Hobart Herd – Proverbs 19 – 4-19-20
There are times when we connect wisdom to riches and being poor to being foolish. But this chapter reminds us that is not necessarily true. While being wise in our ways may lead us to God’s blessings including wealth and luxury, there are many times that wealth and ease leads us away from trust and dependency on the Lord and will cause us to think of ourselves as wise and become foolish in our own ways. Proverbs 19 has many verses that try to get us to turn to the Lord for wisdom, not the wisdom of the riches of this world. Verse 1 tells us “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool.”(NAS) There is discussion about the ease of friendship for the wealthy and the lack of friends for a poor man. We are reminded that “the foolishness of man rages against LORD”.(vs.3)
This battle between the foolishness of man and the wisdom that comes from the Lord continues to battle throughout this chapter. Verse 8 sums it up well; “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.”(NAS)
We are reminded that discretion allows us to be slow to anger forgive others (vs.11).
In Bible School I was one of the last of my friends to find a serious girl friend. In fact I was the pronounced President of the BTR club (Bachelor’s ‘til Rapture). I would tease my friends about being crazy and foolish about their girl friends. That remained true until I was set up by friends with a beautiful young lady named Ruth. I quickly fell in love with her and resigned my post as President of the BTR club. I now know the truth of verse 14. “House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.”(NAS) A wise and understanding wife truly is a gift from the Lord!
The treasures of listening to God’s commands and living in His wisdom are found in these verses: being gracious to a poor man is like lending to the Lord; kindness is a desirable measure of a man’s heart; and the fear of the Lord will make it so we can sleep restfully untouched by evil.(vs.17-23)
Father, thank you for the rich blessings of being in close relationship with You. I thank you for my understanding wife and friends. Help me to not be fooled by the riches of this world, but lead me in Your ways of grace, kindness, forgiveness and rest. In Jesus name, Amen! Pastor Rob