PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:8-9).

This is not saying that when a man is righteous, he is never going to have much, that is certainly not true in America. We live in a country where God not only blesses physically but also financially. Compared to other countries, there are no impoverished people here—in fact, everyone is quite wealthy. But it is better to have little with righteousness, than to have much without righteousness. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21). Stuff won’t bring you peace, in fact, it’ll bring your more unrest because now you have to worry about all the stuff. In John 3, the Bible says that the “wrath of God abideth on him,” present tense, when they have not the righteousness of Christ.

Paul didn’t have a lot, but he was right with God and God used him. The Apostles had very little, but they were right with God, and God used them right up until their martyrdom. John had little, but he had a lot in his post-resurrection fellowship with Jesus Christ Himself there on the Isle of Patmos.

The rich man in Luke 16 had a whole lot, but it didn’t do him any good in prison where he couldn’t even find a drop of water to cool his tongue. The rich young rule had much, but he never got saved. The rich farmer in Luke 12 lost it all.

“A man’s heart,” seventy-eight times the word heart is mentioned in the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs deals with wisdom and God’s dealing with a man’s heart.

“A man’s heart,” now this is what a man desires, and that will determine his direction in life. We observe two things from this verse. This is the solution to the problem of Calvinism.

“A man’s heart deviseth his way,” there is free will. A man determines for himself through his own heart whether he will choose life, which is from above, or whether he will chose the way of sin and destruction which leads to hell beneath. Every man determines that way for himself. If he follows the desires of the flesh and the lusts of the heart, then down he goes. Not only can the heart lead a man astray, but within the heart are the walls of life. God’s Word says that the Law is written in the heart. The conscience bears witness to the right and the wrong. If a man will submit to that Law in the heart, realize that he has done wrong and has sinned, and try to find a payment for that sin, God will direct his steps to a payment.

First, we have the free will of man, and secondly, the sovereignty of God. They are both right there in the same passage. They are not in conflict. What you do with your will determines where God will lead you.

Do you know where it led Pharaoah? It led right into the deep depth of the Red Sea where he was drowned and went to hell. That is where God’s will led him. Do you know where God directed Moses? He led him into the promised land, and then took him home to glory. Do you know why? Moses chose the reproaches of Christ better than the riches of Egypt. He chose to right, and then reaped the reward of his choice later on. There is no problem with the free will of man and the sovereignty of God. They are both in harmony.

“A man’s heart deviseth his way,” what a man allows his heart to do—if he allows his heart to deceive him and fulfill its own lusts—if a man wants evil, then God will give it to him. If the heart of a man wants righteousness and wants truth, then God will direct your steps. God directed Cornelius’ steps into the step of Peter’s. He directed Ahab into another direction. He directed Pharaoh’s steps into another direction. When a man hates the truth, God sends him strong delusion to believe a lie (II Thessalonians 2:10). What a man does in his heart using his own free will, that determines how God will direct his steps.

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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Thanks for those links! I will definitely use them both.

The 2 Thessalonians 2:10 fits in perfectly into my study of the reprobate mind the past few days and how the explosion of transgenderism relates to it.

Here is NKJV 2 Thessalonians 9-12:
The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

I’m still new to KJB. At this point it’s helpful for me to read the new KJ version then compare. I still struggle with the old grammar.

KJV: 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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