PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want” (Proverbs 22:14-16).

“The mouth of strange women is a deep pit,” notice that, “the mouth” (singular) of “strange women” (plural) . . . they all have one mouth. You spend any time among them, and you’ll notice that they all say the same thing.

Solomon deals with the “strange woman” in 2:16, 2:19, and 5:3. The deep pit is that her words will draw a man in and at the end of that thing is destruction. It will get a man in trouble, and it is not easy to get out.

“. . . he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein,” why? Because God will lead him to her. That is the problem. If a man desires to do wrong, God will lead him to destruction. It is the old proverbial saying, “He will give a man enough rope to hang himself.”

“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child,” to be “bound” is to be chained, tied up, in jail, in prison, incarcerated. In a child’s own strength, it cannot be released from what it is, but we, as parents can help them. It is a part of his nature, and the only way he can get help is from the outside. A child is not going to chasten himself. All a child knows is how to do things that come naturally. Our natural self is in Adam and is death.

This verse is so powerful that it would behoove every parent to not only memorize it, but to put it in practice on a regular basis—whenever it is needed. “Foolishness is bound,” the kid can’t help it—he is born that way. But he doesn’t have to stay that way, and yet there are men in the 50’s and 60’s that are still bound by that which his parents allowed to continue unabated.

One of a parent’s greatest jobs is to drive foolishness far from their child. They are to make that child see that it is unacceptable behavior. Living, as we do, in these years of the AntiFa resistance it is easy to see that the modern parents have not only allowed foolishness to reign in the lives of their children, but even encouraged it. A foolish child, that can’t help what he is, will grow into a foolish adult that could have been helped. It is easy to bend a twig, but not so a fully-grown oak tree.

“. . . but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him,” You have to drive foolishness far from him, make him see that it is bad, that it is going to reap bad results in his life, and to get him to seek a better way.

“He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches,” like advertising, making false promises about things to convince people to buy things they don’t need. Medicines that promise to heal that don’t. Religious and political hucksters. “. . . and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want,” government, business, and religion often oppress the poor for profit sometimes.

One of the problems we have with our graduated income tax system is that it is just a fancy way of saying that some folks pay more than others of a percentage of their earnings. It is really set up to advantage for the rich man. There are many, many loopholes for him to get out of it. They have lawyers, and trusts, and shelters which provide them means to hide their income. A lot of rich men pay very little taxes, so there are many ways to oppress the poor.

Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so 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! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.

If anyone would like to be added to the ping list, please let me know either by post or by p.m.

Each day I look forward to reading your daily thread. Your current day examples of the ancient wisdom taught by Proverbs are right on target and really drive home how relevant these verses are to what is now occurring in our world. Thank you for sharing this wonderful teaching instrument with Freepers.

One of a parent’s greatest jobs is to drive foolishness far from their child. They are to make that child see that it is unacceptable behavior. Living, as we do, in these years of the AntiFa resistance it is easy to see that the modern parents have not only allowed foolishness to reign in the lives of their children, but even encouraged it. A foolish child, that can’t help what he is, will grow into a foolish adult that could have been helped. It is easy to bend a twig, but not so a fully-grown oak tree.

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Good stuff. Love the antifa reference.