21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the heart.
3 To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart,
the lamp of the wicked, are sin.
5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,
but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.
7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away,
because they refuse to do what is just.
8 The way of the guilty is crooked,
but the conduct of the pure is upright.
9 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
10 The soul of the wicked desires evil;
his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
11 When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise;
when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.
12 The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked;
he throws the wicked down to ruin.
13 Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself call out and not be answered.
14 A gift in secret averts anger,
and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.
15 When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous
but terror to evildoers.
16 One who wanders from the way of good sense
will rest in the assembly of the dead.
17 Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man;
he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
18 The wicked is a ransom for the righteous,
and the traitor for the upright.
19 It is better to live in a desert land
than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.
20 Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling,
but a foolish man devours it.
21 Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness
will find life, righteousness, and honor.
22 A wise man scales the city of the mighty
and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
24 “Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man
who acts with arrogant pride.
25 The desire of the sluggard kills him,
for his hands refuse to labor.
26 All day long he craves and craves,
but the righteous gives and does not hold back.
27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination;
how much more when he brings it with evil intent.
28 A false witness will perish,
but the word of a man who hears will endure.
29 A wicked man puts on a bold face,
but the upright gives thought to his ways.
30 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel
can avail against the Lord.
31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle,
but the victory belongs to the Lord.
(ESV)
Acts 3
Acts 2
Acts 1
Luke 24
Luke 23
Luke 22
Luke 21
Luke 20
Luke 19
Luke 18
2 All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.
3 To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Although those around us may only see the outside the Lord sees the heart and the mind. He knows our every thought, our every intention and our every motivation. What a sobering thought that is! We need to make sure that in all things, especially as we seek to serve the Lord we are not only doing what is right before Him but we are doing it with a right heart as well.
31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.
I really like the meaning of this verse. We can try to make our day, and do things our way, and try to be in controll of our lives, but in reality, the Lord controlls all things and everything that happens is in His perfect, preplanned will.
I’m back from vacation…yay!
1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
This verse really shows God’s sovereignty. Even the king, who is the most powerful man on earth, is unable to make any decisions without God being in ultimate control. This verse is a great reminder that no matter how much power we think we have, God can change our hearts very easily.
The first few verses of Proverbs 29 show us that God governs everything that goes on inside this Earth. Nothing happens by mistake,He has power over all that happens. In the rest of the passage it explains that sin will lead to our downfall.
16 A man who strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead.
This is important because if we stop reading our Bible daily, than we are not justified with the Lord, when we do not read we are not seeking God. It is very important to read Scripture daily, so that this verse is not true in our lives. There is no excuse for reading the Bible daily, we have 24 hours in a day, it would be a sin if we do not read the Bible, it’s even better because we have more time in the summer to read the Word of God.
Everything in this earth is because of god and he is in control of everything. in 17 it is important because if we love or have idols or something we are sinning and we will become poor with nothing. we need to read our bibles daily and stay on track with gods word and not fall into sin or temptation or we will never be saved in to god’s kingdom as it says in vs.16.
I really liked verse 2, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.” What we do sometimes may seem like it is right, when really in the eyes of God it isn’t. Like the bible says, our most righteous acts are like filthy rags. I need to remember to trust in the Lord that he will help me do what is right instead of relying on myself.
3 To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
I thought this verse made a good point. God doesn’t want our relationship with Him to be ritual like with sacrifices (of time and money in modern context) He wants us to live a life according to His word that is righteous. That is the ultimate sacrifice and that is what He demands of us. More than any symbolic act, He desires you to live and do what is right. Its a lifestyle.
30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.
I love this verse! Our Lord’s wisdom is perfect, and none of the wisdom of this sinfull world can compare. Our Lord is the ultimate, He is holy, righteous, all knowing, all powerfull, always present, and the Savior of my soul. He deserves to be praised, and it is folly to think that anything that we can do or say can stand up against Him. I am so glad I am on His side!
23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.
Along with the last chapter or two, once again, the tongue and your mouth is very powerful! We need to guard it and take things seriously of what we say. Because if we do guard our mouths, we can keep from calamity. I want to be wise, and not use my mouth for sin, or to break someone down! I want to encourage, and build others up!
Hey everyone! I read… This was a great chapter. I really liked verse 23:
Verse 23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.
if we’re calling ourself a Christian, we should be watching the words that come out of our mouth. Our actions and our words are actually very powerful and can make a big difference in what people think of us. As Christians, we should be setting a godly example to others by the things that we do and say. Watching my language was my goal from a couple weeks ago but I should still work on it. It’s also important for us to concider the people we’re associating with. If you hang out with people who cuss, chances are you’ll end up doing the same. I need to remove myself from the grous of people who are doing things I know are not glorifying God.
See ya!!!
21 He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.
This is very much a reflection of what Pastor Bobby just talked about this weekend and how we are blessed (happy) when we strive to be like Christ. If we make God and pursuing his righteousness the center of our life, then we will live prosperous and honorable lives pleasing to him! :)
6 A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare.
This seems like it’s Earthly fortunes made by sinful and selfish means will have no meaning in the kingdom of Heaven. And a lot of the time that’s what I need to hear, it helps me focus on what’s really important.
23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.
I really love how Proverbs describes how intense the tongue is. This is verse is soo true. It reminds me of the line “Think before you speak.” If you guard your mouth and think about what your tongues impact could be you can save yourself from harm. This is definitely something i need to work on!
(:
21.) He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.
Just as Jacob said, if we pursue God’s righteous and make Him first in our life, then He will bless us with a prosperous life glorifying to Him.
I know all I did was switch some words from Jacob’s but he hit it right on.
28 A false witness will perish, and whoever listens to him will be destroyed forever.
this verse was great because not only should we try to protect ourselves from the lies of the false witnesses, but it also relates to Pastor Bobby’s sermon this weekend. we should beware becaue the world tries to put lies in our heads and make us trick ourselves into doing what makes us be happy on our short time on Earth, but burn in hell forever. it is important to be knoledgable and able to dinstinguish the lies from the Truth
1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.
These are great reminders that the LORD is sovereign. He ordains all things. As we heard in main service last weekend from Pastor De Courcy, life isn’t a series of accidents, it’s a series of “divine appointments.”
12 The Righteous One takes note of the house of the wicked and brings the wicked to ruin.
Pastor Mike preached on this in the main service today. Because God is righteous he can have nothing to do with wickedness. In fact, He hates it and will judge it.
16 A man who strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead.
echoing kyle… it is important that we reside within the path of understanding and solid truth or we will end up with the dead… many people will strive for their own way to heaven, their own “gospel” and their own knowledge but all those will lead them only to incur the wrath of God… the only reliable path to understanding lies within God’s word
23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.
This is a reassuring verse because I can know that if I think before I speak and guard what I say, I will keep myself from getting in trouble. This can be applied to many things. To talking and respecting out parents. To talking to our teachers. When we talk in front of our non-christian friends and want to conform and talk like they talk. If we speak in a godly manner we can set an example for non-christians and make them want to be like us.
30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.
This verse is a good reminder that nothing we do, no agenda we have can trump the Lord. He knows everything and His will is perfect. Too often we think we know better or that we have some great plan, but God’s way will always succeed.
this was a really cool chapter!!!!!!!!!!
13 If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.
I think that this is so cool to see and hear. First of all from this i learn that if we hear that someone is having a rough time or is in a tough time in their life we shouldnt just ignore them and act like it is not happening and ignore them. We should embrace them and comfort them and help them in that hard time in their life. And secondly the second part of this verse is so practical for us in high school and this day and age. So many people just ignore people that are having hard times and are in need of a friend . But when they are having a hard time and needs help but they do not get it. And it says in this verse that he too will cry, referring to the person that was ignoring the people that needed help, and it goes on to say that he too will cry out and not be answered.
I also liked this verse
30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.
it is just cool to see that there is nothing that can succeed against the lord.Like he is the biggest and greatest thing that nothing can go over or succeed against him. This is very comforting that we can trust completely in the Lord cause there is nothing else that we can put our trust in cause nothing that can succeed against him!!!!!!!!!!
15 When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.
This vers immediatly reminded me of the sermon that Pastor Mike did this morning. It reminded me about how we need to strive to be godly, to become more and more like God. By doing this we need to love the things that God loves and hate the things that God hates! God loves justice which we too should love and desire
17 He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich.
This verse really stood out to me. This reminded me about how Pastor Bobby was saying how the things that Jesus taught/teaches are so radically different then the things that our world teaches us. Our world teaches us that the pursue of happiness or pleasure is what life is about! But the Bible teaches us differently!!! And if we are following the teachings of the Bible we too should be radically differnt then the world!!!