PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

The worst thing you can have is pride. It will cost you more than any other character fault. Conceit will deceive you into folly, which will quickly and surely shame you. But humility leads to wisdom, which protects men from foolish mistakes and then disgrace.

“When pride cometh,” and it doesn’t take very long for it to come, does it.

“Then cometh shame,” that’s just the result of pride. Satan, as Lucifer, was doing all right until he just decided that he wanted to it his way. He said, “I will ascend above the stars of God,” and “I’ll set my throne above the throne of God,” well, shame soon followed when he was cast out of the presence of God. As we see in Isaiah 14, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah 14:13-15 KJV).

“When pride cometh, then cometh shame,” take Nebuchadnezzar. He said, “My great kingdom, and I’ve got this thing under control.” And about that time, he lost it all. “When pride cometh, then cometh shame.”

“, , , but with the lowly is wisdom,” consider these verses:

“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12 KJV). This is just an axiom of life—a principle of life—a person that is humble is one that will yield to God. Moses was a meek man. He got mad at God, but he always yielded to God. He would do God’s work in God’s way. Now there were times that he would get mad at God, and take matters into his own hands, but he would always come back to the Lord. He would calm down and get himself collected. David was the same way. David was a strong man, and a man that made mistakes, but he always came back to God. He had enough humility where he recognized his sin, and recognized his disobedience, and he would repent to get right with God. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Father so often are we guilty of seeking our own glory while claiming to be like Jesus in our lives, yet He was a Man of perfect meekness and humility. Help us to guard ourselves against pride in our lives and forever remind us that of all the things that we have in this life, they are ours because You have given them to us. All that You have given us is better than we deserve. Amen.

Let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread!

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A Proverbs commentary volume I have says that the modest students who sit silently and listen to their teacher will attain wisdom. The ones who mock the teachers in order to voice their own opinions embarrass others and do not gain wisdom. (I summarized)

A Jewish sage taught “If a word is worth one coin, then silence is worth two.”

Most wise indeed. It makes sense that a closed mouth makes learning a lot easier.