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Saturday, February 20, 2010

Wisdom Project 2/20


Even a child is known by his actions,
by whether his conduct is pure and right.


Commentary:

The tree is known by its fruits, a man by his doings, even a young tree by its first fruits, a child by his childish things, whether his work be clean only, appearing good (the word is used Proverbs 16:2), or whether it be right, that is, really good. This intimates, 1. That children will discover themselves. One may soon see what their temper is, and which way their inclination leads them, according as their constitution is. Children have not learned the art of dissembling and concealing their bent as grown people have. 2. That parents should observe their children, that they may discover their disposition and genius, and both manage and dispose of them accordingly, drive the nail that will go and draw out that which goes amiss. Wisdom is herein profitable to direct.

From: Matthew Henry
Commentary - on Precept

Blessings
3 John 8
Bill H.
_________

WISDOM PROJECT: For this month, I will supply links to both the NIV and ESV versions of the chapter each day (Feb. 1 = Proverbs 1, etc.) in the post—both of which contain the audio.

And in the month of February a unique feature for the WP will be Commentaries on selected passages/verses from within the chapter for the day. And for the most part, these comments will be from links in the Online Bible Study Resources feature here on the 3 John 8 blog (scroll down in the column to the right to find the links).

Note to Proverbs class participants: this is the place where you should post your application comments for the Daily Proverbs Reading Assignment.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Proverbs 20:11 . . .
Even a child is known by his actions,
by whether his conduct is pure and right.
The public witness of the child of God is extremely important. All eyes are on the us as we make our way through life. These scriptures below speak to me about the importance of our behavior and public witness as believers.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

John Erbentraut

Krista Harrison said...

even a child will be known by his actions. We as Christian will be known by how we conduct ourselves. If we regard and accept wisdom we will prosper. Another thing that stuck out to me was that unequal weights are am abomination to the LORD. Does this mean being unfair or unjust? Another thing that I think is a value to point out about this proverb is one of the last verses is the idea that the glory of the young man is hiis strength but for the old man his glory is seen through their gray hair. This makes me think of my mom who refuses to die her hair at 56 but she insist on always doing her devotions and speaking of God's love.

Unknown said...

The word “winnows” appears 2-times in Proverbs 20. Not having “heard” this before I needed to find its meaning. In other versions the word “scatters” is used. The primary meaning: To separate and drive off the chaff from grain by means of wind. The use of both words is to examine, to sift for the purpose of separating evil from good, falsehood from truth. This further defines the purpose within Proverbs – to help the reader to choose between good and evil, and wisdom and folly.
Lord, like you - our King, may I “winnow” the intentions within my heart, and choose to pursue your goodness, your righteousness, and your love. May my actions today purposefully glorify you. Mike T.

Unknown said...

Verse 7 - "A righteous man who walks in his integrity - How blessed are his sons after him." Parents have a huge influence on their children. A man who practices integrity and has a faithful walk with God will show that to his children and they will learn from it.

Danyelle Steckiel said...

There is so much on a sluggard in the Proverbs. Some of the pictures of him are very humorous and others are just plain sad. I know that he brings it upon himself, but it is sad that he knows what he is supposed to do and when, but he doesn't do it because he is too lazy. We can be like this too. verse 4 "a sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing." He looks for food, but he does not find it. How often do we look for something that we did not work hard for ourselves? Sometimes we look around for the blessings that we did not recieve or work for ourselves.

Renee said...

The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.

This verse is basically repeated twice in this chapter which should point out its significance and importance. Even though today we do not use scales, we still can apply this to our lives. What the author is really saying is that God hates dishonesty in all its forms especially when it is used for personal gain. I know I struggle with complete honesty in every area of my life, but I need to keep this verse in mind and focus on pleasing God.

Ashlie said...

Vs 7 shows the impact parents can have on their children.Also vs 11 shows whether of not that child will apply what they have been taught. This shows it takes both the parents and the child whether the child will make the right choices in their lives. The child will show that either his/her parents have made an impacted or whether the child wanted to follow the instruction given.

Unknown said...

Proverbs 20:4
"The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing."
- It is too easy to be lazy like the sluggard and keep putting things off for too long. I have a bad habit of procrastinating which gets me into situations where sometimes I put myself into a place where I end up with "nothing" to offer because I am burnt out from being too lazy before hand and not planning properly. Since I have been here this has gotten better. Sometimes though I think I work better under pressure and this is why I haven't changed as much as I think I would like to in this area.

Jilli Bair said...

"Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both." - vs. 11-12

Although God can see into our hearts and minds, He has created humans with eyes and ears to observe a person's outer behavior. An accurate judgment of character cannot be made by a human because we cannot truly see the inside of a person, yet we are created with some amazing abilities to observe people's behaviors and make decisions based on the way they express what's inside. I just thought this verse was interesting because it reversed what we normally read about the observation of human behavior - it is good, because God designed us to see what is on the outside!

Tim K. said...

(24) A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?
This verse reminded me of last weeks discussion. We must leave room in our plans for the future for GOD's purposes to be fufilled in our lives. Just because things are not going in the direction we planned does not mean we are not where GOD wants us. This is hard because we sometimes think we know what God's plan is better than He does.

Carrie L. said...

There were two different verses that stood out to me today.
7 "The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him".
A thought occurred to me.....since no one is without sin, where can you find a righteous man? The verse says the righteous person is blameless, there is no one who can fit that description(except Christ). So who really is the righteous man?

22 Do not say "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
Many times I find myself in a situation in which I want to retaliate, have the last word, when someone has "wronged" me. The LORD clearly tells us to not repay evil with evil...we are to walk away from that situation like the wise man. I need to work on repaying evil with good.

Rachel said...

"A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?"
God ordains that which befalls all men. We may plan for the future and make choices but ultimately it is God who determines the steps we take and the outcome of those steps. He is infinite and we are finite; therefore, our ability to truly know what we will do in the future is limited. The plans we make are within the will of God. He directs us.

Unknown said...

24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD.How then can anyone understand his own way?
Does not this just put our focuses in perspective. God is in control of everything so how can we think completely that we really are in charge of what happens. We are told everything happens for a reason we need to remember that.

Erin said...

I'm not a parent yet, but hopefully, God willing there will come a day where I will be. Proverbs 20:11 says, "Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right." Someday, I will raise my children according to God's Word and verses like these are the one's I will look to as I bring up my kids. It's important to be involved in a child's life, so they can learn and gain knowledge from they ways of their parents.

Jim Morrison said...

Verse 22 - Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.

We are so quick to want to respond when someone does us wrong. We think we have to get even for the wrong doings of others. But in doing so we are being sinful ourselves. We will all answer to God for our actions. As difficult as it may be to not be angry and not retaliate this is what we need to do. I need to worry about my actions not the actions of others.

Melissa Jordan said...

Verse 7- "A righteous man who walks in his integrity - How blessed are his sons after him."

I think about my parents and my grandmother, they have sought to live righteous lives and I view them as having wise words and integrity. I am blessed to have grown up having them as a huge part of my life.

Renee K said...

vs30 Blows that wound cleanse away evil;
strokes make clean the innermost parts.

These verses really hit home to me, especially after a discussion Ken and I had tonight. We were working through some things and I came to the point of talking about how I don't like to ask for help and I don't like to admit when I am weak and can't do something on my own. Well that has a sense of "evil" to it. It is wrong to be proud in that way. Well, God has me in a place right now where I have to ask for help and say that I can't do it on my own. It has brought me to consider my spiritual life an dthe fact that I try to do a lot of things on my own apart from God's help. Having to ask for help or say I can't do something on my own because of physical ailments has shown me the need I have to ask God for help through everything because I tend to do things on my own strenghth. ... So this verse that says a blow that wounds cleanses away evil definitely is playing true in my life right now. As the blow I am facing is helping me to see my pride.

Gabe Vanderstel said...

30. "There is no wisdom and no understanding And no counsel against the Lord"

I often find myself thinking that I have a handle on life. I think that I have things under control and that I am a pretty wise person. This verse puts me in my place and remind me that without my Lord, I am nothing and can not posses any wisdom or understanding.