PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“The rich man's wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty” (Proverbs 10:15 KJV).

“The rich man's wealth is his strong city,” money is what he trusts for his defense. Who needs God as long as the coffers are full? In Luke 12:16, you have the rich fool and his wealth was his strong city—his riches, but it didn’t help him on the day of his death. Sure, it was his defense against the poverty of life, but it didn’t help him for eternity.

“. . . the destruction of the poor is their poverty,” Agur gives us the explanation of this verse later on: “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain” (Proverbs 30:8-9 KJV).

Both men—the rich and the poor—have a real problem. The rich man trusted in his wealth, but because the poor man is poor, he tends to have to steal. The one man trusts his riches, the other man is tempted to do wrong to get what he needs. And both end up being destroyed.

“. . . feed me with food convenient for me,” give me just what I need, let me get by. “Lest I be full,” like the rich man that fared sumptuously every day like the rich man in Luke 16, “and deny thee.” That rich man trusted in his riches and denied any need for God. “Who is the Lord? Why do I need him?” “. . . or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

Christ came to preach the Gospel to the poor, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor” (Luke 4:18 KJV). You can bet that more poor people will hear the Gospel than rich people. “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:23-24 KJV).

Most rich people won’t come to church. You take poor folk; they don’t have anywhere else to go. If they want to go out, church is free! One day a young boy’s parents were bad-mouthing the preacher and saying how horrible his message was. The kid said, “I don’t know, it was a pretty good show for a nickel.”

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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Good Morning Pilgrim’s Progress...
Sorry for not responding over the past week.
My husband has ended up in the hospital with complications from his Parkinson’s Disease.
Please pray that I will be wise in the next steps for his care.
God will lead me.....
Polly

Dear sister, God is perfect in all things and there isn’t anything that you can do that is wrong in these days. The most wonderful reality no matter what we are facing is that we know the Lord and have the certainty that He still has a perfect plan and will for each of our lives. As the Lord lays your concern on my heart, I will certainly pray for you and your husband.