Straightforward

Greetings everyone. If you’ll please open your Bibles to Proverbs 15:15, we will begin the Bible Study today through the book of Proverbs. And as you know, we’ve been moving along at a pace that I hope gives us time to really digest what’s in this book. But on the other hand, you could spend hours. We don’t have that kind of time, but we don’t want to go too fast and skim it. So we’re trying to take time to really understand in practical Christian terms what God has put in this tremendous book for all of us who will read and listen. Proverbs 15:15:

15 All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast.

And so therefore you would think that people who are afflicted would ask themselves, “Why am I being afflicted?” Now, of course, we all have trials and tests, and that’s part of growing and overcoming and building character. But there’s another verse in the Bible that says there’s no such thing as a causeless curse. So if there just seems to be a constant, continual, painful existence of affliction and it’s just an evil oppressive thing, you would think that an individual would ask themselves, “Why?” and would cry out to God and ask Him to deliver them from it. That’s what ought to be done. Notice the contrast here in verse 15, however:

15 —he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast.

Now, we know that even a person who has a merry heart, a happy outlook, a positive approach will have sorrow and pain and suffering. That’s part of being human. But generally speaking, life is a happy, wonderful experience if we live it the way God designed it to be lived—which means having Him at the very center of our lives. Then we do have a happy heart, a merry heart, and then life is something that is very pleasant and very fulfilling, and not just for us but those around us because we pass it on to others. And that’s part of loving our neighbor.

16 Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.

To have our needs met and stand in awe of God and do what He says, that’s really living life abundantly. But to have great treasure and God is not in the picture, God is not a part of the situation, there’s not going to be joy and happiness and peace and fulfillment. But rather, there’s just going to be trouble. This doesn’t go right. That doesn’t go right. There may be fleeting pleasure, there may be some titillation of the flesh, there may be a day or two that’s reasonably okay. But in terms of an overall direction and trend in the person’s life, things just don’t work out well. It’s just trouble heaped on top of trouble, heaped on top of trouble. And once again, when that starts happening, you would think the individual would ask this question, “Why? Is there something I need to change to change the situation?” and then do that. I hope that’s what we will do.

16 Better is little with the fear of the Eternal—

because that leads to obedience and blessings

16 —than great treasure and trouble therewith.

Because that just leads to more trouble. Even though we have all this money, even though we have all these things, even though we have all this stuff—it’s not worth it when life is just one problem after another.

17 Better is a dinner of herbs—

or vegetables

17 —where love is, than a stalled ox—

or a fatted calf

17 —and hatred therewith.

It’s very unpleasant to sit down to a beautiful meal and arguing starts and bickering starts and disagreement is the rule of the day. Who wants that? Families or friends will sit down and they can’t stand one another, or they’re mad at one another, or they want to get back at one another, or they start arguing or being really hateful to one another, and yet here’s this sumptuous meal spread out in front of them. It all gets lost in the unpleasantness even though it might be an incredible steak.

It’s much better to sit down to a meal of vegetables and love one another and enjoy one another’s company and appreciate one another’s conversation, and be thankful for the food on the table, than to have a tremendous seven–course meal and be at one another’s throat. That’s the point.

Now, the ideal is to sit down to a wonderful meal and maybe even a sumptuous steak and have love for one another, and we can do that if we live life God’s way.

18 A wrathful man stirs up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeases strife.

A wrathful man likes strife. He will stir up problems between friends, he will stir up problems between relatives, he will stir up problems between neighbors. He likes to start trouble and see the pain that it inflicts, he’s got this perverted, twisted sense of titillation to see people fight or get mad at one another or be at one another in a very unpleasant way and therefore he’s always trying to do that.

18 —but he that is slow to anger—

Settles things down. He’s a peacemaker. He appeases contention. He will try to be a cool head among hotheads and help them calm down and consider the end of their action. It doesn’t always succeed, and he needs to be careful about getting into the middle of it too far because he can get caught in the middle and get hurt and really get into big trouble.

But where he can and where she can, and when he can and when she can, they have their emotions under control and therefore they’re slow to anger. Therefore they can diffuse the situation instead of stirring it up. And because they want to do the right thing, they will try to diffuse it instead of stirring it up.

19 The way of the slothful—

the lazy individual, the sluggard

19 —is as a hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.

It’s like a flat, unencumbered, unobstructed highway. Life goes well. But a lazy person is wondering why they don’t ever have anything and why they’re always running into thorn bushes and running into ditches and stumbling over rocks. The reason is: They don’t work. They’re not diligent. They don’t take care of business. They’re not responsible. And so therefore life is just like bumping into a thorn bush here and falling into a ditch over there.

Laziness brings nothing in the way of happiness and joy. It just brings thorns. But a diligent individual—there’s wonderful achievement to enjoy. Those are the choices. Those are the contrasts. God leaves it up to us, however, to make the choice. He does not force us to choose one way or the other. He lays the options in front of us. He hopes we’ll choose the right options. He will help us as we choose the right options. But it’s still up to us to choose which option, which choice, which direction we’re going to live our lives on a daily basis and throughout the years that God gives us in our lives.

20 A wise son makes a glad father: but a foolish man despises his mother.

It has to do with the fifth commandment—honor your father and mother that things will go well with you. I mean, a father just loves to see a son or daughter succeed, loves to see a son or daughter develop maturity and wisdom, loves to see children happy.

20 —but a foolish man despises his mother.

Disrespects his mother, disrespects his father, stumbles along in life and their mother and dad live out the waning years of their life in great sadness because of the foolishness that their son or daughter is involved in. The worldliness and the ill–gotten gain or the poor choices they make. It’s a poor, poor, horrible thing to see a foolish child make their parents so unhappy especially as their life winds down. But it’s a wonderful thing to see wise, bright, happy, caring, successful children put such joy in the lives of their parents. It has to do with the fifth commandment and it has to do with obeying God.

21 Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom: but a man of understanding walks uprightly.

Folly is joy to him that doesn’t have a lick of sense. There’s no common sense there. They don’t have any kind of foundation for making sense of their lives and for just having savvy and having any kind of smarts. And so what really thrills them and gives them a rush is folly—stupid stuff, crazy stuff, driving too fast, getting drunk, showing out, doing dumb things, vandalizing things—and they pay the price.

21 —but a man of understanding walks uprightly.

He takes care of his responsibility and he cares for others and he cares for what God has given him and he’s dependable, and he’s predictable in terms of making good choices and using good judgment.

22 Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counselors they are established.

Of course, we have to be careful who we counsel with. The greatest source of good solid counseling is this book right here, called The Holy Bible. It’s 66 books—really, it’s a library—and one of the greatest books in this Bible to go to for good guidance and instruction and counsel is this book of Proverbs. But there are other sources of counseling, such as loving and kind, well–advised parents, good solid friends that have some wisdom, dedicated ministers, etc. And so we make better decisions and we achieve goals quicker and more fully if we seek a multitude of counselors. Our purposes, our ideas, our plans are established that way, whether it’s buying a house, buying a car, getting married, moving, changing jobs, paying down our bills, etc. Especially in spiritual areas such as seeking God, repenting, being baptized, obeying Him, finding out where His work is, where His church is, what the purpose in life is, and what our ultimate outcome should be—seeking good counselors in all those areas will establish our plans and our goals.

Instead of just trying to go it alone, “No man is an island,” as the old song says. God doesn’t want us to be just lone wolves trying to make our way through this mine field called the world. It’s better to seek good counsel and guidance above all from Him and then from those who are obeying Him. That’s what verse 22 is telling us.

23 A man has joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season,—

or in its time

23 —how good it is!

We have to be careful about our words, and if we are careful about our words and those words flow from a good attitude and good character, it’s a wonderful thing to hear someone speak who is that way. It’s a wonderful thing to get involved in a scintillating conversation when the person we’re talking to has the right attitude and good character and is guided by godly principles. What a wonderful thing! And the concepts and the observations and the conclusions and the knowledge that flow from the mind and mouth of such an individual is a very pleasant thing. “How good it is!” it says in verse 23.

You’ve seen just the right thing said at just the right time. You’ve seen just the right thing written at just the right time, the turn of the phrase. It’s a wonderful thing! It just inspires us and uplifts us and stimulates us, and can settle questions that we might have had for years. And God can help us serve one another that way if we’ll ask Him to—to guide our thoughts and to guide the words and actions of our lives and of our mouths.

24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

In other words, they set their affection—the wise—on the above. They think higher than just the around. They consider what God has to say. They remember that there is a God in heaven, and so that impacts everything they do. If they’re wise, that’s how they view life. And what that leads to is going in the right direction, which is away from the grave and away from pain and sorrow.

25 The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: but he will establish the border of the widow.

Now, the proud might think that nobody can touch them and nothing bad will happen to them because they’re so powerful and they’re so proud. But in actual fact, everything is governed by law, and the proud break those laws and they suffer the penalty, and therefore destruction will come sooner or later.

25 The Lord will destroy the house of the proud:—

But look at this:

25 —he will establish the border of the widow.

You know, there are several scriptures in the Bible that tell us we better be careful about our treatment of widows. We better not oppress the widow. We better respect the widow and the orphan. As we do that, God is pleased. But if we take advantage of widows and orphans, they are defenseless in many ways. They cannot stand up to strong adversaries of and by themselves. But you see, as they serve God, they’re not by themselves.

God becomes a father to the fatherless and He takes care of the widow, and not only does He take care of the widow and not only does He take care of the widow’s house, but He goes all the way out to the border of the widow’s property. He will establish the boundary or the border of the widow if that widow is serving Him, obeying Him, praying to Him, studying out of His word and submitting to His will. Then He looks after everything about her life, including her and all the way out to the outer reaches or outer edges or boundary or border of her situation or her possession.

That’s how concerned and how total the involvement and protection from Almighty God is in the life of the helpless, the widow, and the orphan as they look to Him and serve Him. We’d better consider that as we relate to widows and orphans because that’s God’s instruction in the Bible regarding how He relates to them.

26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.

God just hates evil. Not only does He hate evil, He hates the thoughts of evil. He despises wickedness because it destroys and hurts and pains all who are a part of it. And it’s Satanic, and Satan is an adversary. He used to be a covering cherub called Lucifer. He turned on God, rebelled and became wicked, and his ways are wicked and those who follow him become wicked. And God hates that because the results are horrible. And we better hate wickedness too. Even the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to Him.

26 —but the words of the pure are pleasant words

They’re like music in His ears; they’re like a well–planned and well–offered sacrifice, sweet–smelling incense to His nostrils.

27 He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house; but he that hates gifts shall live.

You know, the tenth commandment says, you shall not covet anything. And if we covet, we end up being greedy. We make ourselves vulnerable to bribes, we open ourselves up to the wrong kind of individual who will use us in the wrong way. Greed is a weakness that makes us vulnerable to being taken advantage of by others. We become a victim of our greed.

27 He that is greedy of gain troubles his own house;—

Children trouble their parents. Parents trouble their children. Brothers trouble brothers and sisters if they’re greedy, greedy, greedy, and they want to get, get, get, instead of working hard and appreciating what that brings.

27 —but he that hates gifts—

a better translation is bribes

27 —shall live.

Bribes are very seductive, but they’re like bait that will lead us to the precipice and then over the cliff into the abyss because we want something and we’ll do anything to get it. And so we can be bribed to go in a particular direction so that the other person can get what they want and we took the bribe and now we are going to be victimized by that person and by that bribe. Con artists play this game with helpless and hapless people, and because quite often these helpless, hapless people are greedy, quite often, they’ll become victimized by the con artist. Instead of using their head and saying, “I don’t want this. I don’t need this. I’m not going to be taken in by this. I’m not going to be bated and bribed and seduced into giving up everything because of this fast–talking individual that offered me way more than he can deliver and way more than I need or deserve.” And so they simply close the door, hang the phone up or walk away, and they’re better off for doing that. They took the warning in verse 27. Even though they might not have read verse 27, they practiced what it says.

28 The heart of the righteous studies to answer:—

They think before they speak.

28 —but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.

They don’t think before they speak, and what’s inside comes pouring out. And what’s inside is evil, so that’s what comes pouring out, and people get hurt as a result of it.

29 The Lord is far from the wicked: but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

But He doesn’t hear the prayer of the wicked because the wickedness of the wicked cuts them off. But those who are trying to obey God, He hears their prayer. Think about that. Here’s this great God in heaven who is totally unlimited in power and might, and when you kneel down before Him and you start talking to Him in prayer, He hears you. He hears me. He answers those prayers and we trust Him to know when to answer and how to answer. But we absolutely have faith that He will answer.

He hears the prayer of the righteous. You can take that to the bank and you can stake your life on it and you can believe it. And so, make sure that on a regular basis you are praying to Almighty God because He will hear you if you’re trying to do the right thing.

30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart: and a good report makes the bones fat.

I’m sure you’ve experienced that. You’ve seen beautiful things with your eyes. You’ve seen the light of the sunrise or the light of the sunset, or you’ve seen the light of day, or you have seen something that you didn’t understand and then the light goes on and now you understand it. It rejoices the heart. It’s a wonderful thing! And a good report makes the bones healthy. You hear good news from somewhere about somebody or good news about your situation—it just is a delightful thing. It’s part of living life the abundant way—God’s way.

31 The ear that hears the reproof of life abides among the wise.

They take instruction; they will heed common sense and do something about it. Therefore they end up in the category of the wise and they benefit from it greatly. Let’s make those choices.

32 He that refuses instruction despises his own soul:—

He hurts himself. He shoots himself in the foot. He’s so bullheaded and stubborn, he won’t listen to instruction. He thinks he knows everything, and therefore, he’s going to hurt himself. He’s the one who suffers for it.

32 —but he that hears reproof—

heeds instruction

32 —gets understanding.

He pays attention to wise counsel. He’s eager for instruction. He’s not a know–it–all, and what a wonderful blessing comes his way as a result of that, or her way as a result of that.

33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom;—

To stand in awe of God, to worship God, to adore God—He has our full attention. That is tremendous wisdom.

33 —and before honor is humility.

It’s nice to be honored. It’s nice to have honor. It’s nice to share honor. But before that comes, there must be humility. There must be meekness. There must be an intense awareness of how great God is and how little we are. And compared to God, we’re just nothing. And then we look to Him for everything, and so humility begins to be something that we’re clothed with, so to speak, and then can come honor.

Honor does not come before humility. Humility comes before honor. You know, there are other translations that put it well. In the French translation of this verse, it says, “Humility precedes glory.” That’s a wonderful way to put it. First humility, then honor. First meekness, then glory. That’s the attitude God wants to see in us, and when He sees an attitude of humility and it’s a way of life and that’s the way we are, then blessings and honor and ultimately even glory in His family will follow. That’s what’s available to us. Let’s take advantage of that. Let’s make those choices of following God and helping others make those choices and then we can all move toward the ultimate destination that God wants us to have. And that is honor, happiness, glory, and eternal life in His family and kingdom.

We’ll stop there and pick it up next time in Proverbs Chapter 16.

This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.