Proverbs 16:8 ESV Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A8&version=ESV] Envy lives strong in mankind’s heart. Envy, the strong right hand of greed, topples empires and slaughters innocents; envy brings first seeming justice and then damning evil; envy finds a pretext for every deed, so long as its victim…
Proverbs 16:7 ESV When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A7&version=ESV] This proverb is one which the world seems to flat out contradict. We try our best, it seems, and our enemies still persist in being our enemies, still assault us. It doesn’t…
Proverbs 16:6 ESV By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A6&version=ESV] Reconciliation doesn’t come easy. When my brother sins against me, I will struggle with how to handle the problem- where the lines are, what forgiveness means, what it doesn’t…
Proverbs 16:5 ESV Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A5&version=ESV] Man’s arrogance really lacks bounds. We are sure of ourselves in all sorts of ways, from controlling the world to controlling how the next day will go to controlling our own hearts.…
Proverbs 16:4 ESV The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A4&version=ESV] Men do horrific evil every day. Every day, people made in God’s image murder, enslave, kidnap, rape, torture, and every combination thereof, and they do it to other people made in God’s image. The…
Proverbs 16:3 ESV Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A3&version=ESV] The plans we make go, in the words of the Scottish poet, ‘aft agley,’ which (translated from the original) means ‘often awry.’ Sometimes, looking back, this is a remarkably good thing. Sometimes those plans weren’t just practically flawed…
Proverbs 16:2 ESV All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A2&version=ESV] What does God judge? Every action has three parts: what’s intended, what’s done, and what results. We humans have an inconsistent standard for using these. We tend to choose which one to…
Proverbs 16:1 ESV The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+16%3A10&version=ESV] Tell me honestly: have you ever made a plan that went perfectly as you anticipated? Maybe, I guess; if I plan to have cereal and I have cereal, that’s a success. When we…
Proverbs 15:32 ESV The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+15%3A32&version=ESV] To desire “glory and honor and immortality” seems a little suspect to us nowadays. Ought we really to be pursuing ‘honor’? The idea seems selfish, self-directed. Certainly Philippians 2:3 condemns ‘selfish ambition;’ how is a desire…
Proverbs 15:31 ESV The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+15%3A31&version=ESV] To listen to reproof is an essential life skill, more important than making the bed or driving or good manners (though helpful for all three). Wisdom is not innate to sinful man. In fact, sinful man intensely dislikes…