Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised - Proverbs 31:30 The book of Proverbs ends like it began with an emphasis on the fear of God (see Proverbs 1:7 and the first blog post from August 1st). Here, in a long passage about the kind of woman a young man should look for, the writer summarizes it all by saying a ...

Many seek audience with a ruler, but it is from the Lord that one gets justice. - Proverbs 29:26 - Injustice abounds all around us. And when we are feeling fed up with it, when it affects us personlly, then we look for solutions. We look for something - or someone - to put our hope in. It's normal to look to kings and presidents and governors and policies. And I don't th...

As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. -‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭26‬:‭201‬ ‭ If you are in constant conflict with people, if you regularly find yourself in the middle of some kind of drama, there is a chance that there is some kind of strategic spiriual attack on your life. But there is also a good chance that you a...

Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among his great men; it is better for him to say to you, "Come up here," than for him to humiliate you before his nobles." - ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭25‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬ This proverb is not saying it's wrong to be recognized or seen as important. But it is saying that it's wrong to be motiva...

No presumas delante del rey, ni te coloques entre los grandes; es mejor que te inviten a subir, que ser humillado ante los nobles. Proverbios 25:6-7 (BLPH) Este proverbio no dice que est mal ser reconocido o incluso ser visto como importante. Pero est diciendo que est mal estar motivado por el deseo de ser reconocido y visto como importante. No se trata tanto de la posic...

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person; do not not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. - Proverbs 22:24 I have more questions than answers on this one. Maybe you all could share your thoughts in the comment section? Is this saying that being hot-tempered is contagious? That those who are easily angered rub o...

A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense. - Proverbs 19:11 When I was younger, I got picked on a lot. Eventually, I told myself I would not let anyone get away with it ever again, and so I started fighting back. But I took it too far. It went to such an extreme that if one of my friends jokingly gave me a charlie horse in between cl...

The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,but the Lord tests the heart. - Proverbs 17:3 The idea of testing here is not about grading the heart; it's about refining the heart. When gold is put through fire, impurities rise to the surface so they can be scraped off, and then the gold is purified. Likewise,the Lord puts the heart through a kind of testing that bring...

"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." - Proverbs 14: Envy is a focus on what we don't have, on what we think we should have, and it ends up stealing from us. Seems kind of ironic. The more content we are with what we have, the more we gain in satisfaction. The more focused we are on what we don't have, the little satisfation we have is ...

No reprendas a los burladores o te odiarn; reprende a los sabios y te amarn. Instruye a los sabios y sern an ms sabios; ensale a los justos y ellos aumentarn su aprendizaje. El temor del Seor es el principio de la sabidura, y el conocimiento del Santo es la inteligencia (Proverbios 9:8-10). A veces no vale la pena tratar de corregir a alguien que est fuera de curso. A vec...