Proverbs 28:22

Proverbs 28:22  He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. Is it wrong to be rich? Of course not! But how did a person become rich? Did they earn their money? Or did they cheat and steal in order to get their money?And what do they do with their money? Do they just pile up their money just to have more money? Or do they use their money to do good things for others? In our verse if someone is in a hurry to get rich, they are getting money in the wrong way. If someone has and evil eye - they want more and more money - they are wicked. Someone who has a wicked desire for more and more money doesn't realize that if they cheat and steal, they will not be building friendships - they will be building enemies in business. And soon they themselves will be victims of cheating and stealing and their money will be gone. They will be poor because their goal is money and not helping others along the way. If a rich man can provide jobs for his employees, everyone is happy. If the rich man robs from his employees, everyone knows it and no one is happy. God blesses men who obey His Bible principles: do unto others as you would have others do unto you. What is that motto called? The Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is a good principle to live by. Can you say it from memory? Go ahead and try.

Proverbs 28:19

Proverbs 28:19  He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. Do farmers have much to do in the wintertime? In the wintertime farmers fix their tractors and plows and get ready for springtime planting. As soon as the ground is warm enough, the farmer is working long hours to get his seeds into the ground so that they will begin to grow. But if the farmer is busy playing video games or texting on his cell phone, well he will not have his seeds in the ground in time. They will not grow into plants and not have corn or beans or tomatoes on them in the fall. If you hang around useless people - vain people - you will not get your work done because they will want you to play all day with them. The vain people don't worry about getting their work done and they don't care if you get yours done. Actually, they don't want you to get your work done because it will make them feel bad because they aren't doing their work. It is important that you have the right kind of friends - friends that help you and not hurt you. Do your work when you are supposed to. Then you will enjoy sitting back and relaxing. But do your work first!

Proverbs 28:18

Proverbs 28:18  Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. What does walketh uprightly mean? There is an actual meaning, and there is the meaning that Solomon was talking about here in our verse. To walk uprightly is to walk like a human being and not like an animal on all fours. But that isn't really what Solomon is talking about in our proverb for today. The fellow in our picture is not walking very straight up, is he? He looks like he has a problem, doesn't he? Does he look discouraged? Does he look like he just got some bad news? Someone who trusts in God is confident and knows that everything will work out best for him because he is trusting in God. That person doesn't have to go around being discouraged. He is on the right side! The winning side! If you obey God and follow His words you can be confident that God will take care of you. You don't have to be discouraged like the man in our picture. You can be brave and bold because God is going to take care of you! But the fellow who does not follow God's ways - the fellow who does not walk uprightly before God - what does our verse say will happen to him? He will fall at once. He is headed for trouble. He will look like that sad fellow in our picture. Don't be discouraged. Don't fall. Trust in the good Lord! Be confident in God and stand up straight! God will take care of His children. Do you belong to God? If you do, great! If you don't, you should. Be on God's side and you can be happy as you trust in Him to take care of you.

Read Proverbs 28:13

Read Proverbs 28:13  Do you know the 10 Commandments?  Can you say some of them?  One commandment says that you should not lie.  If we try to cover up a sin, it is as if we are lying.  We are hiding the truth.  the Bible is clear.  We all make mistakes.  What is a mistake called in the Bible?  A sin.  We all sin.  But does that give us an excuse just because everyone is doing it?  When i was a young boy and I followed the crowd and did something wrong, I tried to use the excuse that everyone was doing it.  But that excuse never worked with my dad.  He would say, "If everyone jumped off of a cliff, would you jump too?"  Well we both knew the answer to that.  Of course not.  Just because we follow someone else does not make our sin any less of a sin.  And if we make excuses for our sin, we are trying to blame someone else for our mistakes.  A grown-up takes responsibility for their own actions.  They own up to their mistakes and admit when they are wrong.  So, we have two choices to make when we sin:  we can make excuses and blame other people, or we can admit that we were wrong and ask forgiveness for the wrong-doing.  That is what a mature person does.  They accept responsibility, they tell the truth, they admit that they were wrong, and they ask forgiveness.  They are honest and truthful and they never have to be sorry for how they live.  And our verse says that God will bless them and prosper them.  Be truthful and honest and God will bless you!

Read proverbs 28:9

Read Proverbs 28:9  Last Sunday we sang an old song in church.  The title of it was Trust and Obey.  The chorus went, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."  The song says that to be happy in Jesus, what two things must we do?  Yes, trust and obey Jesus.  If your mother asked you to carry out the trash, and you didn't do it, would you feel good about asking her a favor?  Would she be likely to grant you a favor if you hadn't obeyed her?  That is exactly what our verse is talking about.  We should obey God's laws.  When we come to God with a request, will he listen to us if we haven't obeyed His Words?  Will we feel guilty to ask God a request if we haven't obeyed His Words?  Neither of us will like the request.  So the best plan is to trust and obey to be happy.

Read Proverbs 28:7

Read Proverbs 28:7  Is your father proud of you of ashamed of you?  Whether your father is proud or ashamed of you is actually up to you.  If you are wise and obedient to God's rules, your father will be proud of you.  But if you are disobedient and hang around with evil buddies, your father will be embarrassed by you and will be ashamed of you.  So actually whether your father is proud or ashamed is up to you!  Your actions will make your father proud or embarrassed.  I hope you are a wise son or daughter so that your father can be proud of you!

Read Proverbs 28:4-6

Read Proverbs 28:4, 5, 6  These verses talk about wicked people and good people.  God blesses good people and punishes wicked people.  But that doesn't always mean that good people will always have a lot of money and wicked people will always be poor.  Sometimes God will bless good people and give them peace of mind and rest.  But wicked people are never at rest.  They have to always be worried that their lies and cheating actions and stolen things will be found out.  They can never have rest.  Verse six says that it is even better to be poor and good.  Even if you are poor, at least you can sleep good at night.  You have a clear conscience.  You know that you are right before God.  You have done right with other people.  You have God's peace and God's rest.

Read Proverbs 28:1

Read Proverbs 28:1  Are you afraid of loud noises?  Are you afraid when there is a thunderstorm?  Sometimes we jump when someone sneaks up behind us and scares us.  But that is natural.  But don't sneak up behind someone who knows karate or you might get chopped!  They are not afraid, they are a trained fighting machine!  Our verse says that wicked people are afraid and run when no one is chasing after them.  They are scardy cats!  But why are they afraid?  They are afraid because they are usually in trouble and they should be afraid.  I like the last part of our verse.  Good people do not have to be afraid of anything.  They have done nothing wrong so they can be brave.  Our verse says that they are as bold as a lion.  Is a lion afraid of anything?  Absolutely not!  He is not afraid of anything; everyone has to be afraid of him!  If you are wicked, you should be afraid; but if you are good, you don't have to be afraid of anything!

Read proverbs 27:23 & 24

Read Proverbs 27:23 & 24  Back when Solomon was the king of Israel, most men were farmers.  They didn't have a business to take care of; they had flocks of sheep and goats to take care of.  Most men didn't have money; they used their sheep and goats as their money!  If a man needed to buy a wagon from a neighbor, he might pay the neighbor five sheep for the wagon.  Today, we don't use sheep for money because when we go to the grocery store to buy food.  It would be hard to take sheep in to the store to pay for the groceries!  But in Solomon's time they did use sheep as money.  That is why Solomon said in verse 23 to watch out for your herds.  That would be like your father telling you to make sure and count your money and take good care of it.  When we need something, we pay for it with our money.  The farmer needed to take care of his sheep so he would have enough money.  Just like Solomon's farmer had to be careful with his sheep, so we need to be careful with our money.  Don't waste it!  Don't be careless with it.  Watch out for bargains and save your money.  Then you will have money to give to God's work.  And God will bless you.

Read proverbs 27:20

Read Proverbs 27:20  Hell is a terrible place.  God has warned us about the danger of going there.  Hell was not made for humans; it was made for Satan and his wicked demons.  But if we are wicked, we will end up in hell right along with Satan and his followers.  Are you a follower of  Satan?  I hope not.  But no matter how many people disobey God and die in their wickedness and go to hell, it is never full.  When I drive up the interstate towards Springfield, Tennessee, there is a weigh station for trucks near Tullahoma, Tennessee.  The state police have to check on the truckers to make sure that they are not over the legal limit.  There is a limit because trucks that are too heavy will tear up the roads.  An eighteen-wheeler must weigh under 80,000 lbs. or 40 tons.  At the weigh station near Tullahoma, Tennessee, there is an exit road where the trucks get off of the interstate and slowly drive across the scales to check their weight.  If too many trucks exit the interstate at the same time, the exit road is overloaded and trucks begin to line up on the interstate.  That is a dangerous situation.  So there is a sign right where the exit road begins that says, "Bypass when Ramp Is Full".  When the weigh station is too full of trucks, the trucks on the interstate are permitted to go right on by without stopping.  The exit ramp is full.  The ramp may be full, but our verse says that hell is never full!  Wicked people are always greedy.  Wicked people are always doing evil things.  And wicked people are always dying and going to hell.  But they can never bypass their punishment because hell is too full.  Our verse says that hell is never full!  So, what should we do?  Trust Jesus.  Obey God.  Go to heaven with Jesus and do not go to hell.  Heaven is a much better place to be in!

Read Proverbs 27:19

Read Proverbs 27:19  Our verse for today is a lot like our verse from yesterday.  Both talk about good friends and both talk about being honest with our good friends.  If you care about your friend, that is what our verse means about heart to heart.  Heart to heart means that we care deeply about our friend.  Back in Bible times they didn't have good mirrors like we do today.  When someone wanted to see their face, they went down to a still pond of water and looked into the water.  If a handsome prince looked into the water, did he see an ugly face?  If a pretty girl looked into the water, did she see a horse?  Of course not!  Just like the pool of water shows us exactly what our face is like, so we should be honest with our friend.  Like our verse from yesterday, we need to tell our friend what they need to hear, not necessarily what they want to hear.  We have to be honest.  We have to be a real friend.!

Read Proverbs 27:17

Read Proverbs 27:17  It is wonderful to have a good friend.  But to have a great friend also means that we have a great responsibility.  When we have a good friend, our responsibility is to be a good friend.  We need to be reminded that friendship has two sides: having a friend and being a friend.  When we need something, we can call upon our friend.  But when our friend needs something, can he count on us?  When we do something dumb, isn't it great that our friend is forgiving and doesn't stay mad at us just because we have done something dumb?  But how about when our friend does something dumb?  Are we forgiving to him?  What if he does something dumb but he doesn't realize that he did something dumb?  That is a little harder.  Our verse says that iron sharpens iron.  To sharpen a steel knife, we have to take something harder than the steel in order to sharpen it.  So it is with our friendships.  We should always be willing to do more for our friend that we expect him to do for us.  When our friend does something dumb, we have to man up and tell him that he is not right.  We tell him, not because we want to be mean, but because we care about him and we don't want him to continue to do dumb things.  We want our friends to be honest with us, and we need to be honest with our friends.  We should care about them and they should care about us.  That is like the iron sharpening iron in our verse.  It is great to have a good friend.  It is just as great to be a good friend and to be truthful when we need to be.

Read Proverbs 27:15

Read Proverbs 27:15  Oh no!  Is Solomon talking about his wife here in this verse?  He is going to be in trouble!  But he really was in trouble because he had 300 wives!  What was he thinking?!  God intends for us to have only one wife - God's plan is seen in Adam and Eve.  God created one man for one woman.  Can you imagine the arguments that went on in Solomon's palace?  One wife wanted to paint the kitchen blue, and another wife wanted to paint it green.  One wife wanted to have peas for supper and another wife wanted green beans.  Arguing was a constant problem.  But the problem wasn't with Solomon's wives; the problem was that Solomon picked more than one wife.  He was the one who was at fault!  When you are trying to take a nap and you hear the rain water dripping off of the roof onto a metal yard ornament, you just can't sleep.  All that you hear is drip, drip, drip, drip, drip.  The constant dripping that annoyed Solomon was like the constant bickering of his wife.  Except he had 300 of them!  Avoid fussing and quarreling.  Get along with your friends not while you are young.  And when you grow up, get along with your husband or wife.  Be kind and thoughtful.  Other people will be kind to you if you are kind to them. 

Read Proverbs 27:14

Read Proverbs 27:14  Are you a morning person?  I am.  I like to get up early and get the day going.  Or are you an evening person?  Can you stay up late and get a lot of stuff done after everybody goes to sleep?  Some people are - but not me.  Are you a quiet person?  Do you like to listen to others talk?  Or are you an out-loud person who likes to do the talking?  Sometimes if you talk loud, it will get you into trouble.  In our verse for today, the person is loud and gets up early and talks all day - and loudly too - about what a wonderful person their friend is.  They will go on and on about the great things that their friend can do, and how talented their friend is, and how funny their friend's stories are, and how smart their friend is, and . . . well you get the picture.  When someone is over the top with their praises, their praises don't seem real.  Their praises for their friend are actually extreme, and are not real.  When your friend brags on you so much that no one believes them, their praises are not worth anything.  You even wish that they would just stop and quit exaggerating.  Here is Solomon's advice: don't be a loud, bragging person.  The friend that you are bragging about would rather you would go away.  You are embarrassing them.  Here is better advice: say something good about your friend, and then shut up.  It is better for others to see for themselves that you have a great friend than for you to keep telling people that you have a great friend.

Read Proverbs 27:12

Read Proverbs 27:12  In our verse for today, Solomon is telling us to pay attention.  He is saying, "Wake up!  Take notice!  Don't be dumb!"  In our verse we have two people: the prudent man and the simple man.  So, if we are supposed to be prudent, what does prudent mean?  Any ideas?  Prudent means cautious or careful.  Like a base runner in baseball.  When a baseball player gets a hit and he is on base,  he has to be careful.  When the pitcher is getting ready to throw the next ball to the batter, the base runner steps off first base so that he can get a head start toward second.  When his teammate hits the ball, the runner wants to have a little lead so that he can get to second base safely.  But, the runner can't take too much of a lead, or the pitcher will notice and throw the ball to the first baseman and the runner will get tagged out.  So here it is: a prudent runner will lead off of first base, but not too much.  He will go just enough to give him a good head start towards second base, but not so much of a lead that the pitcher can catch him off base.  He is prudent; his lead off is just right.  And like the base runner is careful, we should be careful in our lives.  We should be prudent and we should be aware of trouble that might be coming toward us.  We should watch our smart mouth.  We should watch our careless actions.  We should watch naughty friends who may drag us into mischief.  We should be careful who we sit beside in church so that we won't be tempted to misbehave.  We should be prudent.  Tomorrow, let's not be simple; let's be prudent.

Read Proverbs 27:8

Read proverbs 27:8  Where do little birds belong?  Where should they be?  Should they be down on the ground where a cat could eat them or should they be up in their safe nest?  They belong up in their safe nest.  We are just like that little bird.  Sometimes we wander away from where we ought to be.  We should be near to God and we should think about Him often.  But like a wandering bird, we wander away from where we ought to be.   That little wandering bird can get into trouble when he is out of his nest and down on the ground.  That little bird is helpless to any cat that happens to come by.  When we wander away from where we belong, we are easy prey for Satan to gobble us up!  If we wander away from God, we are in trouble!  We need Our Lord.  We need His safety.  Let's remember, to remember God.