PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor. The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets” (Proverbs 22:11-13).

Now notice, “grace of the lips,” in other words, gracious things coming out, are the result of the pureness of one’s heart. We see this in Matthew, where Jesus says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (12:34).

“Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right” (Proverbs 16:13).

Notice that when a man is right with God, and right with himself, he will have gracious lips and he will have friends in high places. That’s the best way to do get what you want, just do right. To many people are hasty to get it all now.

Proverbs 15:3 is very similar to this: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” The “eyes of the Lord” are mentioned in Isaiah 11:2 and Revelation 5:5, there are seven spirits, and they are said to be the eyes of the Lord. Now, those eyes preserve knowledge. In other words, those seven spirits of God, it is their responsibility to preserve the Bible.

Again, it is the seven spirits of God Whose responsibility it is to preserve the words of the Bible. It is not scholars, translators, scribes, or college Greek professors. It isn’t even the church’s responsibility. It is God’s obligation and responsibility to preserve knowledge, and He has done it.

Now, I don’t understand it all, nor do I understand how He did it, but He did it. It is His eyes that does it. He knows what is right, He sees what is going on.

“. . . and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor,” that’s the new translations. The words of the transgressor are lies and excuses that won’t hold up to the facts. God overthrows them, and I’ll tell you especially when—in judgment. There’ll be all kinds of words of the transgressor in judgment, and God will overthrow them with truth and facts. He says that the secret things will be revealed in the day of the Lord, in the day of judgment.

All this is is an excuse for doing right. 15:19 is a similar verse: “The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain” (Proverbs 15:19). It is just another way of saying, “I don’t feel like doing it.”

The difference between a man with character and a man without character is that the man without character is motivated solely by feelings. If he feels like doing something, he does it. If not, he doesn’t. A man with character is motivated by truth. He is motivated by the principle that if it is right, then do it. It has nothing to do with feeling. It might not feel good, but it has to be done.

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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