The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting January 19th on Proverbs 19:1-5

January 19;  Proverbs 19  Verses 1-5

[Please note: The first two paragraphs below are repeated each day for new readers.  My amateur comments are offered 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.  A person might read through the Proverbs a chapter a day during any month, but why mess with your head (reading an extra chapter on one, two, or three days!) like that when there are 7 months every year perfectly suited for the endeavor?

My idea here is to reprint about 1/7 of the verses from each day's chapter throughout this year, every time a 31 day month pops up, and then 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, and so on, until December comes around and 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 at least be wiser than The Barking Owl , 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 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.

1) What kind of person would choose to be perverse, instead of choosing to be blameless?  I think the sad answer is that it would simply require that the person be a human person.  Romans 3:23 tells us  

" for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

It is going against the stream to be the one who would rather be poor and blameless, than perverse.  And the 'stream' is more than the culture at large.  We each are born with a stream of original sin.  A bend of pride, or a leaning of self-authority, that moves us away from submission to our Creator, and toward the falls of rebellion.  But the small voice of God speaks gently to our spirits, and we either choose to listen, and swim upstream, or quench the voice and go with the flow.

2) Sometimes it has taken years before I learned that a certain attitude, or interest, or taste was not good for me.  A simple dose of new knowledge makes a big difference in what I might then desire.  Solomon likens this truth to our desire to get someplace fast.  I know that once in a while I think I know the way somewhere so I don't stop to check a map before I go.  Then, when I'm muddling back and forth on some mysterious country roads, I realize that my haste has produced waste.  (Hey, I like that: haste produces waste!  Think it will catch on?)

3) This idea that people have of blaming God when things go wrong is so common!  The conclusion is never arrived at through careful judgement, but is leaped upon in a 'rage' as Sol says.  Such easy anger is often used as a smokescreen.  If we let the dust settle after a calamity, we might see the footprints of our own involvement leading to the point of ruin.


4) A sad commentary indeed.  What kind of friendship is it that depends on "what's in it for me"?  Solomon, we are told, was the richest man ever.  I imagine he had either millions, or zero, friends.


5) The ultimate application of this verse is revealed at our day of judgement.  The lies we have told ourselves about the need for salvation, about the sum of our good deeds earning a place in heaven, about the dream that we only face annihilation at worse and automatic entry into God's home just because "I never KILLED anybody!" are endless.  We are told many lies yes, and those liars "will not go free", but believing a lie, and living by it, is the same as being the one who "pours out lies".


Simply accept Jesus' offer of forgiveness of the sin you must confess, and His covering of righteousness will make you blameless!