Posted on 02/25/2020 5:51:33 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone. Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it” (Proverbs 25:15).
“By long forbearing,” by patience, “is a Prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.” In other words, you have a hard situation. You want to you overcome it; it comes from patience. You just don't rush through life and solve things quickly. It takes time. By patiently waiting on the Lord, dealing with the situation.
Proverbs 16:14 speaks on a similar vein: “The wrath of a king is as messengers of death: but a wise man will pacify it.” In other words, he won't stir him up. Also, it's true of prayer: “I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth” (Luke 11:8). This talks about importunities. If you just keep patiently going back to the Prince, eventually the Prince will give you a hearing, and when you go to him, have a soft tongue, “a soft answer turneth away wrath,” the Bible says, in 15:1.
That is true of prayer. James 5:16 cautions, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Colossians 4:2, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2).
Don't stop. And that's how you seemingly persuade the Prince, because your Saviour is the Prince of peace and sometimes He just wants to see how desirous you are of what you're after. If you go to him one time and ask for it, and it is soon forgotten, there's not much desire on your part and He knows it. But forbearing will persuade the Prince.
“Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it” (Proverbs 25:16).
Well, that’s just discipline there, and not overeating. “The glutton and the drunkard should come to poverty,” and here the guy eats too much. I mean, honey as good, but too much is bad for you. It's moderation, “eat so much as is sufficient for thee.” Now, the Bibles is likened into honey. The verses on moderation and temperance are found in Philippians 4:5, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” And temperance is dealt with in Galatians 5:23 as a fruit of the Spirit.
This is a rebuke against physical and spiritual gluttony. What do I mean, spiritual gluttony? There are some people that just want to study, study, study, read, read, read, study, study, study and not do anything with it. That's bad.
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.
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