PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with” (Proverbs 17:12-14).

At least the bear has a reason for what she does to someone that is threatening her cubs. A fool never has a good reason for whatever damage he causes.

“I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them” (Hosea 13:8).

“For, said Hushai, thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field: and thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people” (2 Samuel 17:8).

Consider the fool and his folly of an evolutionists. No telling how much people the communists have destroyed with their notion of Marxism and evolution applied to politics. You would be better off meeting any sort of danger than a drunk behind the wheel of a car speeding down the road. You’d probably have a better chance of living.

“Whoso rewardeth evil for good,” you do somebody good, and they turn around and stab you in the back. A good example is Saul and David. David did good, and delivered the armies of Saul by slaying Goliath—he did it for the Lord, he did it for the king, and he did it for the nation—but how did Saul respond? He because zealous of David’s instant popularity. David was subservient to Saul, and what did the king do, he rewarded him with evil. “And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands . . . And Saul eyed David from that day and forward” (1 Samuel 18:7, 9).

“The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water,” this is an interesting comparison. Did you ever let water out of a bucket and then try to put it back in? It pictures that cartoon where it shows a man getting real red in the face until a mushroom cloud forms over his head and the caption reads, “Looks like Harry blew his top again!”

“. . . therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with,” stay away from it, don’t be contentious. Romans 12 tells us to “give place to wrath.” Don’t start with it, because once you let it out, you’ll never get it back to the way it was before. This is like words that we foolishly let escape out of our mouth that are hurtful to another. Once they are said, they are remember forever.

What he is saying is that you can never get it back. “Only by pride cometh contentions.” So, just remember that it is your pride that is hurt, and that is why you want to get involved in it.

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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