Proverbs chapter 15:1-20
What a great verse to start off chapter 15. If we would only watch what we say life would be so much easier. Hot tempered and rash responses often only add fuel to the fire deepening the riff and heading things past the point of no return. Using the right words, soft words…averts all out war, even on a national scale, and can head an incident toward a solution.
Soft words need not always be words of compromise. Speaking the truth or making a point can be delivered in many ways. Part of the package of a verbal response is the emotions that the words are delivered in. Wisdom will answer in a level headed response that is not out of control with emotions. This is not to say that there is no place for emotions in our responses. Solomon just found that speaking the truth has its own power and needs not be delivered in a rage. As a matter of fact, he found that truth is hard to be delivered in a hot tempered situation which is often meant to win an argument and push another’s buttons instead of solve a difference. Soft answers are extremely powerful and words said at the right time can produce unexpected results.
Verse 2 goes right along with verse 1. In our responses it is important to use the truth in the right way and not twist it using it for the purpose of accomplishing our agenda. Satan is a great one for using the truth to accomplish his own agenda. He cares nothing for the truth, only to get what he wants. When we use the truth with the underlying purpose of getting what we want we are deceiving others, not meaning to bring forth the truth at all. The wise using knowledge in the right way gets the full benefits of the truth, enjoying its benefits also.
In verse 3 we are reminded that there is nothing hidden from God, good or bad. We can tend to do things in secret thinking that no one sees what we do. We are all deceived by this at one time or another during our life. If we were not we would not do many of the wrong things that we do. When we contemplate doing wrong we go through a check list being sure that no one knows what we are doing, but… God does. Remembering this is a good thing as we go through life for a couple of reasons. First, in doing so we remember God as a reality! We all too often forget about Him in our day and if we acknowledge Him in our day we are more apt to commune with Him. And second, knowing our secret is not so secret often helps us to do the right thing. It’s called being account table. He not only sees the bad, but He also sees the good. Knowing that He sees the good also reminds us that our labor is not in vain, encouraging us to keep on.
V. 4 wholesome words are healing in nature. They also have a stabilizing effect giving hope and encouragement to others in life. However, words can also have a sharp abrasive edge to them nicking and wounding others. Let our words be supportive, healing and encouraging in nature. There is enough pain and criticism in life. We do not need to add more difficulty to someone else’s life.
V. 5 Receiving good advice and instruction from any direction is important. Fools don’t like instruction and suffer for it. Parents can learn things also it is true, however, a good parent who has tried to do good in life and get ahead has picked up a few important things as they have traveled. A wise child will stop and listen to the instruction that their parent is trying to impart. Often we come to the realization too late that we to did not listen to our parents enough. I do not think that Solomon is saying that a child needs to obey our every whim. Even a great child will not listen to everything a parent says. A parent needs to realize the gift of a good child and not be unrealistic. It is important for a parent to remember not to frustrate their child in the training process. However, a child that understands this proverb can go further in life learning and using the wisdom of their parents.
Proverbs 14:24 is similar to 15:6. Making good and right decisions has a payoff. Bad decisions are just that. Even good people can have poor habits routinely making bad decisions and suffering for the results. Good people can and often are bad at managing finances and time. Impulse buying and poor organization skills are often two big downfalls. The righteous however apply the principles of the wise and profit by their application. However, these treasures that Solomon speaks of are not all material. The righteous training their children are more likely to end up with the treasure and pleasure of great kids which is worth more than gold. We will see several times in this chapter that although the initial profit of the wicked may appear great, the trouble that is associated with its gain makes it not worth the increase.
V. 7 It is only natural for a wise person to help when the opportunity presents itself. And, what they offer is often just what is needed. However, the foolish often do not even offer help, often giving an excuse as to why they cannot help. But if they do decide to help, what they have to offer is frequently not helpful and can often actually do more damage than good.
V. 8According to Solomon and God there is a right way and a wrong way to approach life, and… God for that matter. God has laid out His plan and procedure for men concerning His purpose and plan for man while he is on this earth, and we have a choice as to whether we obey it or not. With our choice comes either God’s blessing or His curse. Even a bad person can offer God something they deem as good from time to time. If others would see their offering they would agree and say that their offering showed good intent. But, God tells us that there is a right way and a wrong way to approach this life, and the right way includes God, and does not exclude Him. It has its beginning with giving our life and our self to Him, evoking God’s blessing and not His curse.
Cain and Able are good examples of this verse’s meaning. In Gen. chapter 4 Cain brought a good sacrifice to God, but according to God it was not an acceptable one. Gen. 4:1-7 Cain’s sacrifice undoubtedly was a good sacrifice as far as sacrifices go. But, it was not what God required and God rejected it making Cain angry. Able however, brought the offering required by God offering it with a good and obedient heart…offering it willingly. God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice.
This verse is based on the foundational precept that there is a beginning point to our pleasing God, and that beginning point is relational in nature. When we begin to obey God in spirit receiving Him and reverencing Him we begin to obey Him in action. The sacrifice of the wicked is not only selfish, self centered and often unusable to man, but it is unusable and unacceptable to God. It comes from a heart that is at enmity with Him. The Bible is pretty clear about this. It says that the unregenerate heart is the enemy of God.
God told Cain in Genesis that He would accept the right sacrifice from him if he offered it. Knowing what was required Cain did not change his sacrifice and do what God desired, or what was required. He just accepted his punishment and went on. God in His wisdom knows what is needed and what is acceptable and had made that clear to Cain and Able, as He does to us. One way God has ordained receives His blessing knowing in His wisdom that that way is indeed the right and good way to go. The other way, offering our own standard of good, has at its core in essence in rebellion against God and brings His judgment or curse. Other examples of this verse are found in Prov. 21:27, Is. 1:11-8, 66:3-4, Jer. 6:20, 7:22-3 and 1 Sam. 13:7-14 Is. 1:18 makes the same offer to us that He made to Cain in Gen 4. Why would we not humble ourselves and receive Him and His way, receiving His blessing on our life. V. 9 of Proverbs 15 continues this thought saying that the Lord really isn’t pleased with a self directed life. Those, however, who are willing to follow His righteousness, are lavished with His love and every good thing.
Vs. 10 and 12 remind us that most of us do not like to be corrected. Using these verses as a measure we may have an idea as to which path we are on, right or wrong. These verses and many passages in scripture give the impression that going down the right path and not receiving correction are incompatible. They don’t go together. If you were to list in the left column two items, the right path and the wrong path and in the right column two items no correction and correction and asked to draw a line matching up the items that go together in each column there would only be one right way to connect them. Those who are going down the wrong path could only be connected to the lack of discipline choice in the opposite column and those going down the right path could only be connected with the receive discipline willingly choice. Which camp do we actually fall in?
Most of us believe that we are going down the right path but we all too often seem to be unwilling to receive discipline or correction. These verses and the passage found in Hebrews chapter 12 tell us that those who are going down the right path willingly look for and accept correction knowing that it will help us and be good for us in the end. The passage in Heb. is honest stating in v. 11 that chasing or correction is not pleasant at the time but that we willing endure it knowing the good it will do for us in the end. Those going down the wrong path reject correction and want nothing to do with those who offer reproof, including God. This could be why many shun God and want nothing to do with Him. V. 12 says that the scoffer does not like or love a wise person that offers reproof. He will actually go out of his way to avoid the wise who are willing to tell the truth. In verse 10 it makes the statement that without reproof we die...Pretty serious consequences.
V. 11 Reminds us again of God’s Power and ability. God is the Judge of all things and sees all things for what they are. Nothing is hidden from God. Here Solomon makes reference to a sphere of influence and reality greater than that that man is aware of. He mentions things unseen to man that are real and that this greater, more massive arena of deception and destruction are before God and do not escape His Judgment and attention. How much more then are the motives and intents of the hearts of men known being less prominent. There is nothing hidden. God sees all. One online reference put it this way:
‘Proverbs 15:11 “Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men.” “Hell” here is Sheol, which is equivalent to the Greek Hadeswhich is the unseen world, and “Destruction” is the Hebrew Abaddon, (Rev. 9:11). “That destroyer, though he deceives us, cannot evade or elude the divine cognizance. God sees through all his disguises, (Job 26:6). If he sees through the depths and wiles of Satan himself, much more can he search men’s hearts,” [M. Henry]. Therefore, the argument is that though men may forsake the way, and though they may rebel against corrections and hate reproofs, and though they may try to cloak these sins as if they were other things, yet God sees them in their real character in the heart and will deal with them as they justly deserve. But the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, (Jer. 17:9), deceiving even itself into thinking that it can sin with impunity.
V. 13 reminds us that the heart dictates the demeanor. There are times that we may need to change our countenance. The heart is the place to make the change if you are able. Although a heart attitude change is not always easy, if you can change the countenance of the heart the demeanor will be soon to follow. One person said that much of life is how we process it. We need not process life in a cold methodical way, but too much emotion is just as bad.
V. 14 This verse seems to be repeated a number of times with somewhat slight variations. We have seen already Solomon share his observation that the righteous seek out understanding and wants to know the truth. Here he makes the observation that those that have understanding will seek the knowledge that goes with that understanding. Solomon being the wise man that he was looked out over God’s creation and understood that with each created thing there was an inherent understanding of its substance, make up and purpose and a reciprocal knowledge that went with it. Chemistry is a good example of this. So is music and the laws and actions of aerodynamics.
He also observed that those that had understanding of these different parts of God’s creation would naturally seek out the details and knowledge to go with it. Whereas the foolish would have no drive to learn and grow, but were happy to be engulfed in their foolishness. Could part of the pleasure that God gets in us be our wonderment of His creation. Being so overcome with wonder it motivates us to want to know how and why creation is what it is? If our heart is directed toward God in this wonder is it not ‘worship’. The foolish, however, pass by the wonder of God and what He did, caught up in their own foolishness, as if what God did was insignificant. Many believers in the past made discoveries of great things driven by the wonder of what they saw or observed.
V. 15 Happy days are better than bad days. We tend to forget the pains of the past and remember the ‘Good old days’. Solomon says in v. 15 that he that has a merry heart has a continual feast. We cannot control all that comes our way, but we do have some choice in how we receive life as we encounter it. Some of life’s challenges may be viewed by some as trials, whereas, others may view them as adventures. It is true that not all of life’s difficulties can be skewed as an adventure, but a happy heart gets more enjoyment and pleasure out of life even when things are tough. This verse relates to 15:13.
V.16 Another GREAT verse. More is not necessarily better. Notice that Solomon also does not say that less is necessarily better either. He says that more or less is better if the Lord is in it. And, if you have the choice of God and a little, or a lot without God or without His blessing the choice is obvious. Choosing to be where God is whether in little or much is the right place to be. More does not necessarily mean that God is in it, and if it is not from Him there is sure to be trouble. Conversely, if God is in the more, then the more is the better choice. Less can have its own trouble built into it without God. It may be inadequate in meeting the intended need.
V. 17 Less is also better when peace is offered with it. A fancy showy dinner in an extravagant setting when you are looked at, in reality, as being not welcome can be nothing but stress, whereas, a simple meal with a friend is very satisfying. One translation puts it this way, ‘Better is a bread crust shared in love, than a slab of prime rib served in hate’.
V. 18 Some people are not happy unless they are involved in and part of difficulty and trouble. Ever meet one of these people? It is their habit, it is their bent. It is just their nature, it is how they are made. They may begin with a smile and they usually have become refined enough to appear to be non threatening or harmless, but their track record is that whatever they are involved in ends up in the same place, trouble and strife, polarizing people and inciting discord and disruption. In observing these individuals, they are actually happy when they are right in the middle of discord. They seem to thrive on it. Be aware of this person and do not get caught up in their web of discord. The righteous have the effect of cooling a fire. Watching the righteous in action in a riotous situation, they show up on the scene and immediately cool the heat of the potentially out of control situation. Their actions are slow and direct, totally in control of their emotions, looking for a way to inject words and a spirit that is capable of putting out the fire.
V. 19 The life of the righteous Solomon says looks ahead and makes plans that has the effect of smoothing out the rough parts of life. If you haven’t notices yet, if you do not steadily weed and hoe and plant and prepare life will grow up around you and hedge you in. It is interesting to observe that much of the growth that grows up around us is not lush green exotic plants. It is usually weeds. These weeds often have thorns on them, hemming us in, making life painful, offering us nowhere to go. But, the righteous, planning ahead, have taken steps at the first sign of the presence of weeds, taking action when they are easily dealt with, not waiting for them to grow up out of control, getting rid of them before they become a problem. The righteous have found out that it is much easier to stay on top of life’s difficulties and that letting them go only multiplies the difficulty in getting rid of them.
V. 20 This verse relates back to Prov. 10:1 which is very similar to this verse, and reminds us that it is frequently the mother that bears the pain of wayward or foolish children. It is typical for both father and mother to glory when their children are doing well. But, Prov. 10:1 says that it is typically the mother that carries the pain a disobedient child in her heart. Prov. 15:20 adds another dimension to this problem. It gives the impression that a foolish child knows how much it hurts their mother when they act foolishly, but it doesn’t seem to matter to them. In despising their mother they go right on ahead with their foolishness
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