  Evil is real.  Evil done against us is real evil.  Our non-retaliatory response to it is not a denial of evil.</div> <div>     In fact, evil <I>does</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>  </I></FONT>NEED to be recompensed.  That is why the pull to avenge ourselves is so hard to deny.  The very fabric of the Universe cries out that wrong be avenged.  We just have to say No when it is pulling on <I>us</I>.  Our response has to be, "Yes, evil must be repaid, but I'm not the one called to do it.  You must be looking for God."</div> <div>     And here is a wonderful evidence as to whether God is our Savior.  If He is, we can wait for Him to save us.  Period.  If we must rush ahead of His timetable and exact some vengeance for ourselves, we are clearly confessing that we do not prefer God's salvation.  Nor have we been loaned the copyright on Salvation so as to segment it, refusing one part while holding on to another.  We cannot choose God's salvation from sin while denying His salvation from vengeance.  This verse is meant as one evidence of possession of salvation.  A saved person prefers God's deliverance in all its dimensions.</div> <div>     Furthermore, God is subtly telling us here that we need rescue because <I>we are not altogether free of evil</I> ourselves.  We are, no matter how far distanced from direct criminal activity, always 'part of the problem' as sinners.</div> <div>     Finally, an important caveat.  This proverb has no application to the judicial system.  The judicial system is a place for justice to be objectively applied.  The court system does not have enemies to repay.  Human legal systems only seek to recognize right and wrong, vindicating the innocent and punishing the guilty.  Their job is not personal.  Our proverb, on the other hand, is altogether personal.  It, therefore, has no application to the way a judge or court should conduct itself.</div> <div>     This is like Jesus' command to 'turn the other cheek.'  This command is completely on a personal level.  My <I>individual </I>non-retaliatory response has nothing to do with the <I>court </I>system.  That was Jesus' whole point.  People were quoting Moses' civil statutes as though they were personal ones.  Courts are <I>supposed </I>to institute 'an eye for an eye', but <I>individuals </I>are not.</div> <bR> <div>     Is God your deliverer?</div> <div>     Who bugs you?  Who seems out of place in the Universe because of his unrighteous or foolish antics?  Have you left him in God's hands, or is he your continuous little personal vendetta, Mr. Savior-Self?  (Get it?  'Save Yourself'?  Of course, in that case, you really won't get it- salvation, that is.)</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ******************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="453" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:23</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Varied weights </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >hateful to Jehovah, </FONT></div> <div> and a misleading scale <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>is</I> </FONT>not good.  </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Varied weights" is from the Hebrew word for "stone" used twice in a row, "a stone and a stone", meaning a stone of one weight and another stone of a differing weight. </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">Varied weight standards</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Misleading scales</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">An abomination to Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Not good</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Now we have this fourth testimony on weight standards:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 11:1</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Misleading balances </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" ><U>hateful to Jehovah</U>, but a perfect stone </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >His delight. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:11</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  A just scale and balances </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Jehovah's, all the stones of the bag </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >His work. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 20:10</FONT>  A stone and a stone, an ephah and an ephah, both <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT><U>hateful to Jehovah</U>. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 20:23</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  A stone and a stone </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" ><U>hateful to Jehovah</U>; and a misleading balance </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >not good. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The first verse contrasted deceitful standards to correct ones.  The second put all <I>our </I>measuring on <I>God's</I> scale.  The third stated how completely God hates all varieties of deceitful measures.  Now this fourth caps the subject with the understated "is not good."</div> <div>     There are three different Hebrew words for scales, but Solomon only uses two of them.  They were apparently all based on the principle of balancing objects on one side against standard weights on the other.</div> <div>     One way to 'tip the scales' in your own favor as a merchant was to build the balance such that the top horizontal beam would slide slightly off center of the vertical foundation beam so as to lean more to the object side and so take more weights to balance it out.  That way, again, the sold objects would seem heavier and fetch a higher price.</div> <div>     Solomon's new word on the subject today is that such a practice is "not good".  This might seem anticlimactic.  Having said it is hateful to God, how can its being 'not good' add to its severity?</div> <div>     By saying that this practice is 'not good', Solomon is saying that there is no way for it to turn out right.  A merchant is thinking to himself that these fish he is selling are of unusual quality, so the 'adjusted' weights only make matters even.  Solomon says Not so.  If they are higher quality, charge more for them up front.  Every part of the transaction you hide from the customer is an exercise in <I>sovereignty</I>.  It is saying, "All the stones of the bag are <I>not </I>Jehovah's work.  They are <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>mine</B></FONT>."   We think we are only trying to make a mealy extra buck, when we are actually contesting God in a very personal way.</div> <bR> <div>     The whole idea of adjusting standards is very pervasive in life.  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>Everything we do</B></FONT> is connected with standards.  There are standards we place on ourselves internally.  Our own expectations for our own behavior involve a whole system of weights and measures:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:2</FONT>  All the ways of a man <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>are</I> </FONT>pure <U>in his own eyes</U>, but Jehovah <U>weighs</U> the <U>spirits</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Human spirits are measurable.  Proverbs 16:2 is telling us that when we measure ourselves, we naturally tip the scales in our own favor.  We throw more imaginary goodness on the scales when we think about ourselves.  We crank the scale readout down when we weigh our own imperfections.  We are naturally unjust, but our reading will eventually be answered by God's accuracy.</div> <div>     In our perceptions of others, we make others worse or better based on our own tastes.  Envy will always make us highlight another person's faults.  Someone we're attracted to always magically comes out with higher quality.</div> <div>     We usually don't see that measurements are taking place until our <I>evaluations </I>and actual <I>outcomes </I>are laid side by side.  Our discipline of our children may turn out to have been too harsh based on evidence that  comes to light afterwards.  On the other hand, it usually takes years to see that we spoiled them, withholding needed discipline time after time.  But the measurements are always going on, whether their injustice comes to light immediately, much later, or never to our own eyes.</div> <div>     The repetition of this concept is to this end:  We need to sense that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>all our life is being weighed</B></FONT>.  I am measuring, my neighbor is measuring, and God is measuring.  <I>Every decision</I> we make involves the weighing of factors.</div> <div>     When we come to perceive the MEASURED nature of life, we can begin to compare our own measurements, situation by situation, with God's.</div> <div>     In particular, we can measure our own spirits with a newfound even-handedness.  Since we know we are already going to see ourselves as purer than we truly are, we should always toss in more selfish motives when considering <I>our </I>angle on things.  We should always allow that our real attitude is more spiteful than the mere justice we assumed we were pursuing in relations with certain others.</div> <div>     All care must be taken to even out our scales.  Any surprises on Judgment Day will not be amended on <I>God's</I> side.  And the amendments on <I>our </I>side will be embarrassing or damnable.</div> <bR> <div>     One addendum as a consideration of the previous proverb:</div> <div>     All of life is part of our perceptions, however partial our perceptions are.  We are always reacting to how we think the world operates.  We perceive injustice, we react internally.  In Proverbs 20:22, we learned that our reactions must always be turned over to God.  In Proverbs 20:23, we add that we are very likely to misperceive injustices in the first place or <I>fail to put our own actions</I> in the <I>same category</I> of those injustices, thus making ourselves officious judges.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="453" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#C0DCC0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:24</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >Man's steps </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >from Jehovah; </FONT></div> <div> how can a man then understand his own way?   </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Man" in the first half of the verse is from a Hebrew word for "warrior", but is commonly used simply as "man".  This, however, is the first time we have seen it in Proverbs.  Solomon did use it one other time, in 6:34.  He'll use it again five more times out of the total 65 times it is used in the Old Testament.  </div> <div>     "Man" in the second half of the verse is from a more common word for man, "adam", also translated "Adam".</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">A man's steps</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A man's path</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">From Jehovah</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Incomprehensible / cannot be discerned  (Who can discern it?)</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     With the last two verses, Solomon has been 'backing us into' another Sovereignty of God section.  The first section was back in chapter sixteen.  Now, within the next score of verses or so, we will revisit most of those same themes.</div> <div>     How can a human being truly discern the twists and turns of his path in life, seeing that there is another higher being who is ultimately in control of everything?  Actually, this is a fairly simple question and concept.  It's just that it is difficult to swallow the idea that my decisions concerning my life are not final.  When I have made my final decision, there is still more to be said.  This is unsettling to our sense of freedom.</div> <div>     There is therefore a definite sense in which man's will is limited.  Christians of every theological persuasion agree that God erects certain 'fences' in men's lives to 'corral' them towards making certain decisions:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Exod 4:21</FONT>  And Jehovah said to Moses, When you go to return into Egypt, see that you do all those wonders which I have put in your hand before Pharaoh; but <U>I will harden</U> <U>his heart</U>, that he shall not let the people go. </div> <bR> <div>     However arbitrary this might sound, we would search in vain for a Scriptural example of God taking the intentions in a man's hearts and simply turning them inside out, making them into something opposite.  In Pharaoh's case, God was simply 'cementing' what was <I>already going on</I> in his heart:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Exod 8:15</FONT>  But <U>Pharaoh</U> saw that <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>there</I> </FONT>was relief, and he <U>hardened his heart</U>, and did not listen to them, even as Jehovah had said. </div> <bR> <div>     Notice that Moses wrote both things.  God hardened Pharaoh's heart AND Pharaoh hardened his own heart.  There is no contradiction.  This means that God, in hardening Pharaoh's heart, simply used what was already IN Pharaoh's heart.</div> <div>     Yet a dyed-in-the-wool Arminian is uncomfortable with even this, as though God could simply withdraw His control from His creation.</div> <div>     But an Arminian's inconsistency is just as plain when he asks God with the psalmist:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 119:133</FONT>  <U>Order my steps</U> in Your Word; and do not let any iniquity rule over me. </div> <bR> <div>     We should count it our greatest blessing if we are KEPT by God's power <I>from </I>sin, if we are KEPT by His power <I>in </I>His paths.  But how could God do this if His will were not allowed to intrude into ours?</div> <div>     So the freedom of man's will is certainly not absolute.  Some would contend that if it is not absolutely free, then it is not free at all.  But this is not so, for, again, where can we find an instance where a man's own inclination was one thing, and God simply lifted that intention out and replaced it with another?</div> <div>     Rather, the mystery is that we cannot see the WHOLE PATH, nor the WHOLE LANDSCAPE around us, nor the WHOLE OF WHAT IS IN US.  Since <I>God</I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>  </I></FONT>is the one who directs all these factors unknown to <I>us</I>, obviously, <I>we </I>are only going to have a <I>partial </I>understanding of our circumstances.  We can lift our foot to purpose to plant it in a place we see on the path in front of us, but with our limited vision, could that place be other than what we perceived?  When our foot lands, might it not be other than in our intended destination?  Well, then, it is manifest that we truly do not understand our own path.</div> <div>     A mocker is unjustified in asserting that all life is hence meaningless.  It is NOT that I set my foot to be planted on the ground and it ends up planted on the moon.  We are not talking about an utter disconnect between my plans and the world around me.  We are talking about <I>limitations </I>of our perception.  </div> <div>     At the same time, a Christian is acknowledging that there is an <I>unlimited </I>One who understands all things.  He knows the whole landscape, etc., so He is in ultimate control.  If <I>He </I>is in ultimate control, <I><B>I </B></I>cannot be.  My wisest course of action, then, is to <I>seek </I>His controlling influence and <I>accept </I>any divergences He comes up with for my planned path.  "Resignation", then, is a Christian virtue necessary for living under the Sovereignty of God.</div> <bR> <div>     In the light of the two previous proverbs, we should realize this:  </div> <div>     A wise man <I>does </I>seek to know as much about himself as he can:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 14:8</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  The wisdom of the wise </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >to understand his way </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >We must become as acquainted as we can with our own tendency to prejudice matters in our own favor; then we must seek to 'balance' matters out to a truer approximation of reality.  </FONT></div> <div>     But that is Solomon's point today.  We will always be coming up with an <I>approximation</I>.  </div> <div>     We must always leave room for God's more complete vision.  Therefore, be we ever so humble, there is always room for even <I>more </I>humility when we consider what God <I>further </I>knows about all things <I>and </I>about us.  If we are not gripping the steering wheel so fiercely, we leave room for God's directions <I>and </I>His little surprises.</div> <div>     It is good not to know.*</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >*  </FONT>Just as it is good TO know all that we are <I>supposed </I>to know<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" >.</FONT></div> <div>     </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> *********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="473" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:25</div> <div> <I>It is</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > a snare </FONT><I>to</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a man to say rashly, </FONT></div> <div> A holy thing, and after the vows to inquire <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>about it</I>.</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>     "To say rashly" is from a Hebrew word used only here in Scriptures.  </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">A man blurting out, "<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I>This is</I></FONT> sanctified."</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Afterwards considering<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" ><I> the ramifications of</I></FONT>  the vows</div> <bR> <div> Description<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">It is a trap the man has caught himself in</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Another interesting follow-on in light of the previous verse.</div> <div>     There we learned that God's ultimate control translates into human inability to fully comprehend our own path.</div> <div>     Now Solomon adds this proviso:  Nevertheless, do not therefore mistakenly look at something in your life as specifically dedicated to God when it is actually not your intention to dedicate it.   God's control does not release one iota of your responsibility for your own decisions.  He maintains His control in a way that 100% guards the authenticity of your own choices.  Therefore, don't say it is His unless you truly intend <I>Him </I>to have it and <I>you </I>no longer to have it.</div> <div>     The most obvious example of a hasty vow is someone making a profession of faith in Christ.  He is basically signing his own life away.  He is saying, "I am no longer my own.  I now belong to God."</div> <div>     This is why Jesus' evangelistic technique, so strange to us, is at it is.</div> <div>     Find every instance of a man coming to Christ to inquire about the path of salvation or to pledge himself to walk therein.  <I>Every time</I> Jesus basically said, "Are you sure about this?  This is no decision to be made lightly.  Maybe you had better rethink the matter."</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Mark 10:17</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And when He had gone out into the way, one came running up and kneeled to Him, and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Surely to a man the modern Christian would answer this inquiry by whacking a spiritual 'home run' and immediately leading the man in 'the sinner's prayer'.  Obviously God has prepared the fellow to be ripe for the spiritual picking, no?</div> <div>     Well, no.  At least, that's not what Jesus did.  After Jesus finished with him, he departed sadly.  No conversion made.  No points for the home team.</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 9:57</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And it happened as they were going in the way, one said to Him, Lord, I will follow You wherever You go. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Again, prime real estate for building a temple for God!  But who needs to tell Jesus that?  Certainly He's going to 'seal the deal' and bring this fellow in, right?</div> <div>     Wrong.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 9:58</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air </FONT><I>have</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay </FONT><I>His</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >head. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Tarnation!  O for 2!  That Jesus is sure a quirky guy!  If He keeps scaring people off, we won't have anybody in Heaven!  Maybe some of us managerial types had better step in and put a different spin on all this before Jesus has a chance to sink the family business!  (Thank you, modern Church, for doing just that!)</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 9:61</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And another also said, Lord, I will follow You, but first allow me to take leave of those in my house. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     Don't tell me.  Jesus is going to blow this one too.</div> <div>     Yup.</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 9:62</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And Jesus said to him, No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     No doubt about it- Jesus actually <I>discouraged </I>initial attempts to follow Him.  He summarized His reasons in another saying:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Luke 14:28 - 33</FONT>  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>and</I> </FONT><U>count the cost</U>, <U>whether</U> he may have <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>enough</I> </FONT>to finish it;  <U>lest</U> perhaps, after he has laid the foundation and is <U>not able to finish</U>, all those seeing begin to mock him,  saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not first sit down <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>and</I> </FONT>consult whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>conditions</I> </FONT>of peace.  So then, everyone of you who does not forsake all his possessions, he <U>cannot be My disciple</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     Doggone that Jesus!  He just doesn't know how to build an empire!  Better to have unsteady initiates than none at all!</div> <div>     Yet all Jesus was doing was recognizing the nature of conversion from the human vantage point.  It is a vow.  It is a promise to dedicate oneself to God.  Vows are not to be made lightly.  This means <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I>if there are factors that I am overlooking right now which might later cause me to reconsider my vow</I></FONT>, <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style" ><I><B>I had better not make the vow yet.  </B></I></FONT>If true of other vows, doubly true of vowing myself to God.  To make such a foolish vow, in the words of our proverb, is a "trap".</div> <div>     This vow concept, by the way, is why Paul can be so free in telling the Corinthians what to do with their own money in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9, or why he can be so sure that Philemon will let Onesimus out of his servitude.  He sees a Christian as someone who has already vowed everything to God, so some little particular is no great sacrifice to ask.</div> <div>     Once we have become a Christian, various items may be 're-dedicated' to God by specific vows.  These, of course, are to be taken just as seriously as our conversion vow.  They should be seen as extensions of it.</div> <div>     The most tragic vow in the Bible is Jephthah's, Judges 11:31.  Whatever he did in fulfillment of it, killing his daughter or separating her to some life of reclusion, he admits his sorrow at the outcome, 11:35.  He imagined one set of outcomes in the vowing, but the language of his vow covered more.</div> <div>     The truly frightening lesson of Jephthah is that he had just had a genuine encounter with the Holy Spirit:</div> <bR> <div> Jdg 11:29<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  Then the Spirit of Jehovah came on Jephthah ... </FONT></div> <div> Jdg 11:30<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And Jephthah vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said ...</FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This reminds us that even when we are overcome with emotion through the presence of the Lord, we are still in command of our own senses:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >1 Cor 14:32</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  And the spirits of the prophets </FONT><I>are</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >subject to the prophets.</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     And we must not base our whole future upon the flush of the moment without the opportunity to think about it.  A vow will not be weaker because we took a day to think it through.  It <I>will </I>be weaker, though, if we speak it rashly and find we don't have the wherewithal to fulfill it later:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > Eccl 5:4</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  When you vow a vow to God, do not wait to pay it.  For He has no pleasure in fools.  Pay that which you have vowed.  </FONT><I>I</I><I>t is</I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" > better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.   </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     This seems to speak of things specifically vowed rather than a general consecration of my life henceforth to God, which is a normal Christian pledge.  Our general consecration to God is something we can pledge Him every day:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 63:4</FONT>  So <U>I will bless You</U> <U>while I live</U>; I will lift up my hands in Your name. </div> <bR> <div>     But, again, we had better mean it.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ***********************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_29"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="2" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="373" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFFF > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 92 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:26</div> <div> A wise king scatters the wicked </div> <div> and turns the wheel over them. </div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Scatters" may be a description of the winnowing process, separating the chaff from the grain.  The "wheel" would then be the threshing wheel, a mowing type device to crush the plant, thus separating the chaff from the grain.</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">A wise king</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Scatters the wicked</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Turns the wheel over them</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Notice that it is a "wise" king who won't tolerate the wicked.  We might like to picture a wise king as being a compassionate fellow, but here he is stern.  Of course, his compassion is not ruled out, but when it comes to the incorrigible- the stubbornly wicked- he draws the line on mercy.  The truth is, a good king has to be merciless to the wicked <I>in order to </I><I><B>have </B></I><I>mercy</I> on the rest of society.</div> <div>     Our society has 'shot itself in the foot' by extending greater mercy than is wise to career criminals and capital offenders.  Our mercy to these has led to terror for law-abiding citizens.  This is a great example of man's natural short-sightedness, which can only be properly corrected by God's omniscience.  </div> <div>     Americans could see that mercy was a good quality.  We saw that mistakes were made in the justice system that condemned innocent men.  We saw that many men had been rehabilitated through programs offered in incarceration.  For all these reasons, we thought that greater mercy for most criminals was justified.  The death penalty was considered impossibly severe, since a mistake could not be corrected.  </div> <div>     Anyone still advocating stiff penalties was seen as backwards and unenlightened.  Frankly, this was a way for people in our society to love themselves and take pride in how open-minded and progressive they were.  We equated judicial laxity with the attainment of the true Christian ethic, implying that the previous generation had been blindly self-righteous with its tough slant on delinquency.</div> <div>     As we can now see, we have created a hopelessly unjust society with our compromises.  It all seemed so simple.  It's always easy to portray oneself as large-spirited compared to someone locked into a merciless posture.  It's especially easy when they do that with a vindictive attitude.  But despite those who have let hardness against crime rob them of any tender side, it is still true that a society and its leaders have to draw a merciless line against certain crimes.</div> <div>     Our proverb says that a wise king scatters the wicked.  We recently saw that:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 20:8</FONT>  A king who sits in the throne of judgment <U>scatters</U> away all evil with his eyes. </div> <bR> <div>     Again, "scatters" is a term also used for winnowing.  A king who won't monkey around with evil-doers sifts through their deceptions on the spot.  Now our verse adds that he lets them feel the full weight of justice.  He "returns" the threshing wheel over them.  However many turns it takes, they will pay.  If they are only chaff:  good-bye.</div> <div>     Justice is a paying system.  It is so in salvation.  Jesus had to pay for others if they were to be released.  Hell will be eternal payment to satisfy justice.  God is honored when justice is served.  Remember, there is no true mercy apart from justice.  God didn't just say, "I won't prosecute."  That could not be.  He said, "I will prosecute my Son in your stead."</div> <div>     Human justice must mirror God's.  We imagine that we are more humane than God when He sentences homosexuals to death and we mandate toleration for them.  We will find (and are finding) that a society based on lawlessness will decay into gross violence and perversion.  Look at the hospitality Sodom offered its visitors in Genesis 19.</div> <div>     Turning the wheel over evildoers is a way of healing society.  When others see that crime doesn't pay, they will leave off with it.  Crime will become the exception rather than the rule.</div> <div>     History is moving towards a final harvest.  Jesus uses this analogy in the parable of the wheat and the tares (or darnel, Matt. 13).  The purpose of history is to <I>separate </I>the wheat from the tares.  Any generation in which the Church purifies herself sufficiently, the separation process even occurs on earth to a great extent.  The world hates a purifed Church, and the Church meantime exercises discipline, purifying herself further.</div> <div>     God be thanked that an eternal day is coming when the criminal element of mankind, those opposing His laws in all ages, will be locked away completely and permanently.  This is emphasized in the description of the New Heavens and Earth in Revelation 21 and 22.  Three times the glorious description is interrupted to tell of those who will never inhabit the New Jerusalem.  </div> <div>     God is a king who will fully prosecute unrighteousness.  Those who are wise will fear.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> **************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="395" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#00FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:27</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >The breath of man </FONT><I>is</I> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >a lamp of Jehovah, </FONT></div> <div> Searching all the chambers of the belly.</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 word for "breath" when God breathed into Adam the "breath" of life.  It is not related to the Hebrew word for "spirit", but many translations take breath as spirit here.  </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">The breath of man</div> <bR> <div> Descriptions<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jehovah's lamp</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Investigating all the rooms of the inmost being</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     This is a fairly odd sounding verse, translated rather rawly as we have done.  How can man's breath be God's lamp?  Where is the lamp being shined when it goes to the rooms of the stomach?</div> <div>     Man's breath is being used to speak of his humanness.  </div> <div>     When did man become man?  Was it when God had molded him from dust of the ground?  No, it was when God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#800000" FACE="Georgia" >Genesis 2:7</FONT>  And Jehovah God formed the man <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#808080" FACE="Georgia" ><I>out of</I></FONT> dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. </div> <div>     </div> <div>     Solomon is referencing that original event very explicitly.  He is saying that what man became at that moment he has been ever since.  Most importantly, man is what he is <I>in connection with </I>God.  When we picture God bringing man to life here, we probably envision something like CPR, with God bending over man's lifeless form and breathing a soul into him (Since God walked with man in the garden, this is not a far-fetched anthropomorphism).  </div> <div>      Solomon, by using the word "breath", is getting us to picture man as a creature connected to God from inception.  Every breath we take is an extension of that first breath.  Our humanness is very connected to God.  Nor did God employ some intermediary, say an angel, to bring us to life.  God wants us to picture ourselves as His direct and personal handiwork.</div> <div>     So when Solomon calls our breath a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Book Antiqua" ><B>lamp</B></FONT>, he is simply saying that since God is light, part of that light ever stays with man.  Man, because made in God's image, comes equipped with the capacity of self-examination.  One name for this aspect of man is <I>conscience</I>.  Solomon is saying, in effect, that our conscience is a lamp that has access to every inch of our inner space.</div> <div>     But Solomon is also saying that our conscience, our breath, our inner voice, is always a <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Calibri" ><I>direct tool</I></FONT> of God's.  It is not just that 'the good angel' on our shoulder was placed there by God millennia ago, and now it whispers directions as best it can apart from God.  No, man's breath, his speaking ability, and his capacity of conversing with self, becomes God's <I>direct tool</I> to shine His light in various places of our souls.*</div> <div>     And this brings us to "the chambers of the belly".  Almost half the time the Hebrew word for "belly" is used, it is translated "womb".  It is a word used broadly for man's innards, physical (including daggers put in them) or spiritual (as also in Prov. 18:8, where words go into the belly).</div> <div>     Solomon, having taken us to the Garden of Eden and man's creation, now continues the imagery with a lamp being held up in various rooms of our souls.  We are to picture God with a lamp, even though the lamp is our very breath, walking from room to room within us, shining His lamp, bringing things to light.  So, as God walked with man in the Garden after making him, He now walks within us by the continuation of that original breath inside us.</div> <div>     This almost produces a sense of claustrophobia; that is, if we understand it correctly.  The distance between the Garden of Eden and us is virtually bridged.  We, no less than Adam, are the direct creation of God.  He formed us in the womb (several of the "belly" passages say this).  He places a human spirit within us:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Zech 12:1</FONT>  ... <U>Jehovah</U>, who stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and <U>forms</U> the <U>spirit of man</U> <U>within him</U>. </div> <bR> <div>     So our very humanness continues to be a connection between each of us as individuals and God.  Further, and more importantly, that connection is a <I>searching </I>one on God's part.  He does not sit back and admire His creation.  There is renovation to do.  Major renovation.</div> <div>     Most men will have none of God's renovation.  Their relation with their conscience is a strained one.  All manner of false religions, psychologies, philosophies, etc. arise from this frustrated function.</div> <bR> <div>     Are you in touch with your humanness?  </div> <div>     The Christian has every advantage in this exercise, yet we often seem to be the most distant from discovering a true humanity within us, so intent are we on <I>fabricating </I>an acceptable Christian mold (meaning fabricating our own conception of an acceptable Christian).  Our fabrications frustrate God's corrective inspections just as the worldlings' denunciations do.</div> <div>     <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><I>Let God speak  </I></FONT>when He ducks in with the lamp of His Word, renovation blueprints in hand.  We always answer in stride, "Oh yeah, that.  I've been meaning to get around to that.  OK.  I get the message.  Oh, and that ..."  And on and on we prattle, effectively replacing God's corrective voice with our own remediations.</div> <div>     Quietness is a wonderful tool for self-help if our verse be true.</div> <bR> <div> *  <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Log today's proverb and this concept away, and combine them with Romans 2:15 next time a discussion turns to how God could hold the isolated island native accountable on Judgment Day.</FONT></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ************************************************************************</div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="aug_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="475" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#33FFCC > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 84 ><NOBR><div> Proverbs 20:28</div> <div> Compassion and trustworthiness safeguard a king, </div> <div> And his throne is sustained by compassion.</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> <B><U>Words of the Verse</U></B><B>:</B></div> <bR> <div>     "Mercy and truth preserve the king" is a common and accurate rendering of the first half of the verse.  The same word for mercy/compassion is used in the second half of the verse.</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">A king</div> <bR> <div> Characteristics<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Eras Light ITC" >:</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Compassion and certainty guard him</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700f000000000.png" HEIGHT="16" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">He maintains his throne by compassion (active voice equally accurate)</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Teaching of the Verse</U></B>:</div> <bR> <div>     Now we are given the real foundation of a king's throne.  In 20:26 we read:</div> <bR> <div>  <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 20:26</FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Georgia" >  A wise king scatters the wicked and turns the wheel over them. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     The wise king must deal with wicked men.  If they go unpunished, there can not be righteousness in the kingdom.</div> <div>     But is that all there is to a good king, one who repays criminals and oppressors?  Our proverb today adds the crucial information that a good king is essentially good because of his <B>mercy </B>towards those worthy of it.</div> <div>     Worthy of mercy:  can there be such a thing?  Mustn't a recipient of mercy be <I>unworthy </I>of it by definition?</div> <div>     Let us answer that question by an appeal to the highest King's mercy:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Jude 1:4</FONT>  For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, <U>turning</U> the <U>grace</U> of our God <U>into</U> <U>wantonness</U>, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ. </div> <bR> <div>     Some men treat God's grace in such a way as to <I>deny </I>grace.  They are not recipients of grace, as Jude plainly testifies.  Their unworthiness does <I>not </I>qualify them; it disqualifies them.</div> <div>     Of course, we are not suggesting that any man can <I>earn </I>mercy.  We are simply saying that those who are true recipients of God's mercy will bear fruit consistent therewith.  Again, this is a necessary connection because:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Matt 6:14, 15</FONT>  ... if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;  but <U>if</U> you do <U>not forgive</U> men their trespasses, <U>neither</U> will your <U>Father</U> <U>forgive</U> your trespasses. </div> <bR> <div>     So a good king is like God in that he knows whom mercy will benefit.  Career criminals are not benefited by mercy.  They take it for granted and so mock it.  A wise king knows this and so will not extend mercy to them.</div> <div>     On the other hand, the wise king's overall character is not defined by this toughness.  His toughness is 'turned on' like the automatic lie detector that seems to reside in his bosom.  When this is not required, his general character is caring and concerned.  That's what our proverb today is saying.</div> <div>     Notice that the first half of our proverb concerns the king himself; the second half concerns his throne.  The king himself is guarded by righteous behavior.  His throne, implying his whole kingdom, as well as kings who will reign after him, is established by his knowledge that his subjects are, at best, sinners, whose foibles are probably not signs of treason and should not be taken as such.</div> <div>     A very famous pair have come to us again in this verse.  The last time we saw them was in 16:6,</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 16:6</FONT>  By <U>mercy and truth</U>, iniquity is purged, and by the fear of Jehovah <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>men</I> </FONT>turn away from evil. </div> <bR> <div>     There we took mercy and truth as qualities of God, by which He forgives men their sins.  We took the fear of God as the attitude in men that takes root when God has had mercy on them.  We took mercy and truth as God's activity because of the most notable verse in which they appear:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 85:10</FONT>  <U>Mercy and truth</U> have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#444444" FACE="Georgia" ><I>each other</I>. </FONT></div> <bR> <div>     If you recall, mercy and truth are not rightly friends where man is concerned.  Mercy asks not to be too hard on us, while truth insists that we deserve only harshness.  It is only in Christ and His atonement that mercy and truth meet together as friends.  Jesus brought together elements that otherwise could not have been brought together in order to save us.</div> <div>     So the good king carries these traits that have saved him.  Solomon has already told us that they are characteristics we are to mirror:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Prov 3:3</FONT>  Let not <U>mercy and truth</U> forsake you; tie them around your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart</div> <bR> <div>     Solomon's father was told that mercy and truth would guide the king in particular:</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#008080" FACE="Georgia" >Psa 61:6, 7</FONT>  You will add to the days of the king's life; his years will be for many generations.  He shall abide before God forever; prepare <U>mercy and truth</U> to <U>preserve</U> him. </div> <bR> <div>     In fact, there is the word "preserve" that is in our text as well.</div> <div>     When a land has been largely ridded of its evil-doers, a good king is known by his heart, not his sword.</div> <div>     So with any in authority.</div> <div>     Parents must always have a foundation of tenderness towards their children (Col 3:21), even if they must spank them quite regularly.  Teachers must always strive to have kind relations with their students, even those who seem to come to school only to test their patience.  </div> <div>     Being in authority is not easy, but a leader must see his position as God-given.  We uphold mercy and faithfulness because so God has dealt with us.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> ****************************************************************************</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>