The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Proverbs 10:11
God speaks a great deal about "a fountain of life." That is why it is truly amazing to read that God says the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. Let's take a look at what the Word says about being a fountain of life - and learn to embrace the wisdom of having our mouth be all that this means. In Psalm 36:9 we read that the people of God are given the blessing of drinking the fill of God's presence in His house - and also to drink of the rives of God's delights. These things are said to bring us to know that God is the fountain of life. A second time in Psalm 68:26 God is called the fountain of Israel. Thus we see that "a fountain of life" coming from our mouths is simply that we speak of the Lord and the things of the Lord. This is confirmed further as we learn that Proverbs 13:14 tells us that the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life. As we experience these wonderful words, they teach us to turn aside from the snares of death - the sin that can ensnare us and destroy us if left undealt with in life. Proverbs 14:27 tells us that the fear of the LORD is a fountain of life - again telling us that when we live according to it, we will avoid the snares of death. Proverbs 16:22 reminds us that understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it - keeping us from the discpline of fools. All these various statements tell us something wonderful. To be a fountain of life - a righteous man or woman whose mouth flows forth with the blessing of God, we should strive to have all these things at work in us. That means that we embrace God Himself as the source of all that we offer to others - all that we speak and say. We know that God is also the one who allows us to teach and speak that life to others. But as we do, we also fear God and embrace understanding things as He does - speaking them as He would speak them to us. (Remember that the earliest definition of wisdom we had was that it was seeing things as God sees them.) As we speak according to the fear of God - speaking with His understanding, His wisdom as we teach others - we will be not just a fountain of life - but a fountain that protects them from death - its snares and its lies. The opposite of the fountain of life is what the mouth of the wicked offers to us. The wicked is speaking - but he is speaking falsehood - and he is not offering to others a fountain of life. What he offers is concealed violence. Since selfishness reigns in his life - he doesn't have a desire for others to be blessed. Deep down he wants what they have - he wants things for himself. There is not a fountain that flows outward - in giving life to others. He has a type of vortex that sucks all things toward himself. And when things begin to move toward taking something from him, no longer making him the center of things - he responds with violence. The example of this is best seen in the example of Saul. When he realized that God was taking the kingdom from him and giving it to another - he became very paranoid . . . and very violent. He watched as God blessed David - and it drove him crazy. He tried to pin David to the wall with a spear - tried to kill him by the hand of the Philistines - tried to kill him in his bed even while David was married to his daughter - and when his son, Jonathan stood up for David, even tried to kill him by throwing a spear at him. What flowed from Saul's heart was violence, even though he tried to conceal it with his mouth. It was eventually revealed that he was filled not with love and live - but with violence and hate. What is coming out of your mouth? Jesus let us know that what comes out of our mouths is what dwells in our hearts. He desires for life to flow out of us - for blessing to be what is spoken as we speak. But that will only happen as we embrace the righteousness that God offers to us in Christ. The way that we receive "the mouth of the righteous" is by embracing the only One Who can make us righteous, Jesus Christ. It is only as His life fills us through the Holy Spirit that we will have that mouth that blesses. May God give us the wisdom to embrace Him - and in so doing - have Him gloriously transform our mouth to speak so as to give life and blessing to all who hear us.
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For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. Proverbs 2:18-19
Where does sexual immorality get you in the end? We all realize that it promises pleasure in the short term - but where do we wind up when the pleasure subsides and a life course reaches its end? That is what today's proverb tells us. It informs us of this through the destination of the harlot - the "strange woman" - the adulteress. First, we learn of her "house." This speaks of the place where someone dwells. The word was used to indicate the building in which a family or household lives. Here, though, it speaks metaphorically of where she will take you - as she encourages you to enter into adultery with her. Her house sinks down to death. There is no solid ground upon which to stand - or upon which to found a house with this woman. How could there be - she is trashing her marital vows - ignoring God's Word - and striking out into her own desires for sex and for unbiblical companionship. Her house will collapse - and sink like one built on sand. Christ spoke of this in Matthew 7:24-27. A person whose life is not built upon obedience to Christ's Word - is a life built upon sand. The adulteress may promise passion and pleasure for a night - but when the storm of the adultery is known - the house will collapse because it was built on the sand foundation of sexual desires. Her house sinks like sand - down to death. Her tracks or steps also lead to the dead. Her house here is sinking toward being dead. The term death here refers to more than just physical death. When this term is used figuratively it expresses the idea of ruin and destruction. It is most often contrasted with the opposite ideas of life, prosperity, and happiness. Can you imagine walking into a buildling - a home - where you are guaranteed that any desires for life, prosperity, and happiness are going to be dashed upon the rocks of your own strong sexual urges. What the father is trying to get the son to see here is that embracing God's Word will instruct him and help deliver him from such things - and from such women. He is also telling his son that to follow her steps toward the bedroom - is to follow in a path that leads to the spirits of the dead. I am not a fan of horror movies - but I can imagine a scene where seduction is taking place - and a man chooses to follow an adulteress into the bedroom. But what I see as a result of the Scriptures is not a hot and heavy sex scene - but a transformation of those steps from following a sultry seductress to following an evil spirit. Each step renders the former beauty that was leading me to the bed of adultery into a hideous, horrific creature that would make any horror film antagonist look like little bo peep in comparison. That is the picture that is being painted for us. But there is more in the next verse. As this fool follows the adulteress into her bedroom - the door behind them begins to shut. Movie producers would have us to believe the shutting of that door closes the two of them in a room of ecstacy and a night of sexual pleasure that the two of them will never forget. That is not the picture that the Word of God wants us to see though. As the door closes - it is not with a gentle click of the doorknob hitting the plate. What we hear is a slamming sound - and the sound we hear reverberates throughout all of eternity. We read in the proverb that none who go to her return again, nor to they reach the paths of life. What we need to hear is not a gentle door closing - but a snapping of a trap which ends with the crushing sound of our spiritual life being snuffed out. If we go this way - we are closing ourselves into a prison cell - into a torture chamber. We are locking ourselves into a sin the likes of which we may never escape. This is not a pleasure palace. It is a poisoned pit that will captivate us forever. The poison is released when the flesh has secured our devotion to sexual immorality. We become addicted to the high of sexual release - especially the kind of release that involves secret, unlawful, hidden, wicked actions. That kind of high has enslaved men and women since the entrance of sin into this world. I realize in reading this some will accuse me of resorting to extremes to prove a point. But consider the lengths the movie and television industry goes to in order to supposedly entertain us. They are capturing us with pictures - with scenes that they want to etch into our minds. The vast majority of the time these pictures and scenes are promoting the very things that the Scriptures warn against. Yet we do not accuse them of something elicit. God understood the power of pictures long before the idea of cinema ever entered the mind of man. That is why His Word is filled with some of the most expressive language ever written. That is why He uses word picture after word picture to warn us of the pitfalls and dangers of sin. Rather than discourage a child from seeing the ones God gives us - maybe as fathers we should paint them in the most vivid colors imaginable for our sons and daughters. I know that if we do we will find ourselves in the company of some very wise and godly men who knew how to use them for the glory of God and the protection of their children - rather than for a gold statue handed out at an awards show. Remember dads, the only awards show that matters is the one at the end of the age - where the ONLY presenter will be God Himself. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life. Proverbs 6:23
Today we are going to cover an amazing proverb that applies to every area and every aspect of life itself. Here, like in the gospel, we are told of "the way of life." Unlike in the gospel, this "way of life" is not one that can redeem us from sin - but it can be used by the Holy Spirit to make us a lifetime learner - a disciple who knows how God works through His Word and through the way that it is taught to us by the Spirit. If there was ever a day to listen closely - today would be that day. We are told of two things at the beginning of this proverb. We are told of the commandent and the teaching. These two things are compared to a lamp and to light. First we have the commandment. This is the same word that is used for God's 10 commandments. It refers to God's Law - and I believe beyond the Old Testament it can be applied to the inspired Word of God anywhere in the Old or New Testaments. We are told here that the commandment is a lamp. A lamp is something that can emit light if used properly. The lamp will always have the potential for light to come from it. It is something that holds light - and if lit it will radiate light. Interesting for us who understand the figures and types that are used for God's Holy Spirit, a lamp is filled with oil which is a type throughout the Old Testament for the Spirit and His work. When that oil is lit - the lamp produces light. In much the same way, the Word of God always has within it the teaching of the Holy Spirit - His leading and His instruction, warning, and rebuke. When we come to God's Word, the lamp, we have the wonderful working of the Spirit of God as He illumines the Scriptures for us. But before we think that simply reading or hearing the Word will always produce light, we need to remember that the commandment is a lamp. It can produce light - but it can also remain unlit and just be a lamp. There are those who misuse God's Word and no light comes forth. The devil himself quoted the Scriptures to Jesus - to try and get Him to sin. In that instance the lamp did not produce light - but it was abused to promote darkness. There are also professors even at semniaries who do not believe the Bible is the Word of God. The teaching they do promotes darkness. This means that we cannot make a blanket statement that when the Bible is taught or read that it always results in light. The second statement made here is that the teaching is light. First off we need to note here that we are not reading that the teaching is the light. "THE" light is reserved for references to Jesus Christ Himself - God - and amazingly enough, us when we are manifesting God's character to others. Here we read that the teaching is light. The word for teaching here is the Hebrew word "torah." Here torah means instruction or direction. In the Old Testament the word mean instruction in a general manner from God Himself. The idea here is that the command is the lamp - and when the Spirit or a Spirit-inspired teacher is instructing from it - the lamp becomes light - or begins to illumine with light. This is so important for us to grasp because it is the very way that God will instruct and teach us. We come to the Word, but we covet that when we do the Holy Spirit instructs us as we read and as we meditate upon what the Word says. Do not misunderstand me to say that the Bible becomes the Word as it is taught. That is false doctrine. The Bible is always the inspired Word of God that gives us the revelation of God. It is just that we are blind to it without the instruction of the Holy Spirit who opens our hearts and spirits so that we can receive what God says. That is why I think it is important to consciously ask the Spirit of God to teach us when we come to the Word of God. There is one other thing this passage teaches us about the functioning of the Word in our lives. Today there are many who teach that the major reason for God's Word is that we can "confess who we are" in a positive way. There is a potential problem with this doctrinal view. We can get to the point where we only receive "positive" messages about ourselves from God's Word - and not conviction of sin. When we read this passage though, it seems that we are learning something contrary to the positive confession doctrine. "And reproofs for discipline are the way of life." When we read this we have to come to the conclusion that a large part of what the Word of God is going to do is reprove us. It is probably at least one fourth of what it does because we read in 2 Timothy 3:16 that the Word of God is profitable for reproof. Actually the 2 Timothy passage says not just reproof, but also correction as well. The Word of God comes to us often to reprove and correct us. One of God's complaints against the false prophets is that they would whitewash Israel's sin. They would constantly talk about blessing without helping Israel and Judah to see that they had sinned against the Lord. It does not matter how many "positive" confessions you make to yourself, God, and others - if you have unconfessed sin in your life - God will not bless you. And since we are fallen creatures who live in a fallen world - we need for God to reveal to us that when we are acting "fallen!" If you read Romans 7 - you do not come away with the thought that Paul just needed to be more positive. He was wrestling with very real sin - and a very real fleshly, sinful nature that could not be defeated except through Jesus Christ. That is why we need desperately to see that we need to be reproved and disciplined by God to become all that God desires for us to be in Christ. Without that reproof and correction, we will not know from what we need to turn. The way of life is through being disciplined by God - and that involves the Lord reproving us for our sin. When we come to His Word - His commandments - He is going to reveal to us how we have sinned against Him. He does not do this because He hates us. Contrary to that thought, He does it because He loves us! He desires for us to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12) - and that means He wants us to share in His life. Wisdom is coming to God's Word in the right way each day. It means that we approach the Lord each day being open to what He wants to teach us. As we do this we also open ourselves to His Spirit to reveal to us that we may have sinned - or we may be lacking godly character - or a good attitude toward an authority. There are any number of ways that God might speak to our hearts and help us to abandon sin - and embrace His holiness. Regardless of what specifics are involved, God desires to bring blessing into our lives through this process. Remember - the reproofs and discipline are the way of life! He is bringing you life when He does these things. Be wise therefore and receive what He is saying each day - whether it is encouragement, exhortation, teaching, or reproof. They are all in his arsenal of blessing to conform you to the image of His Son and change you to be a better vessel for the blessing of not just yourself - but everyone around you. Take hold of instruction; do not let go. Guard her, for she is your life. Proverbs 4:13
If we want the life of God, we will have to embrace the ways in which God grants us life. The way He does this initially is by grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ. After God grants us His life this way - there are ways that we can experience and enjoy the life He provides in Jesus. One of the ways that God continues to bless us with life is by us embracing His instruction in our lives. The word for instruction here is the Hebrew word "musar" which means instruction and discipline. Throughout proverbs this instruction and discipline comes primarily through the father and the mother in the family. They come as a teacher to their children offering them this instruction via teaching and at times the rod. Some might squirm a little when we speak of discipline, but the Scriptures are clear that God disciplines us because He loves us. Hebrews 12:5-11 is an excellent passage that might help us here in seeing how we receive life through God's instrutive discipline. Hebrews 12:5-11 says, "You have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. " God's instructive discipline does many things. First it reminds us that God loves us as His sons. Second, we know that God disciplines us for our good - not because He is angry and disgusted with us. Third we learn that God's discipline is done for good, that we mighy share His holiness. Without discipline we would rebel against Him - but the discipline reminds us that we are being conformed to His image - and that involves being conformed to His holiness. Lastly, His instructive discipline will yield peace in our lives. As we are conformed to His image - as we are made righteous as He is righteous - there will be great blessing - as well as great peace added to our lives. God's instruction is not solely disciplinary - much of it is instructive as God is showing us the way to God - the things to say - the people to whom we need to minister. But for us to get the full blessings of it we will have to follow what Solomon is telling us to do here. We need to "take hold" of this instruction and "guard" it. Taking hold of instruction means that with great strength we grab it. The idea behind this word is to grab something with a powerful grip and not let go. Elsewhere in Proverbs we are told to listen intently with a view toward obedience. This is what we are being told in another way here. We have such a tendency to partially hear someting - or to hear it with no intent to obey or make what we hear an integral part of our lives. We need to latch on to whatever we are taught by the Holy Spirit - and to put a death griip on it - so it does not slip away from us. The proverb tells us to "guard" the instruction - the teaching - the discipline that we receive from God. This is the word "natsar" that we have encountered so often in this book. It means to watch, the guard, and to keep something. It has the idea of setting a guard - a watchman - a sentry over our instruction from God. We cannot come away from this admonition without seeing clearly God is warning us NOT to forget something - NOT to let it go - NOT to let it slip away from us as we think of other things later. Our Lord knows how prone we are to be distracted and forget things. If we want life, we will have to counteract this by forcefully taking hold of the things God teaches us. Wisdom is taking what God teaches us very seriously - and taking His discipline the same way. If we do this we will be fully embracing the life that He desires to pour into our lives. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast. Proverbs 3:18
Wisdom is a tree of life. Today's proverb of the day informs us of that fact as well as how wisdom will help us to be happy if we hold fast to it and not allow the world or the desires of our own flesh to loosen our hold upon it. The tree of life is a thoroughly biblical thing from the beginning of the Bible to its close. We open in Genesis with the garden of Eden and the tree of life - and end with the tree of life bearing fruit on both sides of a river that runs through heaven itself. There are things in the Scriptures that are referred to as "a" tree of life - and then there are the references in Genesis and Revelation to "the" tree of life. The tree of life is a wonderful picture of Christ Himself - Who is the One who gives us life itself, while "a" tree of life is something that we should note - because it is a means of God blessing us with His life. Wisdom is described in this way. Wisdom is a tree of life to those who hold strongly to her. The statement here to "take hold" of wisdom comes from the Hebrew word "hazaq" which meant to be strong, to strengthen, to be courageous, or to overpower. When we take hold of wisdom, we are fastening upon it with strength and courage. We hold fast to wisdom as we use it to overpower other thoughts that might enter into our thinking that run contrary to Scripture or God's ways. She yields to us sweet fruits of life itself when we do this. But the opposite is true as well. When we let go of wisdom and prefer the wisdom of this world that is passing away - it will yield to us fruits of death. That is why it is not enough just to have wisdom enter our ears - we must learn to hear it and hold it fast with all our strength and all our will. There is a promise for us though, to motivate us to hold wisdom fast. When we do we are promised that we will be happy. The word for happy here is "asar" which means to go straight ahead, to advance forward, be blessed, or to be made happy. According to Zhodiates it was a figuative phrase that meant to follow a straight path in understanding which in turn will give us a single heart and will also help us advance in God's ways and paths. If we were to compare this with the Beattitudes in Matthew 5, we would see that the ways of God's wisdom always promise for us a state of being blessed. In Matthew the word for blessed, did not just mean a happy emotional state - but had the idea of being blessed because God is smiling upon us. Wisdom will bring us to the place of knowing God's favor and His smile. That is why we need to hold fast and hard onto wisdom. It is the way to a life blessed by Almighty God - and as such is the best way to life. For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you. Proverbs 9:11
I receive health food, supplement, and exercise information on a regular basis. I do this because I realize that there are benefits to eating and doing the right things for my physical body. But there are those in the health-conscious world who think that this alone is how to have a long, healthy, happy life. They are sadly mistaken. Here in Proverbs 9 we have wisdom personified telling us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom - and that the knowledge of the Holy One is the way to live with understanding in this world. Immediately after that statement wisdom then tells us that He is the One who can add to our days and give us a long, happy life. It is wisdom that mattters - and God is the One who can give it to us. While I do agree that certain health-conscious choices will lengthen our days - none of the sage advice of the health guru's has anything on the revelation of God in the Scripture. When you look at the Old Testament laws concerning food and cleanliness, you realize that within that system that is nearly 4000 years old is the best way to stay healthy and free from disease. It is really shocking to some when they realize this. I mean, these folks didn't even have hand sanitizer! God's Word goes far beyond just physical well-being though. It moves into the area of spiritual well-being. That involves far more than just sitting on a floor chanting and centering yourself in . . . yourself. It involves being in a right relationship with God. It is moving all your temporary, momentary physical health toward what God intended for you in the first place - to know, serve, and love Him. If we are not doing this - it really doesn't matter how many "pain-free" and "vital" years we live on this earth. Things WILL go badly for us the moment we die. So, may God give us wisdom to follow Him . . . in what is best for us physically, and what is best for us spiritually. That is the way to a long, healthy, wonderful life here on earth - and a life after your days here are ended - that will last throughout all eternity. The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches, honor and life. Proverbs 22:4
What brings a person riches and honor? That is widely debated in our world today. There are those who act with pride and isolence - who step on whoever they need to step on to get to the top. They use questionable tactics and ungodly ways to gather their riches and they demand honor from their subordinates. The problem is that once they leave this life - they leave their so-called honor and riches behind - and enter into eternal poverty. The other problem is that while in this life honor is not afforded to them except by threats - and their riches are in danger of someone just like them - who would gladly take them away and toss them on the trash heap of those who were formerly rich and famous. God gives us wisdom as to the place of lasting riches, honor - and most of all life. These three must come in their trio-form for a person to truly be rich and truly be honored. For what honor is there in hell? What riches await those burning in flame and eaten by worms? Without life in eternity our earthly honor will mock us as the ages pile upon the ages. Without life our riches will slip through our hands like one trying to grasp and hold oil. The way to these things is through humility. We read in the Word that God resists the proud. That the Lord hates the proud look and the arrogant heart. Temporary riches and deceptive honor may come without humility - but the real thing demands it. The wise man realizes that at the top of all things is God - and the true "way to the top" comes as we humble ourselves before Him. History is littered with those who thought they could become the big cheese - yet in the end - only smelled like it. When we humble ourselves before God - we place ourselves in the path of blessing. The truly wise man embraces humility and his own weaknesses. He even glories in them because he knows that as he sees himself weak - then God becomes strong in his life - his choices - and his actions. God also speaks through this proverb to tell us that the other twin of riches, honor, and life is the fear of the Lord. This is a respect and intrinsic honor shown to God, His Word, and His judgment on all matters. We are told at the very beginning of Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Without a proper fear of God - we will degenerate into a pride and self-assuredness that will lead us astray from wisdom. This fear of God often begins with a terror initially as we grasp Who God is - and where we stand before Him. Imagine the moment Paul grasped the true fear of the Lord. He had settled into a self-assured sense of his own right-ness in his religious views and stands. This had led him to the point of persecuting Christians to the death - and imprisoning others. On his way to Damascus to continue his unholy war on the church - Jesus Christ manifest His ultimate power and knocked Paul off his horse and blinded his eyes with light. Imagine the fear that must have gripped Paul when he heard that the answer to "Who are you Lord?" was, "I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting." The fear of God had to almost paralyze this man who lay on the road. But that moment of terror was also the beginning of wisdom for Paul. It led him away from a religion of effort and self-righteousness - to the true wisdom of God's grace in the gospel. There are many voices telling us how to be rich, honored, and truly alive in this world. Unless they are telling us that the way to these things is through the path of humility and the fear of God . . . they are wrong. God will resist those who take other messages than this one. But for those who embrace humility and the fear of the Lord - there is a wealth, an honor, and life that can never be taken from them. Truly theirs is the wise way of achieving them - and holding to them forever. |
Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend. Thank you!
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