January 11; Proverbs 11, Verses 1-5
[Please note: The first two paragraphs below are repeated each day for new readers. My amateur comments start below the verses from Proverbs.]
[Please note: The first two paragraphs below are repeated each day for new readers. My amateur comments start below the verses from Proverbs.]
Christians looking for a simple way to review the Bible regularly, have long been convenienced by the fact that the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters, the same number as most of our months. Each chapter includes multiple bite-sized verses (uhm, proverbs) and can be read through simply in one sitting, one appropriately numbered chapter per day through the month. My simple mind balks at the idea of trying this pattern in any month with less than 31 days (It just does, all right?), but there are 7 months every year that are suitable for the effort.
My idea here is to reprint about 1/7 of the verses of each day's chapter throughout this year, every time a 31 day month pops up, and offer a few comments from The Barking Owl. So in January, we will get through the first few verses of every chapter and then in March, the next group, so that by the time December comes around we can finally get to the last set of verses in each chapter and complete the book's reading. If you are smarter than I am (is there any doubt?), you will read the whole chapter every day, every 31 day month, and then you will have read the whole book 7 times this year! By then you are guaranteed to be wiser than The Barking Owl at least, though no one will ever match the wisdom of Solomon![All Bible passages are from the NIV, and are copied from www.Biblegateway.com]
Proverbs 11
1 The LORD detests dishonest scales,
but accurate weights find favor with him.
but accurate weights find favor with him.
2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
but with humility comes wisdom.
3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
4 Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.
but righteousness delivers from death.
5 The righteousness of the blameless makes their paths straight,
but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.
but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness.
1) 'Dishonest scales'. It's not enough for God to say 'be honest'. He knows where we live and how we live: In the nitty gritty details which offer so many simple temptations. A thumb on the scale may 'earn' the butcher only a few extra cents, but God knows this is what kills the spirit. Yes, the dishonest scale would cheat the customer, but the cheating of a customer cheats the butcher (or whoever is cooking the books, as it were) of his relationship with God, and God of His relationship with the cheater.
2) How many times in the Bible does God relay this same message? You may know it best by "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall, which we will get to, by the way, on July 16th!
3) Why not be straightforward? The more we connive and scheme, the more we get caught up and tangled in our own lies. Life is so much simpler when the only question one must answer is "What is the right thing to do?". Instead of recognizing that the right thing is uncomfortable and then plotting to simulate the right thing, or imagining how to excuse the wrong thing, we should just go ahead and simply be guided by integrity. Duplicity leads to destruction, Solomon says!
4) With the possible exception of a well placed money clip, no wealth has ever stopped a vengeful bullet. Maybe a blackmailer's bullet, but wrath is just plain wrathful , and it can not be bought off. I don't think the abuser referred to in this song could have bought off Miranda Lambert! But more to the point; nothing we save or own or collect or have will impinge on the just wrath of God. Only the righteous, wearing the white robe granted by the Savior, through grace, will be delivered.
5) Who are 'the blameless'? Well, there are none. Isaiah 64:6 says that
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."
Christ takes the blame for us, and only in receiving that gift do we become blameless. Then, according to verse 5 we become righteous, and walk on a straight path!
Thanks for those words of wisdom to start the day.
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