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...

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...

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 ...

One person gives freely, yet gains even more;another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper;whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. - Proverbs 11:24-25 There is a lot of talk these days about self-care, about making sure we get our ME-time, about putting on our own oxygen mask before we try to help others. I don't disagree wit...

Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭9‬:‭8‬-‭10‬). Sometimes it's not worth trying to correct...

"Come, let's drink deeply of love till morning;let's enjoy ourselves with love!19My husband is not at home;he has gone on a long journey.20He took his purse filled with moneyand will not be home till full moon." - Proverbs 7:18-20 This is how the shady woman seduces the man who we are told lacks common sense (v. 7) - she tells him her husband is not home and therefore the...

Above all else, guard your heart,for everything you do flows from it. - Proverbs 4:2 When I was younger, this verse was constanlty used in the context of dating. It certainly can - and should - apply in that arena. We must guard our hearts lest we fall in love with someone who is not healthy for us. Many of us can attest to years - if not decades - of turmoil because we d...