Proverbs

The Book of Proverbs.

2. Wisdom is Treasure

21-22: Important in an age of fears of disinheritance.

3. Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart

I have the love... but what if I'm not steadfast?

5-6:

My mother's bible verses for me.

This is a discipline you can actively pursue.

It should not take you long to find thoughts in yourself, ways of being, that do not yet acknowledge God. Choose to trust. A lot of people feel rotten in their bones because they haven't set all their thoughts to him.

9: This is not just money - this verse assumes you make things. With what you make, does it honor God? The wealth of your life is its time, your words, your enjoyments, your people. Dedicate them to God.

29: Important to keep this in mind in malicious group chats you may encounter.

I fear greater anarchy and injustice in this land as selfish, wicked men band together to exert control over the weaker and less organized.

30-32: Young people are becoming more vicious and some will be tempted to abandon this wisdom more than their parents were.

4. A Father’s Wise Instruction

Everyone wants wealth and glory, few want to be wise.

13 - do not let go - but I find myself forgetting so many of the great insights I've learned, moments of pure love and trust and glory. By the grace of God sometimes they pop back into your head. But I don't always know how to bring back to mind at the right time.

18-27: Straight on the sunshine path!

How do I know what counts as crooked speech? Deception, malice... what about obscure or discreet speech?

5. Adultery

All these warnings apply to pornography - wasted time, guilt, no discipline, berating yourself in church. Don't scatter your streams in desert places.

16. The Proverbs of Solomon

1: ? Mandmade Intentions vs. the providence of spontaneity

3: What you do is done for God. You cannot establish plans yourself.

4: There is meaning behind everything and everyone. Even seemingly worthless and hostile people are made by God to play a certian role, whether in creating chaos, or putting an end to it in war.

5: God punishes the arrogant, and that is why he has punished us.

6: Christ taught us steadfast love and faithfulness; he atoned for our sin with his perfect walk. Insofar as we walk in his ways, we make up for the world's wickedness and save them from destruction, turning their attention back to the fear of God.

7: This is something manga do a good job of representing. The true hero, who has God's favor, inevitably wins rivals and enemies to his side.

8: Seek righteousness first. If you behave and speak perfectly, you will be the most valuable man anyone knows. But many people find it easier to work hard and make money, than to control themselves, than to judge things with justice.

10: ? A king must wield the sword of authority

Kingly behavior

17-18: The proud man does not guard himself.

27: Beware men who plot and who speak like scorching fire; it's a wign of worthlessness. We do not prepare ourselves enough to be ready and just to measure the worth of other men, we drift along assuming one man's as good as another.

19 & 32: Humility, peacefulness is more valuable than being a cocnqueror.

17. The Proverbs of Solomon

2: Immigrants are taking our inheritance because we are sons who have acted shamefully.

4: Many of you who laugh at edgy content mindlessly online are violating this precept.

5: Be wary with who you satirize and why. God does not want you to punch down -- he wants you to be attentive to the needs of the poor, even when they are uncouth or repulsive in some way. Mocking them displeases him. He placed you in a position of comfort for a reason.

16: People line up to spend six figures on an "education" for credentials that will mean nothing. Only go to school if you are going somewhere after it.

24: Stop doomscrolling. Wisdom is right before you -- it is not to be found in faraway mists, or elite social circles, or martial arts masters in eastern lands.

26: Taxes are bad insofar as they take money away from the righteous.

27-28: Coolness in the bible.

21. The Proverbs of Solomon

13: Are you observant of your poor neighbors? Do you know what they need?

14: Is bribery endorsed by Solomon here? Christians are to outdo one another in showing honor... that shouldn't descend to flattery or bribery, but it is sometimes a purposeful gift giving.

17 & 20: If you love wine and oil, you won't ever have enough to enjoy. But if you love wisdom first and foremost, you will never lack.

21: This is the Christian way.

22: We hope to bring down strongholds of spiritual darkness and arguments; our wisdom should be applied to overturning the emptiness and falsehood of the popular culture, the university culture, the ubiquitously trumpeted worldview of the godless...

26: The sluggard is so busy craving, but the righteous has been preparing his life so well that he has an abundance to give to those who need.

24. The Words of the Wise

The wise man prepares his whole life to store up the perspective and wealth needed to help the needy and rescue his brother, rather than being a sluggard or speaking evil about others.

1-2: On the internet, or in business, or in politics -- factions of evil men speaking evil roam about. They can get a lot done and acquire a lot of power, and its easy to envy what success God gives them.

3-4: Wisdom is household building. Homes are not merely sites of relaxation, but of productivity. A couple, or a family with kids, should all be seeking ways to make themselves useful in the local economy - and national, for that matter. What are the things you can make and provide that others can't? Making your family business essential is the test of wisdom. People who haven't established this over decades this should probably not be leaders in the church.

5-6: We cannot expect ourselves to win the culture war in America if we have no property, no leverage, no owned space.

10-12: What's the context here? An unexpected day of battle? Having the foresight to predict what will go wrong so that you can help your neighbor?

17-18: Love your enemy. Overwhelm them with love. Don't rejoice in their humiliation. God does not help gloaters, and if this person really ought to be punished, be humble about it.

19-20: The future is ours if we are righteous.

23-26: We are becoming an obsequious culture that is ill equipped to offer correction. We do not have impartiality and we hesitate to correct wickedness. Then when we rush to overcorrect, we make fools of ourselves.

27: Get your income lined up before you start the house project. Don't get wrapped up in a mortgage and big debts and don't be dependent on other people. Get your own income streams and make things yourself.

28: Don't speak bad about the people you know based on hearsay. You should know firsthand what kind of person they are before you give a report on their conduct.

29: Vengeance belongs to God.

30-34: This still applies perfectly in a non-agricultural context. In craftsmanship, the office, entrepreneurship, academia -- every man has a field. You can usually pick up very quickly if he is a senseless sluggard whose walls are broken down, or if he is careful to tend to whatever yard God has given him.

The sluggard is not preparing to exercise good judgment, he is not taking in wisdom, he is not preparing for the day of adversity, he is not ready to rescue anyone, he is incapable of waging war, and riches are floating through his leaky house.

We do an inadequate job in our education of having the young observe carefully households that fall into ruin, and ones that succeed, and why.

25. The Proverbs of Solomon

6-7: Don't be a striver, directly. You probably don't belong in Washington D.C. You probably don't belong in the bishop's seat. The young man should focus on developing the kind of wisdom that is unparalleled on earth in his generation, in whatever field he has, and all the executives and presidents will invite you when they have need of you.

8-10: Be slow to litigate. Don't badmouth people even if they screwed you over -- because they can find out what wrong you've done and humiliate you, too. Just put an end to it quietly.

21-22: Love your enemy.

25: Missionaries bring cold water to God's new children.