Proverb A Day, Proverb 10 [Prayer and Meditation]

Bible NKJV ^ | 900 B.C. | Solomon

[OneVike]

Wealth Without Sorrow

Have you ever noticed how sorrow seems to attach itself to the riches of this world? If you haven’t noticed, dear one, perhaps you should.

It’s time we get wise to the scheme and stop buying in. The prince of this world would tell us that money buys happiness. It doesn’t. When we look closely at those who have laid claim to the world’s riches, we rarely find the happiness it promises.

Instead, we find sorrow. Brokenness. Heartache. Depression. Addiction. Hatred. Loneliness.

Yet for some reason, we still believe the lie. We still long for the blessing of the world and seek its riches.

What if we just decided to stop believing it? What if, instead, we sought the blessing of the Lord?

Here’s God’s promise, dear one. His blessing will make you rich, and it comes with no sorrow attached.

The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

Wouldn’t you love a little wealth free from sorrow?

Jesus provides that, dear one. He longs to make us rich. But the wealth of God isn’t limited to dollar signs as the world’s is. It’s all encompassing. He desires to make your relationships rich. He wants to enrich your marriages and overwhelm them with joy. He wants to make singleness rich, and even bring joy from your work.

Whatever situation you find yourself in, dear one, God longs to enrich.

He is the fullness of joy, and He longs to enhance our lives as we experience the blessing of who He is. But His purpose is even greater than that. He wants His blessing to so overtake and fill us that it begins to flow out of us and bless others.

Beloved, God seeks to pour out and multiply blessing through His people.

You see, that’s simply who God is. He blesses. In fact, that’s the first thing He did after creating man and woman.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion . . . ” Genesis 1:27-28

Have you considered what that means for you and me, dear one? This is the evidence of God’s blessing resting upon us: His blessing prospers and multiplies.

Before we go further, I think we should consider what exactly God desires to multiply. What was God looking to accomplish with that blessing?

I believe it’s best understood through the context in which He spoke it.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Apparently God didn’t want us to miss the fact that we were created in His image. He repeated Himself in case we missed it the first time. And this is the context in which He blessed them. “I have made you in my image. Now be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with who I am.”

Can you even imagine it? A world in which every man and woman reflected God’s character? Where loving, giving, nurturing and selflessness were the norm?

Unfortunately, the deceiving serpent convinced Adam and Eve to step outside of God’s blessing. And when he did, he enslaved man’s heart, changing the kind of fruit we produce.

He replaced love with selfishness. Sorrow overtook our joy. Instead of peace, we naturally worry. Instead of patience, anger erupts. In place of kindness, we hurt people. Evil has overrun goodness. Faithfulness withers into doubt. Harshness crushes gentleness, and self-control is all but lost.

The fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)—meant to nourish, grow, and produce abundant life—has been replaced by the fruit of God’s enemy. The image of God has been overshadowed in the hearts of the people He created to reveal it. Instead, the character of man naturally reflects the image of His enemy.

God gives of Himself. Satan takes for himself.

Beloved, Jesus went to the cross so that you and I could once again reflect the image of God. He conquered the deceiver and poured out His Spirit to all who will believe, equipping us to become who He is.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29

And now He asks us to take up His commission and do what we’ve been appointed to do.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last . . . This is my command: Love each other. John 15:16-17

Lasting fruit, dear one, will always find its source in love. Love drove Jesus to the cross. And if we allow it to come alive in us, love will change the world.

I think it’s time we let God fill the world with His image.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV

Proverb 10 (NKJV)

A Wise Son and a Foolish Son
01 The proverbs of Solomon:

00 A wise son makes a glad father,
00 But a foolish son is the grief of his mother.

02 Treasures of wickedness profit nothing
00 But righteousness delivers from death.
03 The LORD will not allow the righteous soul to famish,
00 But He casts away the desire of the wicked.

04 He who has a slack hand becomes poor,
00 But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
05 He who gathers in summer is a wise son;
00 He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.

06 Blessings are on the head of the righteous
00 But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
07 The memory of the righteous is blessed,
00 But the name of the wicked will rot.

08 The wise in heart will receive commands,
00 But a prating fool will fall.

09 He who walks with integrity walks securely,
00 But he who perverts his ways will become known.

10 He who winks with the eye causes trouble,
00 But a prating fool will fall.

11 The mouth of the righteous is a well of life,
00 But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

12 Hatred stirs up strife,
00 But love covers all sins.

13 Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has understanding,
00 But a rod is for the back of him who is devoid of understanding.

14 Wise people store up knowledge,
00 But the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

15 The rich man's wealth is his strong city;
00 The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

16 The labor of the righteous leads to life,
00 The wages of the wicked to sin.

17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life,
00 But he who refuses correction goes astray.

18 Whoever hides hatred has lying lips,
00 And whoever spreads slander is a fool.

19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking,
00 But he who restrains his lips is wise.
20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
00 The heart of the wicked is worth little.
21 The lips of the righteous feed many,
00 But fools die for lack of wisdom.

22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich,
00 And He adds no sorrow with it.

23 To do evil is like sport to a fool,
00 But a man of understanding has wisdom.
24 The fear of the wicked will come upon him,
00 And the desire of the righteous will be granted.
25 When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more,
00 But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.

26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
00 So is the lazy man to those who send him.

27 The fear of the LORD prolongs days,
00 But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
28 The hope of the righteous will be gladness,
00 But the expectation of the wicked will perish.
29 The way of the LORD is strength for the upright,
00 But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity.

30 The righteous will never be removed,
00 But the wicked will not inhabit the earth.
31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
00 But the perverse tongue will be cut out.
32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,
00 But the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.

[OneVike]

A message I found that says what I was wanting to say. When someone else has already said it so well, why reinvent the wheel.

God bless you all this day, and my prayers continue for those suffering from Hurricane Henry's devastation and for those in the path of Irma.

[OneVike]

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[imardmd1]

>> "Beloved, God seeks to pour out and multiply blessing through His people. <<

The world of the writer of Proverbs involved material blessings for God's Chosen People, the Hebrews, by living according to The Law.

That is not the world of the born-in-the-Spirit follower of Jesus, who may have tribulations, illness, repudiation by fellow-humans for his allegiance to The Christ, and death before his time from persecution or the vicissitudes of the material world.

But the True Christian has all--repeat all--the spiritual blessings denied to the heathen, but shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:5):

Ephesians 1:3-6 KJV:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ:
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before him in love:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will,
To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

Seeking material blessings is not the way to holiness and joy, in this post-Resurrection world of sin. In any case, they would be temporary and not profitable in the Way of Christ.

It is the magnanimous and gracious gift of these spiritual treasures that brings no sorrow to the confessor of allegiance to the Holy One, to which reigning with Him in the world to come has been added.

[NEWwoman]

12 Hatred stirs up strife,
00 But love covers all sins.

Amen