(Proverbs for You: Continued)
I. POVERTY PRINCIPLES.
Verse 1: Principle one:
Integrity rules over poverty and fools (1 Timothy
6:17,18).
Verse 4: Principle two:
Don’t give up when people show their true colors.
Verses 6,7: Principle three:
Beware! If you are rich, if you are poor, and
if you are between the two.
Verse 17: Principle four:
God is watching all of your dealings with the
poor (Galatians 6:9,10). No one
loses anything by helping the poor.
Verse 22: Principle five:
Kindness (stedfast love) is desirable—the poor
can show it, the liar
only “displays” it.
II. KNOWLEDGE VERSUS IGNORANCE.
Verse 2: Don’t be ignorant!
And don’t let your feet move ahead of your
knowledge.
Verse 8: Proper self-love is good,
necessary, and profitable.
Verse 16: Keep, keep—one of the
most important of all Bible words
(John 14:15; Revelation
22:14). Do not despise God’s way and die.
Verse 20: Listen, receive, and
the “foolish” gaps will be filled with wisdom.
Verse 21: See Ecclesiastes 7:29;
man’s “many” versus God’s “one” is still
one to nothing!
III. DISCRETION VERSUS TWISTED THINKING.
Verse 3: Such a man’s twisted
ways may appear wise to others, but he and
God know—so then he
blames God.
Verse 10: The wrong person in
the wrong place is doomed to fail, no
matter what “tools” they
are given.
Verse 11: Prudence (discretion)
works well in serious situations.
Verse 23: Ecclesiastes 12:13,14.
Verse 25: “Different strokes for
different folks.” Use the right method on
the right person.
IV. THE TONGUE.
Verse 5: Sins of the tongue will
cost you (Revelation 21:8).
Verse 9: Again, I say, sins of
the tongue will cost you (James 3:1-12).
Verse 28: Try as you will—you
do not have the solution to sins of the
tongue!
V. THE HOME:
Verse 13: There are bad sons and
quarrelsome wives. How sad....
Verse 14: There are earthly blessings
and women of discretion. How glad!
Verse 18: Use all Biblical disciplines—FOR
HIS GOOD! Keep hoping...
Verse 26: But there are sons who
will persist in sin. Place your hope
elsewhere.
Verse 27: Carefully, and prayerfully,
teach him what the Bible teaches.
Knowledge is the key.
VI. SLOTHFULNESS (LAZINESS):
Verse 15: This kind of sleep wastes
your life; this kind of idleness wastes
your health.
Verse 24: Does the end of your
arm look like a bowl?
VII. SOWING AND REAPING.
Verse 12: Live well and receive
the KING’S blessings.
Verse 19: In this man, the cycle
of sin continues (Remember the Pharaoh
of Exodus?).
Verse 29: Again, there is a verse
on this theme at the end of a chapter.
Questions on Proverbs 19
1. Should we use perverse lips to escape poverty
(v. 1)?
2. To what does “fast feet” lead (v. 2)?
3. How do riches and poverty affect us in
relation to others (vv. 4-7)?
4. Can a liar go unpunished (vv. 5,9)?
5. Who finds the true “good life” (v. 8)?
6. What quality in man will help him to defer
his anger (v. 11)?
7. What is a continual dropping (constant
irritation; v. 13)?
8. From where is a prudent wife (v. 14; see
also 18:22)?
9. To what does slothfulness and idleness
lead (vv. 15,24)?
10. What else must we keep if we would keep our souls
(v. 16)?
11. Can we actually “lend” to the Lord (v. 17; Matthew
25:40,45)?
12. If we truly desire to help our children, should we
stop correcting or
disciplining them
when they cry (v. 18)?
13. What happens if we deliver a man of great wrath (v.
19)?
14. Of all the advice available to us, what will stand
when it is truly tried and
tested (v. 21)?
15. Who is better than a liar (v. 22)?
16. Is punishment a true deterrent to others (v. 25)?
17. What is a shame and reproach among children (v. 26)?
18. Should we listen to anyone who would persuade us to
violate the words
of knowledge (v. 27)?
19. What are prepared for scorners and fools (v. 29)?
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