Posted on 01/26/2022 12:14:20 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back” (Proverbs 26:1 KJV).
Vss. 1-12 deal with the fool. Only in verse two does the fool not show up, but he is clearly seen in the rest. Verses 13-16 it is the sluggard, the slothful man. Verses 17-28 showcase troublemakers and talebearers (or gossips). The sluggard and the fool have been dealt with a lot in Proverbs.
“As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest,” now, those two things just don’t fit the season, “so honour is not seemly for a fool.” All I can think of here is when they honor some man unworthy of it. Some of us remember Michael Jackson, accused of being a sexual predator (he even settled some things with the families of minors for millions of dollars), and yet he was honored. They have honored a fool. He’s a very weird type of fellow, effeminate, a Jehovah’s Witness follower, and a predator. He goes into a city and the mayors give him the key to their cities. That is like snow in summer.
Do you know where the bird goes? It goes where God tells him to go. He doesn't go anywhere without a cause. Well, the curse doesn't come on you without a cause, see, “the curse causeless shall not come.” People say, “Why did that happen to me?” Well, you deserved it.
Now, I realize that in the case of a Christian, you are talking about a situation where it could have been the devil, but there again there is a cause for it, “all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” So, it’s a good cause and you should have expected it. And you don’t need to ask why that happened to you—if you are living godly.
Here are passages that deal with curses in the Bible.
“How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?” (Numbers 23:8).
Deuteronomy 27:15-26 is the whole package on curses. See, a curse will not come without a cause.
Galatians 3:13, that's where Christ is made a curse for you. You are cursed because of sin. You are not going to go to hell causeless. A person goes to hell for a good cause. A curse is on him.
The bridal is to keep the horse in line, going the right direction. These are three things are needed to train, discipline, punish, and direct. You want to tame a fool? Use a rod on him. “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15). You want to raise a fool? Don’t use the rod on him. That’s all I can say, you want to raise up a fool? Just don't whip him.
“A whip for the horse,” that gets him to go. “. . . a bridle for the ass,” that gets him to turn, gets him to stop. Whoa! Without a bridal, that old donkey is rebellions. People need a bridle on them.
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In thinking back I see where if I decided to do things without a cause it ended up not so good . Nowadays I try to coordinate every move so as to get the most accomplished as God has blessed me with more work than ever {I love to work}and he has given me the means to do so. A great reference to Michael Jackson,as his being praised by the world yet he was lost and self serving with his focus on the carnal. Glory to God and thank you as always Pilgrim for posting Gods word.
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