The NIV says, “He who listens to a life-giving rebuke will be AT HOME among the wise.” to be able to be comfortable and at home among the wise means that you are becoming wise…but you gotta let the wise ‘whip you into shape’. Most people lose out on this relational principle because direct confrontation…
To take advantage of the poor is to spit in God’s face by disregarding the priceless gift of life housed in His image, and to MAKE LITTLE OF A PERSON’S EXISTENCE is to disrespect your own existence.
Solomon says that “The righteous eat to their ‘hearts’ content but the ‘belly’ of the wicked goes hungry.” There are two drivers here at work: either the heart (the unction which is the instinct) or the belly (the urges which is the appetite). The question is which force do you allow to drive you? Don’t…
To toil is to take something from an undesired state into a desired state. It’s work, it’s overcoming resistence. It’s dissruption and uprooting and planting. Tending is different. It’s maintaining something that’s already established. It’s protecting. It’s monitoring. It’s keeping the status quo. In terms of profit and poverty these definitions shed light in a…
Look at someone who is מָהִיר (mahir) “quick” or “accomplished”. If you want to get what this person has, then you have to do what they do. There’s not big secret to it other than that. The right opportunity comes to them because they don’t have to ‘get ready’…they stay ready! This is a promise…
It’s fascinating that the word shows that even fallow ground (untapped potential) will see seasonal harvests. This shows that EVERYTHING yields fruit if you understand principals of sowing and reaping BUT the tragedy here is that the poor NEVER see the blessings of they’re potential because injustice sweeps their blessings away.
Internal (self) control is far greater (and harder to maintain) than external control. Reach for the better thing (patience) rather than the convenient thing (power). Most people would rather conqure a thing than co-exist with the very thing that requires your patience! If you’re able to ‘rule’ yourself you experience greater benefits than the greatest…
This could also be seen with a poor mentality. It can hamper your ability to genuinely connect with others beyond ‘need’ based circumstance. People who don’t have a blazing need in their eyes are more ‘authentic.
This verse isn’t a guarantee that everything will always go right for the righteous, but it’s looking at life over the long haul and saying that, “Consistent planning in the craft of doing good sets you up to flow in the momentum of God’s purposes!” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that, “The universe bends…