Straightforward

Greetings everyone. We will pick up in the book of Proverbs with our series of Bible Studies. This time we will start with Proverbs 13:1:

1 A wise son hears his father's instruction: but a scorner—

Or scoffer does not listen or heed. In other words, it’s a smart individual that will pay attention to parental instruction, and then as an adult that will pay attention to the instruction of Almighty God, our Father. And of course that instruction comes from His word quite often. Just like when we read in the book of Proverbs, “In the multitude of counselors, there is safety.” The greatest source of counseling is in the word of God—sixty–six books of the Bible. It’s like a library, and there’s where you find the greatest counsel and the greatest counselors of all. But also wise human counselors, people that by their fruits show that they are reliable, and certainly here we read the Bible talking about hearing instruction from our fathers, from our parents, from our elders, and above all from our Father in heaven.

1 —but a scorner hears not rebuke.

He knows everything, he thinks. Who’s going to tell him anything that he does not already know. So he just simply does not pay attention, and therefore he cheats himself and ends up creating problems for himself because of that attitude.

2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.

Because a man uses wisdom, or a woman uses wisdom, in what they say and the way they say it, that’s going to produce good things for them. But a sinner, a transgressor—they feed on violence, they focus on evil, they concentrate on bad things. And therefore instead of eating good things, enjoying good things, experiencing good things in life—which a wise man will do, and use his words wisely and that leads to good things, that’s what a wise man will do—a sinner uses his words in a wrong way and it ends up creating violence. And he just ends up feeding on violence and being surrounded by violence. These are warnings that we must take heed to and we must pay attention to and we must respond to if we’re really going to be happy and successful, which is what God wants as He gives us these instructions in His word.

3 He that keeps his mouth keeps his life: but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

In other words, we have to guard our mouths. And if we do that, we will save ourselves a tremendous amount of trouble. We have to think before we speak. We have to consider that once we speak those words, they no longer are ours. Now they are out there for everyone else to hear and to partake of, and it’s very hard to take words back once they’ve been spoken. So we have to think before we speak. We have to guard our mouths.

It doesn’t mean we can’t have free, open, and happy discussions and conversations. That’s a wonderful thing to be engaged in with other people. But we want to be careful about what we say. We don’t want to be careless and frivolous, just say whatever comes to mind. We can hurt people and we can hurt ourselves, and we create all kind of complications and trouble. So we need to have good speech, good words, and if we do that, we will contribute to a good life for others and for ourselves.

3 —but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.

Just whatever is on their mind, they just come out with it. Sometimes it’s rude, sometimes it’s blunt, sometimes it’s evil, sometimes it’s naughty and dirty, sometimes it cuts other people down. And what happens in a case like that when an individual just says whatever they want to say, whenever they want to say it, anyway they want to say it, their lives become complicated, and those words can actually lead to failure and even destruction. That’s the warning and that’s the instruction in verse 3.

4 The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing:

You’ve seen lazy people just lay around and talk and wish and hope and pine away and daydream, and think about all kinds of good things they want to do and great places they want to go to and possessions they want to have. But while they’re just lying there lazy and indolent like an old sluggard nothing is happening, nothing is being produced, nothing is being accomplished. Then they wonder why they have nothing except pie in the sky useless daydreams.

Notice this though, the last part of verse 4. You see the comparison. You see the contrast. You see the antithesis here. You see the differences in these proverbs that have two parts to them. It’s drawing the contrast and the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, obeying and disobeying God.

4 —but the soul of the diligent—

the busy, the engaged, the industrious individual

4 —shall be made fat.

Or shall be made rich, shall be successful. Once again, there are the choices. A sluggard: lazy, talk a lot, have nothing. A diligent person: busy, works hard, has a lot. That’s our choices mentioned in verse 4. Let’s make the right one. Notice verse 5.

5 A righteous man hates lying:—

Now, notice, it not only says here that he doesn’t lie. We know that a righteous man will not lie, but it goes further than that. It says here, “A righteous man hates lying.” He despises it. It is repugnant to him, it disgusts him. It’s not a light, frivolous thing. It’s not just a casual kind of little mistake that somebody makes. Lying is breaking one of the commandments. It’s breaking the ninth commandment, and therefore it will lead to trouble and even death—eternal death if it is not repented of. So a righteous man hates lying.

5 —but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame.

See, a wicked man, oh well, lying and false witness and deceit, it’s no big deal to him. And his character, instead of being impeccable and clean and sterling, becomes loathsome and riddled with all kinds of cracks and shallowness. And therefore that kind of character—that rotten character, that corrupted character—brings that individual to shame.

6 Righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

You know, people who are righteous, people who are trying to do the right thing without getting self–righteous, they stay humble, but they’re trying to do the right thing. Because of their actions, that in itself, with God’s blessing and guidance, keeps them in the right way. Their actions lead to the proper direction. Their actions take them in the right way and they end up in the right place. They give God credit for that righteousness that He gives them and that He teaches them and that He gives them strength to follow.

6 —but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

Oh, you know, a sinner, he can blame everybody else. He can blame the circumstances and situations, and he never got a fair break and all of that. But they have no one to blame except themselves.

A wicked individual, because he or she lives in a wicked way, that wickedness is what ends up causing their overthrow. The sinner sins, and that sin is breaking God’s law, and breaking God’s law is what brings the downfall. So this matter of justifying sin, this matter of rationalizing around sin, and this matter of blaming others for our problems just simply does not hold up. We have no one to blame but ourselves, and therefore we need to change ourselves so that instead of sinning and being overthrown, we obey and we are considered upright and we will be blessed of God. So wickedness overthrows the sinner, not other people. The sinner’s actions lead to being overthrown.

7 There is that makes himself rich, yet has nothing: there is that makes himself poor, yet has great riches.

Or there is one who makes himself rich and yet has nothing. He acquires all this wealth, he acquires all these possessions, he acquires all this fame, he acquires all this notoriety and yet he really has nothing. It’s just like wind. It’s vanity. It’s here today and gone tomorrow. When he dies, it’s gone, and maybe someone else gets it.

There is one that makes himself poor, yet has great riches. He may have things coming in, but he shares them with others. He doesn’t focus on things. He doesn’t concentrate on things. He concentrates on doing the right thing. He concentrates on helping other people. And so he may not ever have a whole lot of wealth accumulated, and yet he has great riches. He has wonderful friendships. He has God’s blessing. He has peace, health, happiness. He understands the truth and he has wonderful, spiritual blessings, and so even though he might not have a big house and a brand new car, he is rich in faith.

Whereas the other person who has a big house and a brand new car is poor in faith. Now you can also have a nice house and a nice car and be rich in faith. It depends on our attitude and how we live our lives and where God is in terms of our lives. Is He in the middle of it? Is He directing it? Is He leading it? And if He is, then we’ll have great riches. Above all, the things that really count, and God will also give us our needs. So it’s what we focus our attention on.

There are those who just focus on things and they may have things, but they’re poor when it comes to the overall picture and having peace of mind and understanding the truth and having those things that really count.

There are others who don’t focus on things. They’ll still have their needs provided and then some, but they’re very rich in the things that really count—the happiness, the joy, the peace, the relationship with God and with neighbor, and ultimately eternal life. It’s what we have our focus settled on, and it’s what we feel passionate about is the important thing because that leads to our actions being directed in that way. What we feel the most passionate about is what we spend the most time and energy and focus on, and if it’s on God and His way of life and His truth and spiritual things, we will be rich in faith.

If our passion is toward getting and acquiring, then that’s what we’ll probably have, but we’ll be poor in the things that really count. The lessons here are tremendously important. Notice verse 8.

8 The ransom of a man's life are his riches: but the poor hears not rebuke.

In other words, there are people who have wealth and if they get in trouble, they can call on that wealth and be bribed or they can use it as a ransom to maybe get out of trouble or to pull themselves out of a predicament that they’re in. But that’s not the ultimate solution.

And yet there are poor people who have no riches and if they did get into trouble, they would not have any wealth to present as a ransom. But you know what, if they are rich in faith, if they’re trying to obey God, they don’t ever have to even face that issue.

8 —the poor hears not rebuke.

It’s not going to be something that they ever have to experience because they’re not relying on the riches to bail them out in time of trouble, they’re relying on God and so God helps them stay out of trouble.

But the rich, they rely—not all of them, but those who are in the wrong attitude and going in the wrong direction, they think, “Oh, well, you know, I’ll always be able to get out of this problem because I’ve got all this money, I’ve got all these connections.” And so they rely on that. And even though they might get out of a predicament here and out of a peck of trouble over there, they’re never really on good solid ground where they can just relax because they’re relying on the wrong source of security—their riches. Whereas the poor has nothing else to rely on, so quite often, they rely on the right source of their security—God and His way. Not all poor are that way, by the way. A poor person has to also be in the right attitude, and that is trying to obey God.

9 The light of the righteous rejoices: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

And as we already read in Proverbs, a wonderful proverb, it says, to paraphrase it, “The light of the righteous shines more and more to that day.” It just gets brighter and brighter, it grows, it overcomes, it blossoms forth because they’re trying to do the right thing.

9 —but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

It may not look that way. It may not look like that’s going to happen. It may look like, “Boy, this person is doing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing. He’s a vile, corrupt individual.” Or maybe they’re not vile and corrupt, but they’re just really not stepping up and doing what God says, and yet they seem to be flourishing. Well, they’re not going to flourish all the way through to the end. Their lamp, and especially the wicked, the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. You can’t have it both ways. We cannot disobey God and have our light shining brighter and brighter. It will not work that way because God’s laws are being broken, and the wicked lamp will be snuffed out. But those who are trying to obey God, their light will shine brighter and brighter, and they’ll have a lot to rejoice over because of God’s blessing.

10 Only by pride comes contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

Or a better translation is: By pride comes nothing but contention. Try as you might, you will not find anywhere in the Bible where God says that we ought to have pride. Every time you look in the Bible and you study the subject of being proud or the subject of having pride, you will find that God condemns it. In fact, He hates it. In fact, He points out over and over again that pride leads to nothing but trouble, and what God wants us to have is the antithesis of pride, which is humility and meekness.

And humility and meekness is not being mousy and it’s not hanging our heads and walking around all shy and timid. Humility is simply understanding our place as compared to God’s place. We know who we are. We know who God is and we consider other people. So we go forward with a meek and humble attitude and spirit, one of respect and awe toward God, and respect and love toward our neighbor.

But the opposite to that is pride, verse 10. And so when there is pride, there’s always going to be contention. There’s always going to be contention. What does pride produce? By pride comes nothing but contention. So what we need to do when we see ourselves in a contentious situation with somebody else and there are problems, there’s tension and there’s contention, and it doesn’t seem to be being solved and it’s getting worse. One of the best things you can do is back off, clear your mind and take a look and see if there is pride involved. And if you cut through the emotion, you cut through the cloud and complication of the arguments and of the circumstance, you will find in the middle of that situation will be embedded pride.

Now, the next thing we have to do is ask ourselves this: “Is it pride on my part? Is it pride on the other person’s part? Or is it pride on both our parts?" And usually you will find that to one degree or the other, there is pride on both parts. The solution then is to get rid of the pride. To replace the pride with humility, and if the other person or people won’t do that, but you do that, you’ll be a long way towards solving the problem. And at least, as far as your part of the problem is concerned, it will be solved. Replacing pride with humility will remove the contention, especially your part of the contention. Because only by pride comes contention. But with the well–advised is wisdom. Or by pride comes nothing but contention. The fruits of pride, they’re all bad.

11 Wealth gotten by vanity—

or dishonesty or vanity, both translations are good.

11 —shall be diminished: but he that gathers by labor shall increase.

Gambling is an example of getting wealth by vanity and by dishonesty. Gambling is not a godly practice. God does not want us to be gambling. It is not an honest way to gain prosperity or to gain things. And it is all about get and it’s all about snookering the other guy. And it’s based on vanity and it’s based on dishonesty. So wealth gotten by that way or by conning somebody else or by schemes that do not require productive effort—good old–fashioned sweat and toil—that kind of wealth is going to be diminished because it’s ill–gotten gain. And it’s not something God produces, God gives, God blesses, and God wants us to be involved in. Here’s what He wants us to do:

11 —but he that gathers by labor shall increase.

Good, honest, hard work—that’s what produces the kind of increase that will continue and will grow and that God will bless.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick:—

You know how that is. You may anticipate getting married or you may anticipate getting a job, or you may anticipate being able to go on a trip, or you may anticipate getting back home because you’re homesick, and yet you can’t do any of those things. And so you find yourself getting somewhat discouraged and may be down a bit, and you might even get homesick or you might even get disoriented a bit. And yet if you just hang in there and keep going and endure, and you come through the situation or circumstance you find yourself in, and you finally can go home, or you finally can get married to the one you love, or you finally can acquire something that you’ve been waiting for, it’s a wonderful time when the desire finally comes or

12 —when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

And it was worth waiting for, and now you can really enjoy it, and because you had to wait for it, quite often it’s much more valuable and means much more if you waited patiently and in the proper attitude.

13 Whoso despises the word shall be destroyed: but he that fears the commandment shall be rewarded.

You know, God’s law is referred to as being a harsh law. It’s referred to as being kind of old–fashioned and legalistic. It’s referred to as bondage. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. And anyone who feels that way about God’s law will be destroyed because they won’t keep that law. They don’t love that law so they will be destroyed. They will sin and sin brings destruction.

13 —but he that fears the commandment—

He that regards the commandment, he that appreciates the law, they’re going to be rewarded because they’re going to keep the law and be blessed.

So we’ll stop there at the end of verse 13, and we’ll pick up the next Bible Study with Proverbs 13:14. We want to make sure that we’re not rushing these verses. We want to make sure that we are gleaning from these precious scriptures what God would have us learn.

So we’ll come back to Proverbs 13:14 next time.

This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.