The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting May 19th on Proverbs 19:10-13

[If you have been here before, in May, then you might want to skip down below the green for today's post.]

"Thirty days hath September, 

April, June and November

All the rest have 31

Except February which has 28

Except during leap year when it has 29"

NO I DID NOT WRITE THIS "POEM"!  (Talk about free verse!)

Why didn't somebody just point out that the four months that do NOT have 31 days (except February, and everyone knows all about February The Exceptional) come every other month except that there is no 30 day month between July and August?  The silly poem above mixes up the order just to hide the fact that the real 30 day months come in two orderly pairs: April/June and September/November.  Can somebody please write a non-silly poem for us that will make this clear, and stick in our minds, but without gooping them up with exceptions (and please just leave February out of it!)?

And to make matters (far) worse, MILLERWRITES has created a Proverbs Pull-A-Part Plan that decimates that fine collection of wisdom in the book of Proverbs, by spreading commentary on each chapter out over 7 months (the good 31 day months)!  Oh don't ask me to explain his system.  You can try to decipher what he said about it at the top of any P31P posts from January or March if you like, or just follow along this month and figure it out.

All Bible passages are from the NIV, and are copied here from Biblegateway.com

REMEMBER: My ideas may be oh so mesmerizing, but you will get more benefit from simply reading the chapter itself!

So here I offer my amateur comments on verses 10-13.  Today's inspired verses are in red, and my comments are neither       (neither inspired, nor red).

PROVERBS 19

1 Better the poor whose walk is blameless
than a fool whose lips are perverse.


2 Desire without knowledge is not good—
how much more will hasty feet miss the way!


3 A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,
yet their heart rages against the Lord.


4 Wealth attracts many friends,
but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.


5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and whoever pours out lies will not go free.


6 Many curry favor with a ruler,
and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts.


7 The poor are shunned by all their relatives—
how much more do their friends avoid them!
Though the poor pursue them with pleading,
they are nowhere to be found.[a]


8 The one who gets wisdom loves life;
the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.


9 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and whoever pours out lies will perish.

10 It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury—
how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!

10) Question: Is it fitting for ANYBODY to "live in luxury"?  If we are called to help the poor (and we all are), or to serve the needy (and we all are), then how can anyone claim to be so special that they can spend it all on themselves?  But yes, Solomon; a fool living it up, or a slave taking revenge, are two horrible ideas to contemplate.
11 A person’s wisdom yields patience;
it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.


11) I think I touched on the second part here a few days ago.  I recognize that patience factor.  The older I get, the more I realize that I just have to waiaiaiaiait for a younger guy to figure stuff out for himself.

12 A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion,
but his favor is like dew on the grass.

12) I guess that's the King's prerogative.  He can express his condition with impunity.  Most of us have to couch our terms, and disguise our motivation, and stifle our natural reactions; in order to get along.  A King never has to feel like he's walking on egg shells, because he has the authority to smash all the eggs he wants to.

13 A foolish child is a father’s ruin,
and a quarrelsome wife is like
the constant dripping of a leaky roof.


13) (Speaking of egg shells...  What can I say?)  Only kidding.  But he is right.  What matters more to a father than the well being of his children?  All else may go swimmingly (so I've heard), but mistakes and bad decisions of a precious son (no matter if they reflect the same things the father did) can "ruin" the father's peace indeed.  And that "quarrelsome wife" thing....I know NOTHING about!


But on a completely different subject:  I found FOUR cans of roof tar in my garage just yesterday!

14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
but a prudent wife is from the Lord.


15 Laziness brings on deep sleep,
and the shiftless go hungry.


16 Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life,
but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.


17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will reward them for what they have done.


18 Discipline your children, for in that there is hope;
do not be a willing party to their death.


19 A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty;
rescue them, and you will have to do it again.


20 Listen to advice and accept discipline,
and at the end you will be counted among the wise.


21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.


22 What a person desires is unfailing love[b];
better to be poor than a liar.


23 The fear of the Lord leads to life;
then one rests content, untouched by trouble.


24 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he will not even bring it back to his mouth!


25 Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence;
rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge.


26 Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother
is a child who brings shame and disgrace.


27 Stop listening to instruction, my son,
and you will stray from the words of knowledge.


28 A corrupt witness mocks at justice,
and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.


29 Penalties are prepared for mockers,
and beatings for the backs of fools.


By the way...MILLERWRITES copy is COPYRIGHTED. Why cut and paste when you can simply copy the link?

GOD IS GOOD: MILLERWORKS is Good Enough

So I was wrong.  I admit it freely now, and I admitted it quite quickly the other day when the angry old man came storming out of his garage at me.

I arrived to the job a few minutes after Mike had backed his trailer along one side of the wide gravel driveway.  In front of his truck, was an easy access to the front yard of this backwoods, country living log cabin home, and I thought I might park there to ease congestion in the drive.  Front tires went in, and then as I got a better picture of the layout, I backed out, turned around and slid in just off the other side of the driveway with my SUV.  Just right, I thought, for allowing me easy access to my tools, and leaving a wide enough lane open for the homeowner to get his pickup truck out between our work vehicles if needed.

A few minutes later, as I was opening the trailer and getting a few supplies out and ready for our job, I found out differently!
"Did you park on my grass?" was suddenly bellowed toward me as the owner came out of the garage.
"Yeah", I smiled and laughed quietly, ready for a big act.  It's November.  The ground is stiff with looming frost and the grass is half dead and buried under fallen leaves on this wooded lot. Who could really be upset about my zero impact driving?   But it was no act.

The poor guy demanded that this was no joke.  And how would I like it if he came to my house and drove on my lawn in the spring;  he asked me where I live, and then asked for my address and warned me to memorize the grill of his truck so, come springtime, I would recognize the vengeance when it fell.  I am giving him more poetic credit than he deserves and leaving out my pepperings of "Yes, of course you are right.", and about a dozen "I'm sorry sirs.", but you get the idea.  The man was irate, and I could only be apologetic and work to avoid any hint of my inner intransigence.

Mike heard the shouting from the road where he was perforating the lawn with a business sign (oh my) and asked "Is there a problem?"  As I walked away to move my truck the few inches off of the dirty driveway shoulder and onto the driveway proper, I made another mistake.  I called Mike something I never thought I would :  "I already apologized to him SIR!"  That, I will never live down.  By the time I moved my truck, the guy was out of sight and all was quiet.

So now what?  Now I have to go into the house.  With my boots on, I have to walk on this man's floors.  I will be expected to muddle with his front door that is not closing properly and make it all better. Who, me?  It seemed like a thousand things could go wrong for this newly inept carpenter of corruption.  I was tempted to take my truck right off his precious property and go home, rather than face whatever unfair judgments would surely be falling all day long.

Mike and I had a few private laughs about the guy waiting for muddy Spring to mete out his equal treatment, instead of heading for my house right now, as I gathered myself back together and remembered my responsibility to do the job before me, and no less.  I told Mike that one of my favorite verses is one of the most highly applicable:

                             "A gentle answer turns away wrath, 
                                  but a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 15:1

A little later I was working on the front door and had to step aside when the lady of the house drove up and then came in with a couple very large baskets of flowers.  She did not seem happy, and I began to put two and two together.  "Somebody from this home died recently" I told Mike.  They looked like funereal flowers; the kind that somebody has to take home from the church after all is said and done.  When all are sad, and done in; when the normal aggravation of an errant workman puts one over the top, and beyond civility.  When patience and easy forgiveness are warranted, and must be exercised.

As I worked on that door the owner sat down behind me to watch.  (Normally I charge double if someone watches, and triple if they help, but I decided not to mention that this time.)  He had calmed down amazingly and offered me some inside knowledge about an electrical wire running right behind the door jamb I was about to put some long screws into.  The absent log home builder took some abuse for his folly in letting that happen, but my work was progressing without any negative interference.  I took a moment to compliment him about his beautiful home.  It was indeed nicely laid out and very well decorated.  If it weren't for the massive tire ruts all over the yard, this property would.....no, I will not let the sarcasm out this time.

Over the next few hours, as the owner hung about while Mike and I put in some new windows, it came out that the man's 90 year old Mother had died the week before.  He never apologized for going off on me, and probably never thought he should.  But the man certainly did mellow out and I will be all too happy to go back when the next batch of windows needs to be replaced.  Of course, I will park in the very middle of the driveway.