PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:17 KJV).

“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him,” seven is the number of divine completion.

Number one is a pride. I guarantee you where a proud look comes from, it comes from a proud heart. You can see pride in an individual just by looking at how they walk. They have a certain cantor about them. They just think that are the answer, and the Trinity needs to move over for them to pass.

Pride is probably one of the root sins. It was pride that messed up Lucifer. He figured he deserved a promotion above God Himself and it got him a demotion to his new role as Satan.

“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psalms 10:4 KJV).

Number two is a lying tongue. Lying is deception, and deception sends people to hell. People lie to themselves and to others, and they lie to God. “yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4 KJV). Within every one of us is the capability and the history of lying. The thing about Americans is, lying isn’t a sin in America. Lying is a way of life. It’s okay to lie. Otherwise, how could they sell stuff? It’s socially acceptable to drink, it’s socially acceptable to lie—as long as you can get away with it. Now, if you get caught—too bad, but you know, how many people really get prosecuted for lying? About the only exception is for those that have perjured themselves on the stand. But what does God say in Revelation 21:8? “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

In God’s eyes a liar is just as bad as a murderer, and that is where you want to take a sinner. Most people haven’t murdered anybody, but you can sure bet they’ve told a lie.

“. . . and hands that shed innocent blood,” there are different ways to accomplish this. Some men do it with a sword, Jezebel did it with a pen. She had Nabal killed by others by writing out a decree. There are all kinds of ways you can kill people. You can do it through violence, you can slander a man, you can ruin their reputation. Jesus said we murder our brother by being angry with him without a cause.

There are so many kinds of evil to be rubbed off—like pride, which goes before destruction, or anger, which rests in the bosom of fools. And read what the Book of Hebrews says about bitterness: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

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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from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

A proud look,.... ;
scorning to look down upon others; or looking upon them with disdain; or reckoning them as unworthy to be looked upon, having an high opinion of their own worth and merit.

Pride is the first of the hateful things mentioned; it being the first sin committed, as is probable, the sin of the angels, (by using the plural here Gill includes all the fallen angels) and of the first man; and is a predominant evil in human nature,

for "he resisteth the proud", James 4:6; the pride of the heart shows itself in the eyes, or by the looks of a man; Gersom says, the phrase denotes impudence and haughtiness;

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