In Today's Email:
Proverbs 13 Notes
In this chapter we continue a collection of miscellaneous proverbs.
vs. 1-25 – Further contrasts between the wise and the unwise. A few highlights include the wisdom of limiting our speech (vs. 3), the outcome of pride (vs. 10), the impact of those around us on ourselves (vs. 20), and the need for correction for children (vs. 24). I do not think this last verse literally means a rod must be used but speaks symbolically of many means of correction.
Proverbs 14 Notes
In this chapter we continue a collection of miscellaneous proverbs.
vs. 1-35 - Further contrasts between the wise and the unwise. We see in vs. 4 one of my favorites, that to prosper (seen as an ox used for farming) you will deal with side issues (cleaning up after the ox). I like to categorize these issues as C.O.D.B. – the “cost of doing business”. If you want a harvest, it takes a lot of work beyond just the planting and reaping. You also must care for the ox. We see in vs. 17 and 29 the value of patience and self-control. In vs. 34 we see the importance of righteous people in establishing a strong nation.
Proverbs 15 Notes
In this chapter we continue a collection of miscellaneous proverbs.
vs. 1-33 - Further contrasts between the wise and the unwise. We have the counsel in vs. 1 to guard our responses to others lest the incite anger. In vs. 16-17 true wealth is described as the fear of the Lord and peace, not the accumulation of wealth.
Closing Thoughts
There are so many themes in Proverbs that are worthy of attention and it is difficult to choose which to highlight. For today, I want to focus on the idea of self-control. In the Bible, a mature Christian is never pictures as someone driven by unbridled passions. Rather, they are a person who keeps their thoughts, attitudes, and actions in check by application of the wisdom if God’s Word. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” We cannot trust our fleshly nature. It must be governed by our higher faculties in accordance to God’s commands.
Hymn for Today
Our hymn today is “Blest is the Man Whose Softening Heart”, written by Anna Barbauld (1743-1825). It is an expression of one the themes in Proverbs of charity and generosity.
Blest is the man whose softening heart
Feels all another's pain;
To whom the supplicating eye
Was never raised in vain:
Whose breast expands with generous warmth
A stranger's woes to feel;
And bleeds in pity o'er the wound
He wants the power to heal.
He spreads his kind supporting arms
To every child of grief;
His secret bounty largely flows,
And brings unasked relief.
To gentle offices of love
His feet are never slow:
He views, through mercy's melting eye,
A brother in a foe.
Peace from the bosom of his God,
The Saviour's grace shall give;
And, when he kneels before the throne,
His trembling soul shall live.