Proverbial Wisdom: Wisdom, Justice, and Family

 Read Proverbs 17


Have you ever had that feeling that the bad things in life just seem to never end.  Have you ever just sat back and asked, “Why God?”  I’m sure many of you can answer yes to that question.  I know that I certainly can.   We serve a loving God and a lot of times, we want to keep that in mind thinking that because He loves us, that He should not allow bad things to happen to us.  The reality though is that God allows difficult times in our life because of the fact that He loves us.  Verse 3 talks about the refiners fire and God is definitely our refiner.  Just as a smith will put precious metals into the fire to cleanse it of impurities, God will allow the fires of our life to cleanse us of those things that are stubborn and can only be “burned out” of our lives.  The Lord tests our hearts.  That is his main concern.  God refines our hearts and purifies us.


In verse 4 we read about the habits of a liar.  One of the marks of liars is that they enjoy listening to lies.  It feeds into the delusion and the escape they are making for themselves.  A lot of time liar’s are doing just that.  Creating an imaginary story as a way of escape is common for most people who struggle with lying.  Since they create an imaginary story in their heads, they enjoy listening to others' stories.  A basic rule of life is that the ears hear what the heart loves, so beware of people who have an appetite of gossip and lies.  The whole book of Proverbs and portions of Scripture warn against giving an open ear to gossip and lies.  They can cause division and heartache.  Think about how many times in your life that lies and gossip may have caused unnecessary heartache in your life.


Fools specialize in lies and slander, and the wise person is one who won’t stay around to listen to them.  We must be careful what kind of conversation we listen to.


One of the most beautiful verses in Proverbs in my opinion is verse 17.  It’s beautiful when we know that a friend loves at all times.  A friend will love us not only at our best but also at our worst.  Proverbs makes it clear that true friendship is based on love, because only love will endure the tests that friends experience as they go through life together.  A true friend will always be there for us through thick and thin.  Isn’t it awesome that Jesus calls us friends?


Verse 24 gives us a stark warning and it’s one the Jesus Himself repeated to us.  We need to make sure our vision and our hearts are focused on the correct things.  One reason fools don’t learn wisdom is because they can’t keep their eyes focused on what’s important.  Instead of dealing with reality, the fool lives in a faraway fantasy world.  God’s Word helps people keep their feet on the ground and make wise decisions in this difficult world in which we live.  In order for us to walk in the path of the Lord, we must keep our focus upon the Lord and His Word.

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