Proverbs 13:19-25

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So, I think we are good over there. Okay, well, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. and this year 2021 we will make it through all the wisdom literature. I'm so glad we're at Proverbs chapter 13 verses 19 through the end of the chapter verse 25. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee.
We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Father we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to Lord, to come to your word and to sit at your feet, we pray that as we read your word that you would teach us. I pray that we would be your students, that you would instruct us in your ways in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, here we go.
Proverbs chapter 13 verses 19 through 25. Poverty and shame will come, no hold on sorry that was verse 18, verse 19, a desire accomplished is sweet to the soul but it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil. a desire accomplished is sweet to the soul. There's a psychological reality there that when we long for and hope for things and we do them or we receive them, it's a blessing to us. But the physical reality or the ethical reality in verse 19, but it is an abomination to fools to depart evils. The fool doesn't care about his folly he doesn't care about evil just wants to do it right this is what it's saying is what on desire the lord desire his ways go after him all right let's keep going verse 20 he who walks with wise men will be wise but the companion of fools will be destroyed Choose your friends carefully. Who do you surround yourself? Do you surround yourself with wise people or do you surround yourself with people who are going into folly, going into sin?
This is what the New Testament tells us, right? Do not be deceived. It's important we remember the first part of that verse because it is deceptive. Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good morals. But the opposite is true too. If you surround yourself with a community of godly people, you'll desire godliness. You'll go after wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The things that come with that as well. So surround yourself with wise.
But what does the second part say? It says that the companion of fools will be destroyed. How many times do we hear stories about people in prison who got mixed up with the wrong friend group? The opposite is true to you. Surround yourself with bad friends, you're not far from destruction. That actually leads us into verse 21.
Evil pursues sinners. But the righteous shall be repaid." This idea for evil is the Hebrew word there, ra'ah, which I might argue would be better translated here, destruction or calamity is going to come upon the sinners. Sinners might think that they have it all together now. We might look and they might have all the fun and all the fun things.
But destruction is coming. That the Lord is coming. Judgment is coming. And pleasure is only temporary for a season. But to the righteous, good shall be repaid. Good follows after those who love the Lord and follow His ways. Maybe not in this life, but eternally it will happen. Let's keep going, verse 22.
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the wealth of a sinner is stored up for the righteous. And this is, again, the human reality of this is the righteous do typically leave an inheritance for their children. but not just the physical inheritance, but what does God tell us when he talks about the fourth commandment, but showing loving kindness to a thousand generations of those whom love him, right? If we look at the life of Jonathan Edwards, there was a comparison made of Jonathan Edwards versus kind of a scoundrel of his time, and along Jonathan Edwards' line, who is this godly theologian in the early the history of our country in America. He has this long progeny of college professors and college presidents and even a vice president and all these people who have done remarkable things and then they did the exact same comparison to a genealogy of a scoundrel at the same time and the folly and the disheartening that followed the lives of those people as well. There's a godly inheritance to be left as we follow after God, as we love Him and go after His ways. Let's keep going.
Verse 23, much food is in the fallow ground of the poor and for a lack of justice there is waste. Right? God cares for the poor. God cares for the poor. There's food on their fallow ground and yet As an NASB, I think the New American Standard Bible translates the second part well. It says, yet it is swept away by injustice. The poor find themselves oppressed even when they're supposed to be mercy. That's the truth of this life. That's why God tells us to work hard, to labor with our hands. Let's do verse 24.
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly. Man, is that counter-cultural to our culture today and all the modern parenting techniques. What does it say? People say, oh, spanking's not in the Bible or disciplining your kid with your hand or something isn't in the Bible. Well, hold on here. He who spares his rod hates his son. The rod was this instrument of discipline.
We live in a world where kids run amok and they do whatever they want, they disobey their parents, they don't honor their teachers, there's no respect, they're constantly getting into trouble, and that's been the reality forever because folly is in the heart of a child. the father who loves his child, reproves him, disciplines him, cares for him, not out of a heart of anger, right? Not out of a heart of hatred, but out of a heart of love. Because the opposite of hate is love. And so if you hate your child by sparing the rod, you love your child by showing them the reality.
And the house is this greenhouse where We're able to care for these tender shoots, these young plants, these sprouts of children, where we're able to say, you know, you got to get your anger under discipline here because you're hitting your siblings here will result in prison time when you grow up. If you're not dealing with your sin now, it's going to become a problem later. And so we discipline our children because we love them.
Well, verse 25, the righteous eats the satisfying of his soul, but the stomach of the wicked shall be in want. The righteous eats and they're satisfied. They have enough. This does not mean that the righteous are always going to have everything they want. What does Paul teach us in Philippians? That he's learned to be content in much and in want. He's learned the secret of contentment in that. knowing that everything comes from the hand of God and he's content in the grace of Jesus Christ. And so the stomach of the wicked shall be in one. They always want more, more, more, more, more, more, because the heart of the wicked is covetousness.
So, why don't we go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What practical wisdom you have given us. Lord, we pray that we would be content in Jesus Christ. We pray that we would follow after you, walk after you, love you. Lord, keep us from temptation and the evil one. Provide us our daily food. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. May you fear the Lord always. And may you love Him today. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.