Read Proverbs 21:9  This verse talks about a problem wife.  So you may think, "Well, I am out of trouble because I'm not old enough to have a wife or to be a wife."  Well, that may be true, but there are Bible principles here that apply to all of us.  Jump to verse 19 and read it too.  It says almost the same thing, doesn't it?  But verse 19 adds contentious and angry to brawling in verse 9.  So what do these three words mean?  Well brawling is fighting.  A brawling woman is someone who likes to fight all the time.  They like to fight.  And brawling goes with contentious.  A contentious person is hard to get along with.  For example, if you say that you like the Pittsburgh Pirates football team, they would say that they like Philadelphia.  If you say you like puppy dogs, they would say that they like cats.  But a contentious person doesn't just say that they like Pittsburgh or cats, they don't like Philadelphia and dogs.  They will argue with you about their favorite football team or their favorite pet.  But actually, they may not like either one!  The contentious person just likes to argue.  Whatever you say you like, they don't like.  They have a disagreeable disposition - they are cranky.and always out of sorts.  And contentious and brawling goes right along with angry.  Angry people have real problems deep down inside of themselves.  They are like the Grinch - they are just plain mean!  But let's stop here a minute.  The wife has been getting a lot of grief so far.  But how about the husband who picked her to be his wife.  He sure made a poor decision in wives, didn't he?  So there you have it.  Our verse says several things.  Although it talks about a brawling woman, it is telling you girls not to grow up to be an angry wife.  Do not grow up to be the kind of wife that makes your husband prefer to live in the corner of  the house rather than to live with you!  And you boys, when you grow up, be careful about the woman that you choose to be your wife.  Don't pick a popular woman, pick a woman that you can live with!  You decide who you want to hang around with, and a wife is for keeps!  Don't pick angry people for your friends.  And, don't be an angry person.

Read Proverbs 21:4  Here in our verse God reminds us of three sins.  We clearly know that the first two are sins, but the last one . . . How can plowing be a sin?  We know that a high look is a sin.  A high look means that someone is snooty.  They think that they are better than everyone else.  Their heart is even proud.  And that is the second sin that our verse mentions.  But the third sin, the plowing of the wicked, how is that a sin?  Well, let's think a minute.  Where did the wicked man get the strength to get up in the morning?  Who makes the wicked man's heart to beat?  Who's air is the wicked man breathing every minute?  Who caused the sun to shine on the wicked man's field?  Who sends the rain to water the wicked man's crops?  But does the wicked man thank the good Lord above for all of His wonderful blessings?  No!  The wicked man says to himself, "I have worked hard and made this crop.  This is mine, and mine alone."  The wicked man doesn't thank God for doing most of the work to make his crop.  The wicked man's ungrateful work is sin before Almighty God.  Everything that we have is God's.  He is so good to us!  We should thank him for all He does for us!  Let's be grateful and not sin before God.

Read Proverbs 21:2  The first half of our verse says that everyone thinks that they are right.  When you see someone at church dressed in a really weird way, the really weird part is that they think that they look good.  If someone thinks that they do not look good, they will change their clothes - that is unless that someone is Grandaddy.  Marmie makes Grandaddy wear her favorite tie to church.  You know, that really weird tie. Just kidding!  Just like we think that we are dressed great, our verse says that we think that we are right.  Everyone has an opinion about something, but we are not always right.  That is why half of the world drives Fords and thinks that Chevys are junk, while the other half of the world drives Chevys and thinks that Fords are junk..  But the second half of our verse lets us in on a secret: we may think we are right, but God knows our hearts.  He knows what is deep down inside of each of us.  We may fool other people, but we can't fool God.  He knows it all.  We may think that we are right, but God's way is absolutely right!  We can know that we are right if we follow God's way. 

Read Proverbs 21:1  Did you know that God is in charge of everything?  We have different leaders in charge of our governments.  You have a mayor who is in charge of your city.  Do you know the name of your mayor?   Do you know the name of the governor of your state? Do you know the name of your president?  You need to know the names of your leaders so that you can pray for them.  But our verse says that although we may think that these leaders are in charge, God is really in charge of them!  Our verse also gives us an example.  The water in a river moves along downstream, but we can take a paddle and stir the water and move it around.  That is the way that God works.  God can put thoughts into the hearts and minds of our leaders.  These powerful leaders may even think that these thoughts are their own ideas, but they are actually thoughts that were put there by God Himself.  God is much better at leading us than any of our human leaders are.  Oh, they may think that they are in charge, but God is actually in charge of them!  And God always does what is right.  He is a perfect leader!  I am glad that God is in charge of our leaders, who are in charge of our governments, who are in charge of us.  Let's pray to God thst He would direct our leaders to lead us the right way.

Read Proverbs 20:29  Now this verse is a real problem!  Well, the first half is not a problem, but the second part is.  It talks about gray hair - something that I know a lot about.  Ha, ha!  In the cycle of life, young men like to show off their muscles.  But as the young man ages, he becomes a middle aged man, and then he becomes an old man.  It just seems like yesterday that I was in college running 3 miles before breakfast.  Now I waddle 3 steps to Chick Fil-A to eat breakfast.  Young men are proud of their muscles and old men are proud of their experience.  And experience is seen by their gray hair.  But growing older is no guarantee that you are growing wiser.  Gray hair just means that you are older.  Wisdom comes by listening to God and reading and heeding His Words in His Bible.  Today I finished my work early and I went by . . . can you guess where?  Yes, Chick Fil-A.  At Chick Fil-A senior citizens get free drinks.  So I went by Chick Fil-A and got my free coffee and sat down and read my Bible for an hour.  I Read all of II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.  Isn't that amazing!  I read 5 books of the Bible in one day - actually in one hour!  Did you know that most of the books in the Bible can be read in 20 minutes or less?  It isn't very hard to read God's Word.  We just have to do it.  And by reading God's Word, we become wise.  Our gray hair then shows wisdom and not just old age.  I am glad that I have gray hair.  And I am glad that you have muscles!

Read Proverbs 20:22  Solomon uses a big word here in our verse for today.  The word is recompense.  Recompense means to pay back.  It means to get even with someone who has wronged us.  When someone does something bad to us, our first reaction is to do something bad right back to them.  We want payback.  We want to get even with them for what they have done to us.  But our verse warns us that we should not try to get even; we should not recompense evil with evil.  When our Lord Jesus Christ was dragged into court just before His crucifixion, did He try to get even with His accusers?  No, Jesus answered them not a word.  He knew that they would not be satisfied with anything that He said.  They were determined to put Him to death on the cross.  And God turned around that terrible deed into salvation for all of us who believe on Jesus Christ!  We do not need to get even; we should let God take care of us.  God writes down everything in His books and someday, He will get even for us!  In Romans 12:19 God says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."  We don't have to get even if God is keeping up with everything.  We just have to trust God and be kind to others.  Someday, God will repay.  He will take care of us!

Read Proverbs 20:19 This is the fourth time we have heard of a talebearer.  Solomon must have thought that talebearing was important to be warned about.  A talebearer is someone who carries a tale around.  They bear a tale.  A tale is a story that may or may not be true.  The truthfulness of the story is not important to the talebearer.  They just want to carry the story around to several people so that they are the ones who are important.  The talebearer will come by and say, "Have you heard the latest story?"  And of course you haven't, so they get to tell you the latest tale.  The talebearer likes to be the first one to carry a story around.  That is why they talk to so many people.  They have to be "in the know."  They are nosy.  They stick their nose into other people's business so that they can carry more tales to the next person.  And what do they say at the next person's?  They say, "Have you heard the latest story?"  As a mater of fact, they will actually add things to the story that they carry in order to make it more exciting.  They call it embellishing the truth but God calls it lying.  Whether a story is true or not is not the important thing to a talebearer.  What is important to the talebearer is that they have a new story and that they are the first to bring it to you.  A talebearer will bring you gossip about someone else and then try to get information out of you.  They want you to join in their talebearing.  But the problem with a talebearer is that when they leave you, they will talk about you to the next person.  They come to you with a tale about someone else, and then they go to someone else with a tale about you!  So when a talebearer comes by with some juicy gossip, just remember that they will be talking about you at their next stop.  Be honest and faithful in your words.  Don't fall for the flattering words of the talebearer because they will turn the tale around at their next stop.  At their next stop you will be the next tale. 

Read Proverbs 20:18  Well, which of you kids are going to war?  May be you are going to fight a Legos Star Wars battle, but that is different.  Our verse talks about counsel, which means getting advice from someone else.  When you are going to do something that you have never done before, it is good to have someone else to tell you what to look for and what to expect.  They can tell you the stuff you might need and how long it might take and . . . well, just about everything that you don't know that you should need to know.  That is what we call advice.  And then the last part of our verse talks about going to war.  Going to was was a serious matter in Solomon's day.  It still is.  Before someone goes to war they absolutely need to know that they are ready.  If you aren't ready, you might lose your life!  You have to know that your equipment is ready and that it is the very best.  What if your sword breaks in the middle of fighting?  You are dead meat!  What if your arrows are not properly prepared?  If just one of the feathers on your arrow falls off, the arrow will fly crooked and will miss the mark.  You will waste your time shooting a defective arrow.  When you go to war, it is good to get advice from an old veteran - someone who has been through the battle before and has come out victorious.  That is the same way it is in life.  You, as a young person, should get advice from someone older and wiser than yourself.  If you don't listen to older people, you may ruin your life.  And remember, you only get one life.  In a computer game, you get to start over when you "die."  But in real life, you only get one chance.  Don't take the risk of not listening to your parents and messing up.  Get good advice and live a great life!  Get good advice so that someday you can give good advice to your children.  Wow!  That sounds crazy!  But you will grow up before you know it!  And with good advice, you will do a great job at life!

Read Proverbs 20:13  This is another verse that talks about lazy people.  Do you remember the other word that Solomon used in Proverbs for a lazy person?  That's right: a sluggard.  Our verse says that if you love sleep, you will come to poverty.  But the second part of the verse says that if we open our eyes, we will be satisfied with bread.  Here is the problem:  If you are lazy, you won't work and you won't have anything.  If you are lazy, you will never save the money for a new baseball glove.  If you are lazy, you will never save enough money for a new bicycle.  But, if you work hard and save the money that you earn, you will be able to buy a new baseball glove or a new bicycle.  Here it is: you can sleep and be lazy, but you will have nothing.  Or you can be diligent and work and save, and you will have many things.  But our verse says that you can't be lazy and have things.  If you want things, you have to work for them.  It's as simple as that.  God does not want lazy people.  He wants people to work and to provide for their families.  Learn to work while you are a kid.  Remember, lazy kids grow up to be lazy adults.  Think about that!

Read Proverbs 20:11 Do you have a kid who preaches at your church?  Probably not.  You may have preached at Master Club competition, but you don't have a ten-year-old who is the pastor of your church.  Most of the time it is an older adult who pastors the church.  But you don't have to be an adult to know someone's heart.  Our verse says that even a child can be known by whether he is good or not.  Let me ask you a question: How do you know what is in someone's heart?  The answer is by what they do on the outside.  If a person steals money, what do you think is on the inside of their heart?  They probably have the heart of a thief.  If someone talks dirty and talks about wicked things, what do you think is in their heart?  Probably wickedness and evil is in their heart.  Last week I read, "Be careful of what you think because your thoughts may become words at any moment."  Isn't that is true?  Thoughts become words and words become deeds.  And you don't have to be an adult for people to know what is in your heart.  Even a child is known on the inside by what he does on the outside.  When someone says your name, what comes to their mind?  When someone says, "Gerald," do they think a good man or do they think of a cheat or a liar or a thief?  I hope they think good things when they say my name.  But what about your name?  What kind of a person have you been building for yourself?  A good person or a bad person.  If you haven't been building a good person, isn't it about time for you begin to build yourself a good person? I think so.

Read Proverbs 20: 7  This is a great verse for kids.  It talks about where we get our good habits from.  It explains to us the key to being a good man or woman when you grow up.  There are some kids who grow up and become great adults on their own, but most kids become good adults because their father made them that way.  When you sneak and steal something and your father corrects you, you learn to be honest.  When you are lazy, your father corrects you and you learn to be a hard worker.  When you sass your mother and talk back to her and your father hears you, he doesn't let you get away with having a smart mouth.  He stops you from being a smarty pants. (Ha, ha!)  And . . .  when you learn as a child to be honest, hard working, and respectful, you grow up to be an honest, hard-working, and respectful adult that everyone likes.  You are blessed and everyone likes you because your father corrected you and made you act the way you should.  And actions become habits.  And habits become character.  You may not like your father correcting you, but someday, you will want to thank him for correcting you when you were little.  Why not thank him today!

Read Proverbs 20:4  This is the fifth time that we have talked about a verse on the sluggard.  God must think that it is pretty important if He has this many verses on it.  I like to go bare foot outside.  When I walk around my back yard, I am careful not to step on a pine cone.  Those really hurt!  But at night, I can't see them.  But one thing worse than stepping on a pine cone in the dark is stepping on a slug when it is out at night.  Ooooh!  Slugs have to be the nastiest creatures that there are!  I despise slugs!  And slugs are the root word for sluggard.  I bet God despises a sluggard as much as I despise a slug.  In our verse, King Solomon says that when it is time to go our and prepare the farmland to plant the new crops, the sluggard doesn't want to go our because he thinks it is too cold.  But if he doesn't plow the ground and plant the seeds on time, the seeds can't begin to grow.  When the weather gets nice and warm, it is too late to go our and plant.  Now it is time for the little plants to be up and growing well.  So when other farmers are out harvesting their crops, the sluggard's plants are just beginning to grow up.  He put them out too late because he was too lazy and didn't want to go our and plow in the cool weather.  When the sluggard's plants get ready to produce their harvest, the cold frost of the fall kills them and the sluggard has no harvest.  You may remember that this is called Cause and Effect.  it is a chain of events like this:  The sluggard's crops don't produce because the fall frost killed the plants - because the plants were too late in maturing - because the seeds were put into the ground too late - because the sluggard didn't want to go out into the cool air to plow the ground.  The sluggard has no crops and no food for the year because way back in the early spring, he didn't want to get out of his warm house and do his work!  My, my!  One lazy day can have such a terrible result!  So what is our lesson here?  Talk about it and then I'll give you some of mine.

Don't be lazy.  Don't be afraid of the cold.  Don't put off the work that you must do.  Don't be a sluggard.  Do your work on time.

Read proverbs 20:1  Wine is mentioned many times in the Bible.  Some people say that the Bible does not say that drinking alcohol is wrong.  Jesus actually made wine at the marriage of Cana in John chapter2.  But Jesus never permitted drunkenness and the wine mentioned in the New Testament was always mixed with water.  It was kind of like Kool Aide.  In Bible times there were no refrigerators to keep grape juice fresh, so all grape juice turned to wine quickly as it sat outdoors.  But Jesus never used strong drink.  Here in Proverbs wine is always spoken of as bad for you.  Here in our verse Solomon even says that wine mocks whoever drinks it.  It makes fun of you.  When someone drinks wine or liquor, they become controlled by the drink.  They usually can't stop with just one drink.  Then the alcohol in the wine takes them over.  Their speech is slurred - they can't talk clearly.  Their vision is impaired - they can't see clearly.  Their actions are slowed and they stumble around clumsily - they can't act clearly.  When people see a drunk person stumbling around, they laugh at them.  They are not in control of themselves.  Their body is controlled by the liquor.  As our verse says the wine takes them over - the wine makes a mock of them.  Anyone who thinks that they can control wine is deceived - the wine is controlling them.  And our verse from God's holy Word says that they are not wise.  Be wise.  Stay away from wine.  Stay away from liquor.  Stay away from alcohol.  Be wise!

Read Proverbs 19:25  Well here is another verse about correction.  But after all, Solomon is giving advice to his son, and his son probably needed correction.  How do I know that?  That is because all sons need correction!  But here in our verse Solomon talks about three different kinds of sons: the scorner, the simple, and the son who has understanding.  Solomon tells us that the scorner will not listen.  He cannot be taught or reasoned with.  The only thing you can do with the scorner is to smite him.  That means a spanking.  Can you be reasoned with?  If your mother tells you, "If you keep on doing that, you will get into trouble" what do you do?  A wise son or daughter will think, "Hum.  I think I had better stop doing that before I get into trouble."  But the scorner doesn't stop.  The scorner thinks he can get away with what he is doing and not get into trouble.  He won't learn.  He won't listen.  He can't be taught.  When I was a teacher in junior high years ago, my classroom was next door to the storage room where the students got a paddling when they were very naughty.  When another teacher took a student into the storage room and spanked them, Me and all of my students heard the spanking.  It was funny, because all of my students sat up just a little straighter in their seats and paid just a little more attention to my teaching.  They were like the simple person mentioned in our verse.  Solomon said that when the scorner was punished, the simple watched and listened and paid attention.  But the best was the child of understanding.  When a wise son or daughter was corrected, they obeyed and changed their ways.  So, what kind of a kid are you?  A scorner who will not listen?  Are you a simple child who follows a scorner and only obeys when the scorner is punished?  or are you a child of understanding?  Do you listen and learn before you have to be punished?  it is much better to listen than to have to be corrected.  I hate getting into trouble.  Do you?  How can you keep from getting into trouble?  How did you get into trouble today?  How could you have avoided getting into trouble?  What about tomorrow?  Are you going to be more obedient tomorrow?  I hope so.

Read Proverbs 19:18  Oh no! I can't believe this verse is in the Bible!  I can't believe that parents who love their children are told here in this verse to actually spank them!  Our verse goes on to say that don't let up just because the kid cries.  Wow!  Is that cruelty, or what?!  Actually, if a parent does not correct their son our daughter, that is the worst kind of cruelty.  Why do I say that?  Well, I'll tell you.  The only way that a child learns self-control is for their parents to correct them.  How does a little kid learn that a hot stove will burn them?  Well, there are two ways: a parent can just let their child burn themselves or they can tell the child, "No, no.  Do not touch the stove.  It's hot."  Which one is the kindest?  Suppose little Willie wants to play with a sharp knife from the silverware drawer.  Should his father just let him play with it, or should his father stop him?  But he really wants to play with the sharp knife.  Why is his father being so mean?  Actually, his father is being loving in not letting little Willie play with the sharp knife. Willie's father knows how dangerous a sharp knife can be.  How about when little Mary wants to play in the street.  Why does her mother not let her?  The street is nice and wide and flat.  It is a perfect place to set up a playhouse.  Is her mother mean in not letting little Mary play in the street?  No, not at all.  Mother knows that the street can be a dangerous place for a little girl.  Mother knows what is best.  What if little Sophie kicks her feet in anger and wants to play doctor with the medicine bottles in the medicine cabinet?  But she really wants to play with them.  Why is mother so mean as not to let her play with the prescription pills up in the medicine cabinet?  I think you are getting the picture.  Children need parents to be in charge of them until they get old enough to be in charge of themselves.  We learn self-control as our parents teach us by their control.  Correcting a child is serious business and parents need to take their job seriously.  And children need to accept a parent's loving control.  Before you know it, you will be driving a car and making all sorts of adult decisions.  And how do you learn how to make adult decisions?  By learning from your parents, who make good decisions for you when you are too young to know how to make good decisions for yourself!  Turst your parents.  They love you and want only what is best for you.