Saturday, November 26, 2011
Proverbs 11:12-31
12 He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.s13 A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.s14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.15 He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure.ss16 A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches.17 The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.18 The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.19 As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.20 They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.21 Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.22 As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.s23 The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.s26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.27 He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.s31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.
Devotion for today:
Pick out 3 Proverbs, explain them, and talk about how they apply to your life today!
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
12 He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbour: but a man of understanding holdeth his peace.
-The writer equates despising your neighbor with lacking wisdom. Why? Because, most of the time getting visibly upset at your neighbor for something doesn’t change their mind or behavior, and just causes friction.
– The person who is a “man of understanding” holds his peace.
Application: Be careful about what you make into issues. Be wise- if you can show mercy and not make it an issue- show mercy!
14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.
– It is so smart to learn from other people’s experience over your own.
– Are you facing something you’ve never faced? Why face it without finding out information from other people who have?
– This is why it is so important to communicate with your parents. They have gone through so many of the things you are facing. Get advice from them.
– Interested in college? Talk to someone who has gone? Want to have a good marriage? Find someone who has a great marriage after 30+ years and find out what they did.
15 He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure.
– “Surety” means signing for someone else’s debt.
– When someone gets a loan and needs someone else to co-sign for that loan that is “suretiship”.
– Debt is not a good thing. You need to avoid debt, especially being responsible for someone else’ debt.
Just a friendly pastor ben tip- Avoid Consumer debt when possible- If you feel like you have to have a credit card when you get older, only spend with the credit card what you have cash for. The borrower is slave to the lender.
I don’t know many people who were really excited that they were in debt. But I have met a lot of people who were excited and glad that they were not in debt.
29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
• this says he who troubles his house/family shall inherit the wind- the wind which is kinda saying nothing, he will inherit nothing.
• and the fool/idiot shall be servant to a wise heart,meaning he will be server to a smart/wise person.
Apply: if I’m a foolish person I will be a severely to a wise person so Instead of begin the foolish one I will be the wise heart. Alot of people trouble there families but I don’t to much.
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
• the fruit of righteous is like a tree producing life; and he who wins souls is wise.
Apply: I think it’s trying to say that who ever has alot of souls- goes up to heaven with Jesus, wins, his wise.
31 Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.
• Behold the righteous will be rewarded in the earth much more then the wicked and the sinner.
Apply: if we are right in gods heart, if we are righteous with God then we will be rewarded at the end but the wicked and the sinners get nothing they will not be rewarded. So I would rather be righteous then wicked/sinner.
Good stuff Mafalda…It’s amazing how much you have grown. Cool!
16 a gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches.
1.what this means is that when some of us become gracious women since thats our job, we need to retain honour which means to hold or possess honour.when the other some of us become strong men which is also their job,they need to possess their riches.
2.how this can apply to my life is that when i become a woman i need 2 be gracious.not only would i need to learn how to be gracious,i need to learn how to retain honour too.we just gotta ask God on how to do that.he’ll help you.
17 The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.
1.what this means is that a merciful will do good for everyone.but a man that is cruel will be mean and not really care about anything.for example,the cruel man could be doing drugs or something.he may not care if it ruins his body.but its also ruining himself.
2.how this can apply to my life is that we need to watch out for those cruel people and stick with those merciful people.if you would rather be hanging out with that cruel person,you wouldn’t really be having fun,they would probably be like oh,lets go kidnap the govenor or lets rob a bank.but when your with the merciful person,they would hv more wise decisions.you would hv more fun with that.
23 The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
1.what this means is that a righteous person’s desire is ONLY good.but what the wicked expects is wrath.everyone;s desire should be good though.
2.how this applies to my life is that we should all desire good.i mean,who wants to be bad? you can get in major trouble by basically anybody,you can go to jail for a long time and the list can go on and on.for good the list isn’t that long.good is the better thing to do.why don’t we follow good instead of bad.
loveu guys sooooo much!! 🙂 <33333 seeu guys tmrw!!! 🙂 <33333
Ally- you have the best examples. Good Job!
Awww shucks…. thank you!!
After I read these verses, I went back through to pick the ones I wanted to use and ended up with like 7, there’s so many good verses here! But I like these:
-Verse 17 “The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.” The person who wrote this book (Solomon I think?!) reminds me of James a little, because here he’s so practical! Someone who’s merciful does good to his soul, whereas someone who is cruel troubles his flesh. I think this is a good verse for me because I have a hard time being merciful. Like is someone hurts me, it’s not that I want to hurt them back, but I have a really hard time forgiving them and I hold it against the person who hurt me. Which is kinda the opposite of mercy! Mercy is like giving someone a second chance even though they don’t deserve it. And most of the time I have a hard time doing that! But while I reading this and thinking about how this helps me, I thought that God has mercy on me.. I sin and sin all the time, but God still forgives me even though I don’t deserve it at all! And there is noo wayy I deserved for Jesus to die for me either, but God sent His Son anyways, and I’m soo glad He always has mercy on me! 🙂 And thinking about that makes me want to show God’s mercy to others!
-Verse 23 “The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.” This is cool because I’m a Christian, I know I’m supposed to be Christ-like. And Christ is righteous, so I need to try and be righteous too (even though it’s really hard sometimes!) and this verse is a BIG encouragement to me because it’s saying the desire of a righteous person is ONLY GOOD! And that sounds amazing to me, not having all these temptations, and only thinking about what’s right and good! Ahh, that just sounds so cool 🙂
-Verse 28 “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.” I’ve noticed a pattern in these verses, how the writer shows what A good, Godly person looks like then shows what the opposite is (ungodly, sinful). And I think that’s cool! And this verse really reminds me of something I saw yesterday when I was black-Friday shopping; All these people rushing around and fighting over the items on sale. I was thinking to myself “Is it really necessary for these people to be fighting over such materialistic stuff?” The answer is in the verse right here, no! It’s so easy for me to get up in my stuff (clothes, electronics, money). But that isn’t what matters! When I start to trust in my stuff that’s when I put my stuff before God and trust Him less. But the verse says that if I trust my riches I will fall. And I don’t want that to happen! I want to be righteous and not worry about the things of this world, and only concentrate on God and what He wants! I have a long way to go, but I’m ready 🙂
Sorry I haven’t been on here like all week, I feel horrible about it 😦 but I’m back! And I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! See you tomorrow! P.S, sorry the comment is so long! I had a lot to say 😉
Missed you on here Alexis, but glad to see you back. Good stuff…
You really saw people fighting over stuff? Drama!
I missed you guys too! I’m going to NOT do that ever again! 🙂 & yes! It was crazy!
good comment alexis! 🙂