Proverbs 22:17-29
Proverbs 22:17-29
New King James Version (NKJV)
Sayings of the Wise
17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,
And apply your heart to my knowledge;
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you;
Let them all be fixed upon your lips,
19 So that your trust may be in the LORD;
I have instructed you today, even you.
20 Have I not written to you excellent things
Of counsels and knowledge,
21 That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth,
That you may answer words of truth
To those who send to you?
22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor,
Nor oppress the afflicted at the gate;
23 For the LORD will plead their cause,
And plunder the soul of those who plunder them.
24 Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
25 Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.
26 Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge,
One of those who is surety for debts;
27 If you have nothing with which to pay,
Why should he take away your bed from under you?
28 Do not remove the ancient landmark
Which your fathers have set.
29 Do you see a man who excels in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before unknown men.
My Thoughts:
- So let’s start with (v. 21) we read “That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, that you may answer words of truth to those who send to you?”
- The wise man seeks certainty about the truth. Is prepared with truth when give an question needing an answer by those who ask, (1 Pet. 3:15). No one can adequately witness of the Lord who does not himself know the Lord as personal savior. How do we know the Lord? By reading our Bibles.
- In (v. 23) we read “For the LORD will plead their cause, and plunder the soul of those who plunder them”
- The poor are often oppressed, but this is only because God has not yet taken an accounting. This life is a time of preparation, when men show their hearts conditions, and, under the divine wisdom, He will see our shortcomings and our need for divine cleansing and forgiveness of sin. And on that day of His return He will handout to each his due.
- Let’s finish with (vv. 24-25) we read “Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.
- This Proverb is telling us how truly important it is to choose our friends wisely. When we surround ourselves with angry people we cannot help for becoming like them but when we surround ourselves with people that are warn and have a loving heart we will reflect that. Yes we must do all we can to save others but not at the cost of ourselves.
Thought of the Day
“The surest way to make life hard for your children is to make it soft for them”
Christian educator and author Howard Hendricks cautions parents not to bribe or threaten their children to get them to obey. What they need is firm, loving, and at times painful discipline.
Hendricks recalls being in a home where a bright-eyed grade-schooler sat across the table from him.
“Sally, eat your potatoes,” said her mother in a proper parental tone.
“Sally, if you don’t eat your potatoes, you won’t get any dessert!”
Sally winked at Hendricks. Sure enough, mother removed the potatoes and brought Sally some ice cream. He saw this as a case of parents obeying their children rather than “Children, obey your parents” (Ephesians 6:1).
Many parents are afraid to do what they know is best for their youngsters. They’re afraid their children will turn against them and think they don’t love them. Hendricks says, “Your primary concern is not what they think of you now, but what they will think 20 years from now.”
Even our loving heavenly Father’s correction is painful, yet afterward (perhaps years later) “it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness in those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). As loving parents, dare we have less long-term vision than our heavenly Father has? —Joanie Yoder (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)
As parents we must have this goal:
To teach our children self-control;
For firm and loving discipline
Can keep them from the ways of sin. —D. De Haan
Personal Reflection and Discussion
- What do you think (v. 19) is saying?
- What other things do you see in the text?
Prayer Activities
- Call your Partner and discuss this devotional.
- Continue to have a prayer list and continue to praying for them.
- Pray with them and ask for the following;
- For God to show us His ways and help us walk in them.
- For God to stand with us during the hard times.
- For the individuals on your pray list.
- Let’s use (John 14:15-16) for today’s prayer verse.
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40 Days of study 
It is interesting that in verse 17 Proverbs changes. The phrase”the words of the wise” starts a new section. It is using threedifferent ways of writing. 1) the change from one verse units to multi-verse units 2) section headings that are embedded in the text and 3)this section has an affinity with ancient Egyptian wisdom. I thought that was interesting. As for verse 19, it is so vital that we learn to trust in the Lord. In this world it is so hard to find someone to trust. I,myself, have major trust issues. I watched my father have many girlfriends while married to my mother. I watched many of my uncles and cousins runn around on their spouses. I then married a man who was not faithful one day of our marriage. People promise you something and never think of it again. That is not to say there is no one to trust. I have several friends that I would trust with my life, even my childrens lives. I am just saying, trust is something we don’t have and we need to learn it so we can learn to trust in our Lord. We have to trust Him for our very salvation. There will come a day when we have to trust Him for our very survival. So yes,you even you, today, must trust in the Lord.
We speak of trust but yes there are so few people I trust on that level as well. I think that is why I think that all relationships need to start with God as the foundation then they can move forward. Even the ones that are just friends must have a strong foundation in God first, because when we do then we can build a friendship based on that level of trust.
It starts out encouraging the youth, his son and even more directly us…the ones reading this book, to hold on to his saying and words of wisdom. To keep them in our heart, even if at first they may not make sense. If we treasure them then they will come up again and find their way to our lips. At that point it would be tested and found true and would increase our faith in the true author and source…God. Only then when someone asks our advice we would know how to answer them with certainity. Solomon goes on to warnings to guard ourselves. We may know the saying, the letter of the law, but what about the situations not specifically addressed in Proverbs…that takes true wisdom and a dependence on wisdom to be our daily companion throughout our lives. Then the words are not just written somewhere else, but in our hearts and live.
Solomon is talks to his young son, like Paul talks to young Timonty. Read IITim. 2:1-7 & II Tim. 3:14 – 4:5 and compare.