(20) "nitre" is like a soda which fizzes when combined with vinegar.
Being a happy-go-lucky, bubbly personality around a person whose heart is heavy is as bad as stealing his jacket in cold weather or rubbing salt in his wounds. Only a fool sings songs to a broken heart. To do so is to imply that the sad person is inappropriately grieving. There is a proper time for grief.
Often at funeral services you will hear laughter in the background. I have even used light hearted stories in the funeral message in order to bring about laughter. That is not disrespectful. Most often it is because laughter is sometimes a way of coping with grief. But it surely would be callous to make light of the pain and emptiness that the bereaved loved ones are undergoing.
(21,22) B. R. Lakin’s advice on how to deal with your enemies; "Love them, pray for them, and outlive them."
Vengeance should be far from the thoughts of a believer. He is to show grace and compassion even to his enemies. In a way, this proverb is a preview of the Sermon on the Mount given by the Lord Jesus.
Here are 2 sides of the reward coin. Good deeds will reap rewards in heaven. Evil deeds, especially in response to kindness, will be rewarded with greater punishment in hell.
(II Kings 6:1-23) The king of Israel had been able to avoid ambushes set by the king of Syria because Elisha had prophetically forewarned him. When the Syrian king discovered it was Elisha who was frustrating his military campaign, he sent an army to capture Elisha. When they arrived, Elisha prayed to God that they be stricken with blindness and they were. The prophet then led them blinded into downtown Samaria. When he prayed to God to open their eyes, they discovered they were in the heart of the enemies capitol. The king of Israel rubbed his hands in anticipation of the slaughter. But Elisha commanded that they be given bread and water and released. The king did even more, he treated them to a banquet as honored guests, then sent them home. The Syrians never came again to Israel.
(23) An abrupt word can still the tongue of gossip. It is as much a sin to listen to gossip as it is to commit commit it.
(24) Solomon who had so many wives, must have had a lot of trouble with some of them. He keeps coming back to this theme.
(25) Jacob must have experienced this. His sons had gone to Egypt to buy grain to make it through the famine. He thought his beloved Joseph dead. His son Simeon was in jail somewhere in Egypt. Even Benjamin is gone. For day, even weeks, he must have looked toward the South and strained his eyes hopelessly waiting. Then one day he saw them. His sons told him the news; Joseph is alive and governor over all Egypt. He fainted. But when he revived, he saw a huge caravan of provisions sent by his son, Joseph.
That was great news from a far country.
The greatest news ever from a far country. (John 16:28) "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." In that brief period of time on earth, Jesus Christ provided for our salvation.
One will never come to Jesus until he has a thirst for soemthing better than what this world has to offer.
(26) Compromising with the wicked is like muddying a spring in a water parched land.
In the 1600’s, the accepted view was that the earth was the center of the universe. As such, the sun orbited around the earth. In 1632, Galileo published a work proving that the earth actually revolved around the sun. The Roman Catholic Pope Urban VIII pronounced ’ex cathedra’ (in the place of God) that the sun went around the earth. Galileo was summoned to Rome and tried for heresy. In June 1633, he was forced to recant what was true in order to save his own life.
I don’t know about Galileo righteousness, but he was correct in his theory as was proven later. But until then the waters were muddied by a Pope who viewed himself as the center of all God’s creation.
(27) For a person to be ambitious for self-glory makes others sick.
We sometimes forget that the Apostle John and his brother James were called the Sons of Thunder, apparently because of their quick tempers. I always remember John as the ’one whom Jesus loved.’ A gentle person. But the third letter from John to the churches (III John 9,10) gives a brief look at a person who set himself up as John’s enemy. His name was Diotrephes. Setting himself up as the leader of the church, even excommunicating those who opposed him and refusing to receive anyone into the fellowship unless they bowed to his authority. Diotrephes intercepted a letter from John and refused to allow it to be read to the church. John, having been one of the original 12 apostles, was viewed by Diotrephes as a threat to his leadership. John wrote that if he came, he would remember what Diotrephes had done. Implying, that he would put him in his proper place.
(28) The story is told of the small town in Oklahoma that produced a series of terrible football teams. Most embarrassing was that they were constantly clobbered by their arch rivals from the nearest town. Finally, a wealthy oil man decided to take matters into his own hands. He gathered the team and proceeded to offer a new Ford car to every boy on the team if they would simply defeat their bitter rivals the next game. Knute Rockne couldn’t have stirred them up more. The players howled and jeered and slapped each other on the back. For 7 days they dreamed about touchdowns and cars. The whole school campus got caught up in the jubilation.
Finally, the big night arrived. Excitement in the locker room was at an unprecendented high. They ran out on the field and were demolished 38-0.
Someone said, "Emotions don’t make a good engine. They only make a good caboose." Feelings and emotions have a definite place in our lives, but they should never lead us. Solomon uses the analogy of a city broken down with no walls to speak of a person who cannot control their emotions. The person who lives their lives by their feelings will always be vulnerable to the attacks of foreign beliefs and practices. (Matt. 7:26,27) "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it."
If we fail to live our lives based on God’s Word, it is like building on the shifting sand of feelings. How many Sundays do we ’feel’ like going to church? Or ’feel’ like praying? We do both because the Word of God tells us to .
(Judges 17:6) "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." That is every one did what he felt like doing. The standard of God’s Word had been replaced with "If it feels good, do it." And from then till today, most people make major decisions for their lives based upon their feelings.
I don’t want us to think we are not have emotions or feelings. God created us with a wide range of feelings of joy, sorrow, peace and even anger. They are all part of our make up. Feelings are important but they are not reliable. Jeremiah teaches us that the heart is deceitful above all things.
The truth of God’ Word is the only unchanging reality in our lives. It is always true and never changes.
We talked about David and Bathsheba last week. David’s life was a mess because he allowed his feeling to be his guide rather than the Word of God. Too, when David was caught in sin, he could not just deal with his feelings by saying I’m sorry. That is not what God requires. God is looking for true repentance not sorry feelings. That involves a change in behavior and lifestyle.
