Proverbs 19:11-21

We are ready to go. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions It's so good to be with you this morning. 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'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, I got my coffee I don't know about you, but I always like coffee with my devotions. Why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray we'll get into God's Word Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to sit at your feet and to learn from you. God, we pray that we would hear your word today, that we would take heed, and that you would apply it to our lives, that we would live it out in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, Proverbs chapter 19, verses 11 through 21.
The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression." It is a glory to overlook a transgression. Any fool can start a fight, but it's the glory of a man to be able to put it away. Verse 12, the king's wrath is like a roaring lion. But his favor is like the dew on the grass. The dew on the grass, especially in ancient Israel, was one of their primary ways of getting water, other than the springs and the wells, was the dew that would blow from the Mediterranean Sea onto the land. And so, you know, if there's a wrath, from the king.
It's like the roaring of a lion, right? It's scary half to death. I remember going to a zoo out in Pittsburgh with our kids and there was a lion roaring. We were on the other side of the zoo and you could hear it shake your chest as the lion roared, roared, roared. It's scary. It's frightening. But when he's happy, when the king is happy, It's refreshing and life-giving. It makes the day cool. It makes things well. Verse 13. A foolish son is the ruin of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping.
Have you ever had that before where you're in bed and you hear drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, and you're just like, ah, come on. That's what the Lord is saying here, right? When we have a spouse in our home who is contentious, picking fights, nitpicky, always nothing is ever good enough. It's no good in the home. Neither is it good in the home when our children are disobedient and acting foolish. That's what it says here.
A foolish son is a ruin to his father. not just a ruin emotionally, but also financially. Many parents are ruined by bailing out children who get into trouble and parents have to spend an inordinate amount of time kind of cleaning up their kids' messes behind them. And I'm talking about grown kids, grown sons. Verse 14.
Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Houses and riches are an inheritance from the fathers. I could work, and I could work hard, and I could provide our children with an inheritance that they might be able to have a leg up in their lives, but you know what I can't provide?
I couldn't provide for myself a godly wife. That was a gift from the Lord. My wife, Olivia, my dear, patient, poor wife, has put up with so much. And I couldn't earn her. I couldn't deserve her. I couldn't work hard enough for her. No, Olivia is a gift from the Lord.
A godly wife, what it says here, a prudent wife is from the Lord. Men, cherish and honor your wives. Tell them today how thankful you are for them. Oh, look at that fly. Verse 15, laziness casts one into a deep sleep and an idle person will suffer hunger. Lazy people like to sleep. I've known a lot of these people. I went to school with a lot of these people. I was in the Navy with a lot of these people. And you know what lazy people like to do?
Just go to sleep. And sleep isn't, let me be honest here. Some people need more sleep. Between you and I, I am a grumpy jerk if I don't get enough sleep. I know I can operate. I can function on five, six hours of sleep a night. Actually, that's what I typically did.
But one of the ways in which I have to manage my home well, and by that meaning being kind to my children and not being a grumpy person, is going to bed on time. But there's an opposite extreme, too, where the lazy person just wants to sleep all the time. And the result of that is going to be hunger.
I wonder how many of us on the spiritual side of this, how many of us are asleep spiritually? How many of us kind of fold our hands and are quick to put away our Bibles instead of getting to work on our holiness or easy to be complacent in our walk with the Lord?
Verse 16, he who keeps the commandments keeps his soul. but he who is careless of his way will die. If you are quick to remember God's word, quick to walk in his ways, if you are busy about the work of the Lord, if you are watching over your steps, if you are doing what Psalm 119, the young man there says, Lord, how can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to your word. Verse 11, your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. If God's word is a lamp unto your feet, you protect your soul. But if you are going the way of sin, the way of sin leads to death. It's just biblical wisdom for you. Just laying it out there for you. You want the way of life? Go the way of Christ. Verse 17, He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and he will pay back what he has given.
When Jesus is talking to his disciples, he says to them that they're going to be blessed for when they've done these things to him, and they're going to say, Lord, when did we do these things for you? When did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you tired and give you a place to lay your head? He said, when you did it for one of the least of these, you did it for me.
When we lend to the poor, we lend to the Lord. That also means that we should not be taking advantage of the poor. This is one of the things I absolutely detest. I cannot stand, I think it's unrighteous, I think it's evil, I think it's predatory to have payday loans and car title loans and things like this right near poor neighborhoods. People who are destitute and have a hard time getting capital and getting loans and they run short on cash and then they will essentially pawn away their car. paying massive amounts of inflation rates for a little bit of cash to get them through the end of the week.
Verse 18, chasing your son while there is hope and do not set your heart on his destruction. This is two parts, right? When we talk with our children, we need to chase them while they're young, teach them while they're young. Your children only have a certain amount of time in your house. You must disciple them well. You must teach them well. You must be serious about discipling, raising your children.
And yet, what's the other part of the verse say? Do not set your heart on his destruction. There's a reason why after Paul tells God himself through Paul in Ephesians chapter six, he says, children obey your parents. For this is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you. Fathers, Do not provoke your sons to wrath.
Because in training our children well, we can actually end up going too far in discipline, in correction, in chastisement, that you end up seeking your child's ruin. The pendulum can swing too far. And if we are not discipling our children, if we are not investing in them, if we are not loving them and trying to build them up, the lack of discipleship and of godly parenting is also leading to their ruin. Verse 19, a man of great wrath will suffer punishment, for if you rescue him, you will have to do it again. domestic violence cases are this way.
This is a hard one to talk about. It's a real thing. And it's difficult. Men, fathers, husbands, and it doesn't just have to be the men. Sometimes this is women, too. They're so filled with wrath, so filled with rage. They're going to hurt someone. What's the verse say? They'll suffer punishment. I'm going to plead with you. If you see a child or a spouse being abused, call the hotlines. Search it up on Google. Just type in if you're in Iowa, Iowa Spousal Abuse Hotline, Domestic Abuse Hotline, whatever it is, call 911. Get on the phone.
I know that we have all sorts of disagreements and we don't like how the civil magistrate, how the government takes care of these things often, but the government has an obligation to protect life. Go tell the pastor, go tell a teacher, get to a mandatory reporter that they can actually do it if you're too afraid to.
Because the reality is, is what this says, if you rescue him, you will have to do it again. An angry person, the statistics are scary for this. If they do not repent, if they don't actually change, if they do not turn away from their way of destruction, the statistics are scary. It's going to happen again. And because they got away with it, it'll get worse and worse and worse.
Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is to point out the fault in a hard way, in a pointed way and say, you must change. I want this for your good and I want it for your family's good. Verse 20, listen and counsel and receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days. You want to be wise when you get old? Listen while you're young.
Lastly, verse 21, there are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless, the Lord's counsel, that's what will stand. You can plan your ways, you can plan your days, you can do everything you want to think that you're going to do whatever you want. You might think, oh, I'm gonna go to the market, I'm gonna do such and such a thing, I'm gonna go out of town, I'm gonna do such and such a thing, but you know whose plans always work out?
They ain't yours, it ain't mine, but it's the Lord's. This is why the book of James, the James is just a beautiful book of New Testament wisdom. And in that book, he specifically says, don't say I'm going to go and do such and such a thing, but if the Lord wills, I'll go and do such and such a thing. Wisdom looks like recognizing I'm not sovereign. I don't control everything.
I have to humble myself to God's will. Let's pray. Father, we pray that we might look to you and humble ourselves before you. We pray that we would love mercy and justice, we would care for the poor, and that we would walk rightly before you. Give us wisdom, Lord, and let us walk in that wisdom. In Jesus' name, amen. May the Lord bless you today. May you have joy and peace in Jesus Christ. May his Holy Spirit enable you to both abide in Jesus Christ and bear much good fruit from abiding in him. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.