Year 8, Day 310: Proverbs 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

This chapter has several intriguing proverbs.  To begin, look at our old friend knowledge.  Verse 27 tells us that if we cease to hear instruction we stray from knowledge.  Verse 35 tells us that when we reprove a man of understand that he gains knowledge.  Verse 20 tells us to listen to advice and accept instruction so that we gain wisdom in the future.  Each of these proverbs has two things in common.  The first one is the thread that we can learn from our mistakes.  In other words, mistakes aren’t the end of the world if we learn from them.  The second one is that wisdom and knowledge are largely dependent upon us.  Neither quality is inherent within us, but we certainly have the power to prevent them from taking root within!  We can choose to remain in our ignorance; even better, we can choose to receive instruction and reproach to grow who we are.

Verse 6, everyone is a friend to those who give gifts, is an interesting perspective on humanity.  Who doesn’t love a handout, right?  Who doesn’t love a person who is willing to share?  I see it all the time at school.  Take a kid who brings cupcakes or some other neat dessert in.  They have instant friends who simply want the benefit of the cupcakes.  When the cupcakes are gone, so are the instant friends.  Or, imagine picking up teams for a review game where the winning team gets bonus on the test the next day.  Suddenly all the kids want to be the friend of the smart guy.  What does this mean?  It means human beings are fickle.  We’re in it for ourselves.  We always make friends with those who can help increase our status or pleasure in the world.

I really like verse 17.  Whoever lends to the poor gives to the Lord.  This is brilliant, in my book.  The world thinks that lending to the poor is a silly concept.  After all, how will they ever repay?  The person who lends to the poor is unlikely to regain what they lend.  On the other hand, does not God see what we do?  Is not God strong enough to make it right?  Sure, the poor may not even be able to repay the debt.  Cannot God, however, repay the debt in full and then some?  This proverb helps us focus considerably on the idea that we should have our focus on the Lord and what He has already done for us rather than worrying about whether or not we’ll ever break even in the first place.  God has blessed us with so much already that from His perspective we’ll never fall back to even - even if we should happen to give all that we have.

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