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INTRODUCTION: Proverbs is really a book of contrasts: It reveals the way of wisdom and the ways of foolishness. In the path of wisdom there is blessing and reward; in the other paths of foolishness there is cursing and punishment. In these chapters and verses GOD provides us with choices.
He gave our First Parents a choice: obedience to His will or rebellion against it (GEN 3). He made it just as clear to Israel in DEUTERONOMY:
DEUTERONOMY 30:19-20Isn’t that what life is about, especially for the disciple of Christ: making choices, hopefully wise choices as a result of reading, understanding, loving and obeying by the power of GOD - the Revelation of GOD – the Holy Bible!
19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 "that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
R.U.L.O.P. = R.eading U.nderstanding L.oving O.beying by the P.ower of GOD
PROVERBS 28:19-20
19 He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows [vanity] will have poverty enough! 20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.
The old expression is true: “Hard work is its own reward.” Diligence, persistence, committed to the highest quality and quantity of labor. Being faithful and enduring until the job is done. As a result: production of good things: wages, commendations from your employer, a solid and steadfast reputation and respect, promotion, inspiring others to excel as well.
As Christians we have an extra motivation that is really priority number one: In all we do, we want to please the LORD first and foremost. We can be assured that we will receive reward for faithful, diligent service in His Kingdom!
COLOSSIANS 3:23-24Remember also that the people of the world can work very hard to achieve success, but with a very different motive. Whereas we want to be faithful to the LORD to bring Him glory and honor, the people in the world (typically) are all about ambition to gratify and benefit themselves.
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
Tilling the land happens before sowing the seed, and in a more spiritual application, we want to sow the seed of GOD’s Word into our lives just as we did at the beginning of our discipleship. But the plow must come first!
Then we received the seed of the Word – the Gospel – into the good soil of our hearts, and saved in Christ as a result, bearing precious fruit that continues as we ourselves continue in the Word. As our LORD reminds us:
JOHN 8:31b-32And we understand don’t we? – that if we sow (plant) seed abundantly, we shall reap (harvest) abundantly (2 COR 9:6). If we plant sparingly, we don’t have much to look forward to in the way of fruitfulness.
31 "If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Does this mean that we continue to read the Bible? Certainly but much more than that! Don’t forget the acronym: R.U.L.O.P.!
JOHN 15:4-5
4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
That freedom of knowing and obeying the truth is the kind of liberty that the LORD desires for us, for the Word of GOD hidden in our heart sanctifies and frees us from the power of sin (PSA 119:11) and enables us to love and serve each other!
GALATIAINS 5:13Tilling makes soil soft and yielding. That’s what we want our hearts to be like, in response to the LORD and His Holy will. And the sharper the blades on that plow, the easier it will go with effective tilling, creating deep furrows that will take the seed, ensuring a deep rooted and a lasting crop.
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
We have to be careful what we sow into our lives:
GALATIANS 6:7-9If we aren’t sowing the Word of GOD into our lives, we inevitably will be sowing other kinds of seeds – seeds of “corruption”, that is, the beliefs, values, objectives and passions of this world that cannot impart life, but only death.
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
So if you’re sowing the good seed, but you aren’t seeing much of any good fruit yet – “don’t grow weary” – don’t give up! Keep planting GOD’s Word into your heart!
There are times, even as Christians, when we can experience hard-heartedness. There is an area in our lives that hasn’t yet been dealt with, or perhaps the LORD has intent on dealing with your heart, but you’ve resisted so long that you’ve developed a hard heart concerning some unforgiveness, resentment, malice, and the big one we have to battle all the time – pride.
In farming terms it’s called fallow ground. That’s ground that’s so hard that it can’t receive rain and the plow. It’s as hard as concrete!
For the saint who is neglectful of reading and obeying the Holy Scriptures: they aren’t receiving this water to our soul, nor the Sword of the Spirit (“GOD’s plow” so to speak) that pierces and divides between soul and spirit (HEB 4:12; soulish ways tend towards the sinful flesh, in contrast with spiritual ways towards the Spirit of GOD). Like a mirror, the Word discerns and reveals our thoughts and intentions of our minds!
Time spent away from the Word results in time for our heart to grow increasingly hard and disabled from producing good fruit because the seed can’t penetrate us!
The prophet Hosea was sent to the House of Israel, rebuking Bethel especially for their “great wickedness”, and his admonition was:
HOSEA 10:12-13Let us not be slack or lazy in our walk as Christ’s true disciples. Let us not be overtaken in vain pursuits of this world that will count for nothing in GOD’s Eternal Kingdom. It seems that the number one pursuit these days is the no-so-Almighty dollar: “…but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”
12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you. 13 You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men.
In the natural: rather than hard work, easy get rich quick schemes or gaining wealth by sinful methods (cheating, stealing, lying). But there are no short cuts in GOD’s Kingdom! Not only must we run the race with patience like an athlete, but we must also like a farmer be patient for the harvest! Like a soldier in the heat of battle, be patient for orders from headquarters. All three of these professions require training, hard work and patience! Check out The Soldier, and The Athlete and the Farmer.
PROVERBS 28:21-22
21 To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress. 22 A man with an evil eye hastens after riches and does not consider that poverty will come upon him.
Playing favorites or showing partiality in matters of judgment and deciding matters where consequences might prove bad for the one proven guilty can at times pressure us into favoring friends, family, neighbors over strangers and even enemies.
In our own human nature we tend to favor those who speak well of us or even flatter us. For those who offer us some sort of benefit. And when it comes time to discern and judge a matter between people, our tendency is to favor these folks, rather than remain impartial and judge matters fairly (See JAMES 2:1-9; partiality is a sin).
We need to favor the righteous, the ones who are in the right, whether they are our buddy or not. Ultimately we want to be peacemakers, to quench strife and discord, to bring people together in a bond of love and grace and forgiveness. “Be at peace among [ourselves]” 1 THESS 5:13.
By the way – do we pray for only those who are nice to us? Do we obey from the heart the LORD’s command to “pray for our enemies” (MATT 5:44)? I have discovered that when I pray for my enemy – or I should say, those who account me as their enemy – that my heart is softened towards them. I start to see them in a different light. My attitude and speech towards them changes.
In verse 20 we read: “he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished (KJV ‘be innocent’).” People who crave riches, who lust for wealth will more often than not resort to unscrupulous, unethical means of getting it, and lose their innocence in that sense.
Here in vs. 22 we see that it’s a person with an “evil eye” or seeing things from an immoral point of view and practice. Those who say, “The ends justifies the means” or “It doesn’t matter how you get rich, just get rich because he who dies with the most toys wins!”
Our LORD told it true: Whether one is a millionaire, a multi-millionaire, a billionaire (or someone like Elon Musk who will likely be the first known trillionaire) and you own all kinds of property and houses all over the globe; cars, yachts and other expensive toys, no one in this world even comes close to owning the planet – not by a long shot!
Now Satan, he owned the title deed of this world because he stole it through deception and temptation from Adam in GENESIS 3. It was in the hellish hands of the devil for thousands of years – and look what he has to show for it!
MATTHEW 16:25-26Weigh it for yourself:
25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
1 TIMOTHY 6:6-10
6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
OPTION A: King or Queen of the world for a lifetime of something less than a century in a body that will continually age and finally rot, still subject to the curse of sin that permeates all of this fallen world, liable to experience pain and suffering and heartache, OR…
OPTION B: a prince or princess in GOD’s Eternal Kingdom in a glorified body, free from corruption and decay, dwelling in the abundance of peace, of joy, love, contentment – and exulting in the fellowship with our Abba Father and the LORD Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit along with all the saints and angels! It’s not really a viable choice here! I’ll go for option B please!!
PROVERBS 28:23
He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue.
There’s a time and a purpose for everything under heaven (ECC. 3:1). There is a time to rebuke (and reproof, and correct, and instruct in righteousness as well as providing doctrine; 2 TIM 3:16), and then there is a time for restoration (GAL 6:1). We need to learn balance between rebuking and restoring as much as we need to learn balance between truth and grace. The LORD Jesus has these down perfectly (JOHN 1:17).
We might think that by rebuking someone who genuinely needs it, it might turn out bad (who likes to be scolded, after all?). But if done righteously and with love and caring towards an individual who loves the truth, who loves the LORD – there will be “favor afterward”!
In my own life there were times when I mistook flattery for genuine compliments, but eventually I got wise to the flatterers and from then on, I didn’t have much regard for them, nor did I value their advice or observations. Too often they only told me what I wanted to hear, not what I needed to hear!
But those who were/are my genuine friends would give me godly counsel, even though at times it was uncomfortable to hear. When I examined their words, I realized that the wisdom expressed was invaluable.
I’d rather have a friend stab me in the front with tears in their eyes, then a flattering backbiter who stabs me in the back, smiling all the while at me. Or as it says in:
PROVERBS 27:5-6Let’s always remember saints to “speak the truth in love” (EPH 4:15) in a balanced measure.
Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
PROVERBS 28:24
Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, "It is no transgression," The same is companion to a destroyer. (See also 1 TIM 5:8)
Why is this so? How could this inappropriate behavior and attitude towards one’s own parents be compared to a “destroyer” (that’s someone who causes ruin, decay, to cast off, corrupt, spoiler)?
The foundation of any nation is the family unit as created by GOD: with a husband – a man, and a wife – a woman (neither being trans) who become a father and mother to children.
There is an order in family, each have their GOD-ordained roles. The husband is the leader, directly under the authority of Christ Who is the One worshiped and served in that household (JOSH 24:15). The wife is that help mate who comes alongside in unity, in the bond of grace and truth, love and peace, serving the LORD together, serving one another, and their children. Children are taught valuable lessons on respect for authority, submitting to one another in service, and so much more.
When one disrespects parents – in this case – not providing for them, seeing to their needs in their old age, this starts to unravel the structure of the family. Soon spouses are disrespecting each other, and parents and their children also. When this sort of behavior spreads through the neighborhood, then the community, to cities and states and the nation, this spells ruin for that nation – or the church for that matter.
Scripture actually addresses this unraveling of GOD’s order:
ISAIAH 3:12Once GOD’s authority and order are challenged, His Law disregarded, the Gospel rejected, and even the very existence of GOD is denied, this brings chaos, lawlessness, ruin and destruction to any society, like America and GOD’s Judgment on her (ROM 1:20-32)!
As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths."
JUDGES 17:6PROVERBS 28:25-26
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-7
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the LORD will be prospered. 26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.
Who do you trust, depend on, rely on the most? Compare these two verses: PROV 3:5-6 with JER 17:9! So much for “follow your heart” right?!
Consider what just one heart, lifted in pride caused in the way of strife – all creation being affected as a result of this devil tempting our father Adam and mother Eve, leading them to the fall! And this world of strife and violence has been going on now for more than 6,000 years!
ISAIAH 14:12-14Michael the Archangel whose name means “he who is like GOD” ...?
12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
ISAIAH 14:15-17Think about this: What began the transformative perversion of a holy angel into a devil was discontentment! He was the greatest, most intelligent, most beautiful and powerful angel GOD ever created. In the order of GOD’s creation, Lucifer was number one! But he wasn’t satisfied with that – he wanted GOD’s job!
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. 16 "Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, 17 Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?'
EZEKIEL 28:14-18
14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. 16 "By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. 17 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. 18 "You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.
As was stated earlier, learn to be content with what the LORD provided you with, whether it’s plentiful or not.
In contrast with:
PSALM 31:19PROVERBS 28:27
19 Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men!
PSALM 55:23
23 But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; But I will trust in You.
He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses.
This is about being a vessel GOD can use in blessing the needy. Collectively we do this for SBC India (a church in that land that we at SHINE BRIGHT Church are yoked together with in ministry, prayer and financial assistance). In using you to bless others, the LORD ensures that as these flow through you, some of it will remain with you, so that as you help the needy, you yourself will have nothing lacking, anything you need (that’s need, not desire).
PROVERBS 28:28
When the wicked arise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous increase.
Influencers good and bad. If we aren’t intent on being salt and light, the wickedness of people will thrive. But if we are living as we ought to, then such spiritual salt and light will cause the wickedness of society to dry up and blow away. It was exactly what happened during the great revivals of the 18th and 19 centuries here in America as well as in England!
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