Gary Gleans

We use comparison to help us understand things better.  Metaphors are comparisons that give us a type of illustration to understand truths or concepts.  Today’s chapter of Proverbs is full of metaphors that describe four types of people.  The idea is to help identify who these people are, understand what they are like, warn us about the dangers they represent and tell us how to respond to them.  We should do all we can not to be in any of these categories.   THE FOOLISH MAN: The foolish man should never receive honor because it is simply unfitting.  Those who try to curse the wise will find their efforts to be futile.  The only way a fool will learn is through the use of physical punishment just like an animal.  We must be very careful in how we treat the foolish man.  There are times that we should just keep quite because we know that they will not listen to instruction but there are other times that we must strive to correct them so they will not think himself wise.  We cannot t

Noble is a word that we use to describe a certain class of people that are related by blood to the king or ruler of a nation.  However it is also used to describe the behavior that is expected of such people and can be practiced by anyone.  All of us should strive to be noble in our character and words.  There is a code of conduct that is expected of all men and when we do not follow that code we are criticized by and lose the respect of others.  There are different people in our lives that we relate with and should treat in different ways.  All of our relationships are affected by our behavior as well as our opportunities in business most importantly, our testimony before other people as well as our walk with God. CODE OF CONDUCT FOR AUTHORITIES: There is a certain dignity that a King must possess and demonstrate.  However, a king’s greatest desire should be for wisdom to do the right things.  God does not make all things readily accessible or easily understandable.  These precio

Our desires tell us a lot about what is in our hearts and where we stand before the Lord.  At times our desires are for things that please the Lord and bring honor to His name, but there are other times that our desires are for that which is sinful and they can get us into all kinds of trouble.  No matter what our actions are, we would do well to evaluate the true desires of our hearts because it will help us to see our hearts and know where we need to grow and how we need to protect ourselves from our own evil desires.  We should constantly strive to develop the desires that will please God and make us more effective in our service of the Lord. DESIRE GOD’S WISDOM: God’s wisdom will determine the company that we keep because we will not desire to be with evil men that bring trouble on all around them.  Wisdom will help us to establish our homes, strengthen our nations and instruct our communities.  Our plans must be for that which is good and not scheming to do evil our wicked th

Moderation is the result of self-control while exaggeration stems from the lack thereof.  Too much of a good thing can be a very bad thing so it is important that we learn to exercise self-control and live in moderation.  God has created us and all that is in the earth.  There are abundant pleasures that constantly surround us.  These pleasures were created by God for us to enjoy in moderation and in accordance with His Word.  When we begin to abuse those pleasures through exaggeration they become sources of pain and not pleasure.  There is a great deal to gain through the exercise of moderation through self-control. SELF-CONTROL IN OUR DIET: Eating is one of the greatest pleasures that we enjoy.  There is such a wide variety of food available to us and many more that we have only heard about.  When we are in the house of a wealthy person, the foods that are offered to us may tantalize us and tempt us to exaggerate and stuff ourselves full of these delicate foods.  This is a huge

Words are a gift from God that allow us to communicate with one another and reveal things to one another.  Words can also be used to bring harm and great pain to other people through deception or discouragement.   There are words that are easy to hear and words that are hard for us to hear.  That does not mean that the easy words are always good or that the hard words are always bad.  Sometimes the hardest word for us to hear is the best word for us at that time; or the easy word can be very harmful to us.  We must exercise great discernment in the way that we hear the words spoken to us and even greater discernment in the words that come out of us.  Today’s Proverb has some great examples of so easy and hard words or us to hear. WORDS OF WISDOM: Our character and reputation is far more valuable that any amount of wealth.  Our financial status is of very little importance God needs both in order to accomplish His will.  We must learn to observe our surroundings and adjust our path

This Proverb begins and ends with the sovereignty of God and everything in between should flow from that reality.  God’s sovereignty is the over-arching truth that must dictate how we look at and live our lives.  Too often we live under the delusion that we are free to live our lives however we want without divine intervention.  The truth is that no matter how high we climb on the ladder of human authority, we are still under the control of God and are ultimately accountable to Him.  In light of that truth we ought to order our lives according to His will which has been revealed to us in His Word.  God’s sovereignty must have a profound impact on how we live our lives. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD: Sometimes we feel like our lives are spinning out of control.  The question we must answer is: who’s control?  Obviously, the answer to that question is: our control.  We get that feel of panic in the pit of our stomach when our circumstances flee from our ability to control.  No matter how w

Discernment is a vital part of wisdom.  A wise person has the ability to distinguish between things that differ; the ability to discern between good and evil, worthy and worthless.  As we go through life we all face multiple choices about what we will do and how we will live our live.  Our ability to discern, determination to choose correctly and discipline to follow throw on those choices will define whether or not we are wise.  God has been gracious enough to give us a standard in His Word by which we can measure these things, so if we truly desire to gain discernment, our attention should be given to the Word of God.  THINGS FROM WHICH WE MUST RUN: Alcoholic beverages are dangerous because they can easily lead us astray.  This does not mean that all who choose to drink them are living in sin it simply means that they run a greater risk of falling into a pattern of abuse that can easily lead to ruin.  Insubordination is a very dangerous game.  It may feel like bravery or liberty

Every person wants to be happy.  We go to great lengths and spare no expense to amuse ourselves and find comfort in hopes that these things will make us happy.  However, the final result is far from what we had hoped.  Frivolity and luxury do not make us happy; instead, they make us feel guilty and greedy.  In our minds it seems that selfishness would be the best way to find satisfaction for ourselves but nothing could be farther from the truth.  Self-promotion always leads to strife and conflict with other people.  The true source of peace and joy is found in sacrificial service to others and devotion to God.  Proverbs is written to help us live our lives well, if we are going to do that we must pursue joy in the way that God intended. THE WAY WE USE OUR RESOURCES: All of us enjoy having abundant resources and it is our natural tendency to believe that having more of them will bring us more happiness.  This, however, is not the case.  Anytime we make wealth a priority in our live

Life is full of choices.  We make choices all day everyday about how we are going to live our lives and the path that we are going to follow.  There is a path that leads to destruction and a path that leads to great blessing.  There are wise choices and there are foolish choices.  Discernment is a key for us to be able to choose the right path, make the wise choices and find the path of blessing that God intends for us experience.  There are some characteristics that mark the wise choices and others that describe the foolish ones. WISE COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS: All wisdom does not rest within ourselves.  We desperately need the insight that others can give us in order to make wise choices in our lives.  Isolation will usually end up causing us to falter along the way because we lack sound judgment.  The foolish will talk before he thinks but the wise will always give great consideration to his words.  Our words represent great danger as well as great blessing depending on how we

Strife seems to be a constant companion in most relationships today.  We see strife in our homes, schools, churches, places of works and our neighborhoods.  People just seem to have a hard time getting along with one another.  A simple explanation for this reality is that men are, by nature, sinful so selfishness comes very naturally to all of us.  When we are focused on ourselves we will do most anything to promote our own agenda and usually end up hurting the people around us in the process.  The ironic thing is that selfishness almost always leads us into misery instead of satisfaction or joy.  In order to avoid strife in our relationships and promote an abiding sense of joy we must learn to values these two qualities. RESPECT: No amount of wealth can replace a peaceful home.  When we learn to respect the people around us, no matter if we are a servant or a son, we will be given respect as well as privileges that come along with that position.  We must remember that God sees al

There is a way that things ought to be.  God has made this world to function in a certain way and things will always work better when we allow them to operate according to that plan.  Like on a good sports team, every member has a role to play on the team and it will always function best when each member of the team fulfills that particular role.  Things start to go downhill very quickly when one person stops doing his job in order to compete with the job that has been given to someone else.  All will work out better when we recognize our role and do it to the very best of our ability as intended by God. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD: We must all recognize that God is the sovereign of the universe.  He is in control of everything and everything exists for His glory and according to His purpose.  We can and should make plans but must be aware of the fact that God is the one who determines if and how those plans will come about.  We all think that our way is the right way and the best way,

There are certain things that we must do if we want to demonstrate wisdom in our lives.  There are also other things that we must work to avoid doing.  Wisdom will always have an impact on the way that we think, how we respond to situations in life and especially what our actions will be.  God cares very deeply about all of these things and has given us very valuable instructions as to how we can walk in wisdom. WATCH OUR LANGUAGE: Our words provide a very good window into our hearts.  We can see clearly what is in a man’s heart by what comes out of his mouth.  Our language or words have a great impact on those who are around us and will demonstrate whether or not we are wise.  If we are wise we will answer with soft words instead of harsh words.  When someone is burning with anger we can use our words to throw a bucket of water on the situation or to throw a bucket of gasoline on the fire of anger.  Wise men will use language that is full of knowledge and understand that their ev

Balance is one of the most important and most difficult virtues to achieve in our lives.  We tend to swing from one extreme to another in our lives and have a hard time coming to balance and looking at things from a reasonable perspective.  The problem is that we all consider our point of view to be the reasonable one so we can easily push that out to an extreme because we are all convinced that we are correct.  In the previous chapters we have looked at a contrast between wisdom and wickedness.  This chapter draws up a contrast between wisdom and foolishness.  Like all of these chapters, it is very difficult to find any sort of an outline that is complete, but there are a couple of repetitive themes that appear so we will use them as our focal point. HOW TO LIVE IN PRUDENCE: Prudence is simply another word for wisdom.  Wisdom is contrasted to both wickedness and foolishness in Proverbs.  This chapter seems to emphasize the area of foolishness.  The prudent person will build up th

Hope is one of the most precious gifts that we can have.  Hope lives in the present with an eye on the future that anticipates goodness from the hand of God.  When we lose hope we take a defeatist attitude towards the future that makes us miserable in the present.  Not everyone who has hope sees that hope fulfilled but even in the case of false hope the person tends to be happier in the present than he who has no hope.  I guess false hope is better than no hope in that sense.  The danger of false hope is that it can satisfy us to the point that we do not seek for true hope. The hopeless continue to search and may eventually find true hope.  The difference between true and false hope is the source of hope.  False hope springs from one’s own imagination or optimism while true hope springs from the secure source of the Word of God.  God’s wisdom should fill our hearts with true hope no matter what our current circumstances might be. HOPE OF RICHES: Riches do not sound like a very spi

We all have influences on our lives and we are all influences on the lives of others.  We must be very careful about whom we allow to influence us but we also must be very aware of the way that we influence the people God puts into our paths.  Part of being created in the image of God is that we are relational beings just like He is.  We were created to relate with God and one another so we are only truly satisfied when we are experiencing healthy and biblical relationships with God and others.  There are many ways that we influence once another described in this chapter of Proverbs so we will look at how we can be sure to be wise through these influences. THE INFLUENCE OF OUR MENTORS: God has placed people around us that should have a positive influence on our lives.  Usually our parents are the first people in this category then professors and pastors etc…  If we are wise we will love the discipline, knowledge and even the reproofs that come from these mentors in our lives.  Tho

There are consequences to our actions and the choices we make.  Too often we are tempted to take the easy road even if it is not the right road because it looks like it will bring us the greatest benefit.  However, this is an illusion that will eventually lead to ruin and great pain.  The consequences of disobedience are far greater than we would ever imagine.  We must always take time to consider the consequences of our choices and the way that others will be affected by what we do.  Above all, we consider how God will view our actions and the response that He will have towards our choices.  We may try to fool ourselves and others but we will never fool God.  Consequences are a reality for which we must all prepare. CONSEQUENCES TO OURSELVES: There are both negative and positive consequences to our actions.  The wicked find themselves experiencing very negative consequences while the righteous enjoy positive ones.  Sin and wickedness brings so much heartache to our own lives.  Wh

There is a clear contrast that is drawn in the book of Proverbs between the way of wisdom and the way of wickedness.  We have seen this over and over again in this book and will continue to do so throughout.  It is difficult to come up with an adequate outline for this chapter as there are so many subjects treated in contrasting couplets, but here is an attempt to summarize the major themes that come up repeatedly. WISDOM IN OUR WORK: The way of wisdom is a way that brings great joy and pride to all of our family while the way of wickedness brings great sorrow.  The wicked are lazy so they seek to become rich through dishonest means; in the end, this method of amassing wealth leads to poverty and sorrow.  The wise man will work hard, reject the get rich schemes of the wicked and follow the paths of righteousness.  Wealth may take much longer to accumulate using this formula, but it will certainly be more secure.  Diligence, honesty and persistence are all traits of wisdom that wil