Proverbs 30:15-17

Proverbs 30:15-17 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. Again, we had several verses for today. But these verses are connected and tell an interesting story. Do you like gross things? Sometimes I do. The horseleach that is in our verses for today is one of those gross things. It swims in a wild, country stream. When a horse, or any other similar creature goes into the stream to cool off in the hot summer, the horse leach attaches itself with its mount to the skin and begins to suck the blood out of its host. The horseleach draws the very life out of the horse. Solomon said that there are four things that are never satisfied or filled: The grave, a mother that cannot have a baby, dry ground, and a forest fire. Do undertakers ever run out of people dieing? Do funeral homes ever go out of business because people are not dieing? Never. The grave is never filled. A woman who wants to have a baby will work and work until she can have enough money to adopt a little child. She is never satisfied until she has a little baby of her own to hold and to love. I know. Both of my daughters have wonderful adopted babies to hold. And I love and hold them too! The third thing that is never satisfied is the dry earth. You can water and water it, but the water just soaks in deeper and deeper. The water never runs off. And lastly is a forest fire. It grows and grows burning everything in its path. It never stops because there is always a supply of dry brush in its pathway. these four things are never satisfied. Are you satisfied? Do you have enough toys? Do you have enough games? Do you have enough clothes? be satisfied with what God and your parents have given you. Be grateful. Don't be greedy. God has given you great parents to take care of you. And they will!

Proverbs 30:11-14

Proverbs 30:11-14 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. We have four verses for today because they are all related. They are all about a wicked generation. People today are becoming more and more wicked. Solomon was warning his son to be careful and to watch out for the younger kids who were growing up. They were not respectful to their parents, but they thought that they were okay. They had a proud look, yet were as wicked as they could be! They took advantage of poor people so much that it was as if they were eating them alive! Kids are beginning to have smart mouths and care nothing about teachers, preachers, coaches, or policemen. They just don't care. God is warning us to be aware and not to become as they are. Be obedient. Be respectful. Be thankful. God will bless you, and others will notice and speak well of you. God's ways are the best for us. Don't be a smart mouth. be obedient.

Proverbs 30:7-9

Proverbs 30:7-9 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. Solomon said that there were two things that were dangerous. Two things that will get us into trouble. If you have too much money or if you have too little money. Both are dangerous. Solomon said that if you did not have enough bread, what might you do? You might be so hungry that you might be tempted to steal.  And Solomon said that if you have too much bread what might you do? You might be tempted to forget God and think that you had gotten all of that bread all by yourself. We should not forget God. If we have too little, we will forget God and if we have too much we will forget God. Both are temptations. Solomon said that he wanted just enough bread.  We are commanded in the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 to pray for our daily bread. We need to realize that everything that we have comes from God, our heavenly Father. Just like our earthly dad takes care of us, our heavenly Father takes care of us. He is a trustworthy Father indeed!

Proverbs 30:6

Proverbs 30:6  Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. God's Word is important. We should respect it. Every word is important. There are two bad things that someone can do to the Bible: you can add words that are not there and you can take away words from what is there. Both are wicked. Our verse talks about adding to what God has said. Eve did that in the Garden of Eden when Satan came to her in the form of a serpent and tempted her to disobey God. When she told Satan what God had said, she said that God had said not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil nor to touch it. But God never said not to touch it. Not that there was anything wrong or not wrong with touching it, but Eve was wrong in misquoted what God had actually said. Some people will say that you should not go to the movies. But does the Bible say anything about going to the movies? Not exactly. But Psalm 101:3 says that we should set no wicked thing before our eyes. I Thessalonians 5:22 says that we should avoid all appearance of evil. So we have to decide what is right based upon Bible principles. Ephesians 6:1 says that children should obey their parents. So if your parents do not think you should go to the movies, then you should not go. But should we say that the Bible says that we should not go to the movies? No. That would be adding to the Words of God. And what does our verse say about someone who adds to God's Words? You will be found a liar! That is pretty strong. But then adding to the Bible is pretty bad too!

Proverbs 30:5

Proverbs 30:5  Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. The Bible is the only book that is always true. It is never wrong and never has to be updated. Even though it was written hundreds of years ago, it is just as up to date as tomorrow's newspaper. We can read it and know that we are reading God's absolute truth! When a Roman soldier went into battle, he used a spear and sword and sometimes a bow and arrow, but he depended upon his shield to defend against the enemy's advances. Satan is our enemy and we need God's Word to defend against Satan's advances. God's Word is our shield! If we trust in the Bible and read it and learn what it means, we can be safe. Actually, that's what you are doing right now!

Proverbs 30:4

Proverbs 30:4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? God is powerful. God is wise. God's knowledge is far above us. Let me explain it like this. Bennett is three years old - soon to be four. I do magic with him. I show him a quarter and then I say, "Now close your eyes." and he does. Then I put the quarter in my pocket and hold out my empty hand. Then I say, "OK Bennett, now open your eyes." He is amazed to see that the quarter has vanished and there is nothing in my hand. I know, I know, I am mean. But it is easy to trick a little boy. It isn't that he is dumb; it's just that I am older and wiser than he is. And God is so much wiser than we are! Have we been to God's house? Can we gather the hurricane winds up into our fists? Where were we when the world was made? God is so much higher than we are. But He loves us and wants to be our friend. How amazing! The Creator of the universe wants to be our friend! We are so blessed!

Proverbs 29:27

Proverbs 29:27 An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked. Okay, today is a language lesson. I know, I know, you thought school was over for today. But just one more little lesson. Do you know what a conjunction is? A conjunction connects. A conjunction is like a bridge between the two sides of a river. The bridge connects and a conjunction connects. But conjunctions connect in different ways. And used in our verse for today is a joining word. But the word but shows a difference when it join parts together. Or shows a choice. You can have one or the other, but not both. If you want both, which conjunction would you use? And. So back to our verse for today. The first half says that an unjust man is disgusting to a just man. Disgusting is what abomination means.  And the upright person is disgusting to the wicked man. So and tells us that both parts of our verse are true at the same time. Out verse says that the good person is disgusted with the bad person and at the same time, the bad person is disgusted with the good person. But why are both disgusted with the other? In his heart, the good person wants to be good and deep down in his heart, the wicked person wants to be wicked. They do not understand each other nor do they want to be like the other person. They are totally opposite. They are different. If you have a changed heart, God helps you to want to be good. If you are not God's child, you sin in every thing that you do. You may try to be good, but deep down in your heart, you can't be good. Jesus Christ has to change your heart. You must be born spiritually into God's family. So, just like our verse says, the choice is yours: Love God; hate evil. OR love evil; hate God.

Read Proverbs 29:26

Proverbs 29:26  Many seek the ruler's favour; but every man's judgment cometh from the LORD. Why do you think that people try to butter up a ruler? Why are they overly nice to a judge? People are nice to important people because they hope to use them later. If you get to know a judge, when you get a traffic ticket, the judge may let his friend off - that would be you! If you are friends with a city commissioner, it may come in handy when you go before the commission to get your building project approved. But our verse says that God is the one who we should be getting in good with. We should do those things that God likes and not do those things that God does not like. Don't fear man - fear God. And don't try to gain favor with man - obey and gain favor with God. After all, Who is able to save your eternal soul and take you to heaven? Hummm?

Proverbs 29:25

Proverbs 29:25  The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. Most of the time, we know the right thing to do. It is just hard to do the right thing. There are several reasons that the right thing is hard to do. First, it is inconvenient. We may want to sleep in, but we have to get up on time. We may want to sit and play video games, but we have to do our school work. Second, it will cost us something. If we see a lost puppy, it will take time to find the owner. But if we lost our puppy, would we like it if someone took the time to return our puppy to us? Third, it may be painful. If we are fooling around and break something, we should own up to it and pay for the repairs. We could lie about it, but then we will feel guilty. And usually, the truth comes out. and when it does, we are not only guilty of breaking something, but we are also guilty of lying about breaking it! We get into more trouble trying to keep out of trouble. So you see, it is best just to decide to always do the right thing. Sometimes we are afraid of what others will say about us if we do the right thing. That is the fear of man. But who should we be afraid of: someone else or of God. The second half of our verse says that if we trust in the Lord, we will be safe. So decide to do the right thing. Don't be afraid of other people. Trust in God and you will be safe!

Proverbs 29:24

Proverbs 29:24  Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing, and bewrayeth it not. When I was in high school, I knew a young man who hung around with the wrong crowd. Once he was driving his car and had one of those friends with him. He was stopped by the police and they found drugs on the passenger. Since they were both in the car together, they both went to jail. My friend eventually got out of his trouble, but he learned a hard lesson. He should have read our verse. Our verse would have saved him a lot of trouble. Our verse says that if you hang around with a thief, you hate yourself! Bewrayeth is an old English word that just means that when you hear the cursing of this wicked friend, you do not correct him. You don't tell him to stop his cursing, You just let him continue to speak wickedness. Even though you may not curse and use vulgar language yourself, when you are around someone who does, you hear the vulgar language and it gets into your head. And when wicked language gets into your mind, it won't be long before you are saying it yourself. There is an old saying, "If you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas." Can you tell me what that means? No one wants fleas. They bite you and itch just like a mosquito bite. But if you sleep with a dog, you are going get the fleas that the dog has. So how does this apply to our verse? If you hang around with a thief, pretty soon you are going to be acting like a thief too. And that isn't good. Solomon warns us about it, and I am warning you about it. Watch who your friends are. If you hang around with bad friends, pretty soon you will be like them. You should hang around with good friends. Pretty soon you will be like them.

Proverbs 29:23

Proverbs 29:23  A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit. The little conjunction but is a powerful word. It is like a seesaw. On the one side we have pride and on the other side we have humility. When someone brags and brags about what a great baseball player they are, everyone else gets tired of hearing them. And when they strike out, their teammates are secretly laughing. They may even laugh on the outside. But a great baseball player doesn't have to tell everyone how good they are. All they have to do is to step up to the plate and hit a home run! Other people like a kid who doesn't brag. Other people like someone who doesn't talk, but someone who really does it. In Bible times, when everyone went to a wedding banquet, the important people would be seated nearest to the host of the banquet. Those who were not as important would have to sit further away from the host in a lower position. Jesus said in Luke 14 that when you come into one of those banquets, you should go to a lower place - go to the humble place. If the host thinks you are a more important person, they will say, "Come up and sit nearer to me." You will be honored. But Jesus went on to talk about a proud guest who would come in to the wedding banquet and try to sit up near to the host. But then if a really important person would later come in, the host would ask the proud person to give up their good seat to the truly important person. The proud person would then have to slink down to a lower seat all embarrassed. Solomon and Jesus were saying to try humility first. That is the best choice.

Proverbs 29:22

Proverbs 29:22  An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. What are the two problems that an angry man creates? Like the hasty man in yesterday's verse, an angry man says things that he later regrets and things that are untrue. He isn't thinking straight. An angry man stirs up strife because he wants people to be on his side. He gossips about other people and wants you to side with him. An angry man gets into all kinds of trouble because his mind is clouded with twisted thoughts. He can only think of his anger and getting even with whoever has crossed him. So, watch out for an angry man, and from yeaterday, a hasty man.

Proverbs 29:20

Proverbs 29:20 Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him. In our verse for today, King Solomon is talking about two things that are impossible. Oh, we may think that we can correct a man who is too quick to blurt out an answer. But Solomon says that there is no hope for him. Actually, there is less than no hope for him. That is pretty bad. Solomon goes on to say that even though there is no hope for a fool, there is actually more hope for a fool than for a man who is hasty in his words. And if there is no hope for a fool, there is less than no hope for a man who speaks too hastily. So what is the big problem about a man who answers a matter too soon? Well, he uses faulty logic. And if a man has faulty logic, there is less than no hope for him. Whatever you tell him or whatever he tells you, it never makes sense. My Granny Whitely used to say that she and her brothers and sisters used to play store and use leaves for their play money. One of them would come into their pretend store with leaf money and ask for some candy. One time the kid who was the storekeeper said, "Well we don't have any candy, but we do have umbrellas. Would you like an umbrella?" No matter how much you think about that, it doesn't make any sense. Just like a fool's words and even less than a man who is hasty in his words. No logic at all. So, what is our takeaway from this verse? Think before you speak. No matter how mad you are, stop and think about what you are about to say. Stop and slowly count to ten before you say anything. If you do that, you will not be guilty of speaking hasty words.

Proverbs 29:18

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. What is the job of a good boss? What is the job of a good employee? Employees have to be at work on time and be ready to do what the boss asks them to do. Bosses, however, have to be at work early and the have to leave late. The boss has to get the work ready for their employees before the employees get to work. The boss has to think ahead and has to plan for each day and the next week, and the next month, and the next year. They have to think about the future. But the employee only has to show up on time and be ready to work. They do not have to think ahead. Our verse talks about a vision. Vision means to plan ahead and to be able to picture in your mind the way you want things to be in the future. So a good boss has to have a vision for his employees.  But what does a work vision have to do with keeping the law? Just as a good boss is thinking about a few years ahead, he is also thinking about the eternal future of his employees. If a boss is a Christian and sets a good example before his employees, his employees will think about their eternal soul and how they should live their lives. So a Christian boss is planning for his employees' eternal future as well. We are all examples each day. But the question is, are you a good example or a bad example? That is hard. But if we learn to be a good example now, we can be a good example of a good boss in the future. Is God pleased with our example? I hope so.

Read Proverbs 29:17

Proverbs 29:17  Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. It seems like we just talked about correction. Oh, we did.I suppose that Solomon had a naughty son and he had to talk about correction several times. Could it be that our parents have naughty children as well? No, I am sure our parents have little angels for children. No. not quite! Romans 3:23 says that we are all sinners. So we need to spend some more time on correction. I think that children are like a garden. If you work and pull out the weeds when the garden plants are little, your garden will grow well. But if you don't work early and pull out those weeds, the weeds will take over the garden and the weeds will choke out the vegetable plants. If you wait around and neglect your garden, later in the summer will be too late! The good plants will be smothered out and gone! the only thing left in your garden will be ugly, useless weeds. Our verse says that if we correct our son - and daughter - They will grow up good and will give us rest. Here it goes: I am glad that my mother corrected me. And I am glad that your mother corrected you! really - it was for the best.

Proverbs 29:15

Proverbs 29:15  The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Oh no! Here is one of those correction verses. But, we have to deal with it. Oh well. I remember getting into trouble when I was a kid. Actually, I still get into trouble! When I disobeyed, my mother spoke to me and told me that I was being naughty. If I continued to ignore her warnings, she had to give me a spanking. My mother used little thin switches. You might not think that a thin switch is effective, but it is. Trust me! It usually only took one lash and I would remember what I should have remembered before. It is funny how a little switch helped me remember! As I got older and was tempted to do wrong things, I would hear my mother warning me in my head. She was not around, but I remembered her warnings and I had learned to do right. Those switchings helped me to learn to be obedient and to do right. My mother has said many times that she is proud of me. But actually, she is the one who formed me into the man that I am. She formed me when I was a little boy. If she would not have corrected me, I would have grown up being selfish and strong-willed. And I would be a man that my mother would be ashamed of. We all need correction. We need to grow up and to make our parents proud and not make them ashamed.

Proverbs 29:13

Proverbs 29:13 The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes. This is an interesting verse. I tried and tried to think of how a poor person and a liar are connected - how they meet together. But I just couldn't make the connection. That is because there isn't a connection. Well, actually there is: The connection is found in the last half of our verse. You see, whatever your problem; whatever your need; whatever difficulty you find yourself in; the answer is the same: the Lord. For every question in life, there is only one answer.  For every need in life, there is only one solution. Jesus Christ is the answer; Jesus Christ is our helper. Jesus Christ is everything! He is the answer to every question! What a friend we have in Jesus!

Proverbs 29:12

Proverbs 29:12 If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked. If a boss is an honest man, he will usually hire honest workers. But if a boss is a dishonest man, he will hire crooks to work with him. Why? Because he himself is a crook! There is a story told of Cyrus McCormick, a businessman and inventor of the McCormick reaper of years ago. Mr. McCormick had huge farm operations and had many men working for him. One day he was inspecting the scale house where wagons crossed the scales and were weighed. The weigh master - the man in charge of weighing the wagons - told Mr. McCormick, "I got you good weight today, boss!" What he meant was that he was cheating the wagon owners and telling them that their wagons weighed less than they really did. The weigh master was cheating for his boss, Mr. McCormick. But that evening when the men got off work, the weigh master found a note in his pay envelope that stated that he was fired. The other men were surprised and one of them asked Mr. McCormick why he had fired the weigh master who had actually gotten more money for him. Mr. McCormick replied, "Anyone who will steal for me will also steal from me. I will not have a thief working for me." Cyrus McCormick proved that our verse is true. Honest Bosses attract honest workers and wicked bosses attract wicked workers.

Proverbs 29:11

Proverbs 29:11 A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. Have you ever known a person who couldn't keep a secret? Our verse is talking about just such a person. They will blurt out the secret even when they aren't supposed to tell anyone else. When I was a little boy, there was a program on TV just about the time that I would get home from school. If I promised my mother to get right onto my homework after the show was over, she would let me watch it. It was called Art Linkletter's House Party. They had several things on it that were interesting. They always had a group of 5 children on the program from an area preschool. Art Linkletter would interview the children and ask them questions. The questions were funny and the children's answers were even funnier! One question he would ask was, "What did your mother tell you not to say?" And the children would tell him what their mother had told them not to tell him. Those children were innocent, but that is exactly what our verse is talking about. Instead of thinking first, the children would say exactly what they were not supposed to say. If they would have thought first, they would not have told Art Linkletter anything. But, of course, that wouldn't have been funny. And fools are like little children - neither of them are careful about what they say. And both of them tell their whole mind. But what about a wise man? Well he guards his words and keeps quiet. So, what have we learned? Our verse, the Bible, says that someone who just speak right out loud his whole mind, what is he? But someone who keeps his words under control, what is he? Think about that! Guard your words. If you guard your words, you are wise. If you don't . . . Oh well.

Proverbs 29:6

Proverbs 29:6  In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice. Our verse tells us that there is a big difference between an evil man and a good man: the evil man is always afraid of the future. If he lies, he is afraid that someone will find out about his lie. If the evil man steals, he is afraid that someone will find out about the thing that he has stolen. Just like the animal is caught in the trap, the evil man is afraid he is going to be caught. But he doesn't realize that he is already caught! God already knows, and Satan has already tricked the evil man and has trapped him! But how about the righteous man? The good man? He has nothing to be afraid of! He is honest and has nothing to hide. He can sing and be happy all day long. He can go to bed at night in peace and not worry about anything. He will live forever in heaven with God! The evil man is afraid but the good man is relaxed and unafraid. So, which one would you rather be like? The evil man or the good man? Then obey God and trust in Him. You will never be sorry that you did!

Proverbs 29:5

Proverbs 29:5  A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet. Flattering is a big word that means to talk wonderfully to someone in order to make them like you better. For example, you may tell someone how smart they are and they will like your words. They like your words, not because they are smart, but they just like being told that they are smart. And so they like you, and they think that you are smart. But neither one of you are smart because you are just saying fake words.  You just told them that they were smart and they liked what you said. But when the truth eventually comes out, they will realize that you were just saying that they were smart for your benefit. They will realize that you were not truthful with them. You are caught! Our verse says that you are caught just like a hunter sets a trap and catches an animal. The hunter spreads a net out on the ground, camouflages it with leaves and grass, and puts bait in the middle. The poor unsuspecting creature falls for the trick, eats the bait, and is caught in the net that is spread right under its feet. If you start saying insincere words to someone, eventually you will get caught in your own words. So just don't do it. Always speak the truth. You will never be sorry.

Proverbs 29:4

Proverbs 29:4  The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it. What is the job of a judge? Usually two people have a disagreement and they can't resolve their problems, so thy go before a judge who is wise, and he decides what is right and wrong. He decides who wins and who loses. But what if one of the people who is going before the judge, secretly, the day before, gives the judge an envelope with $200 in it?! A judge who accepts that envelope with money in it, is no longer fair. He is corrupted. He has accepted a bribe. His decision is no longer just, it is crooked. If someone gives you a gift, but expects a favor in return, they are not really giving you a gift; they are buying you and making you theirs to boss around. By giving you the gift and you accepting the gift, they own you! If it is your birthday and someone gives you a gift, that is different. If someone just wants to give you a gift, that is fine. But if they expect a favor in return, the gift is not just a gift, it is a gift with strings attached. That means that they will pull on their gift when they want you to do something for them in return. If you accept this false gift, the gift-giver will soon want you to do them a favor in return. So the gift is not really a gift. Be careful. Be fair. Don't be an unfair judge. Don't receive secret gifts. Don't let someone else buy you or buy a favor from you.

Proverbs 29:2

Proverbs 29:2  When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Do you like it when your mother and father are yelling all the time? Do your parents like it when their children are fussing at each other all of the time? Do you think that your pastor likes it when the church members are arguing with each other all of the time? No, no, no. We all like peace and quiet. When good people are in charge, things are nice and quiet. But when wicked people are in control, there is trouble! No one is happy, not even the wicked person who is in charge! They don't even like themselves! We all like peace. If we follow God and follow the good people who God has put in charge of us, everyone will be happy, happy, happy. Right?!

Proverbs 29:1

Proverbs 29:1  He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Have you ever been warned about something? I have. When our mother or father warns us about something, we should listen. If we don't listen, it is our fault when we get into trouble. When I was a little boy my mother warned me to clean out and straighten up my dresser drawers. But I didn't listen to her. So when I got home from school that day, I found all of the stuff from all of my drawers were dumped on my bed! I couldn't go to bed that night until I had put all of my stuff neatly back into my dresser drawers. I didn't listen until it was too late! If we get into trouble that is bad, but if we were warned and didn't listen, that is even worse! We had a chance and didn't take it. God loves us and gives us warnings. We should listen to God's warnings before it is too late! Can you name some of the warnings that God gives us? Let's try to obey God's warnings. We will be glad, and so will our Heavenly Father!

Proverbs 28:28

Proverbs 28:28  When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase. This verse is talking about good people and bad people. I am reminded of a seesaw. Some people call it a teeter totter. It goes up and down and up and down and . . . well you get the picture. Our verse says that when the wicked rise what do good people do? But when the wicked people perish, what do the good people do?  It is like our teeter totter: when the wicked people are up, the good people are down and when the good people are up, the wicked people are down. I like it when the wicked people are down and the good people are up! If we obey God and are as bold as a lion, we will chase the wicked people away. Or, better yet, we may even convince the wicked people to change their wicked ways and become good people. They become good people by trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior. He will change their wicked hearts into good, kind hearts.

Proverbs 28:27

Proverbs 28:27 He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse. This is at the same time a wonderful promise and a fearful warning from the Bible! Do you know that God sees everything? Does God see you when you are kind to someone and no one else sees it? Yes, He does! Does God see you when you are unkind to someone and no one else sees it? Again, yes, He does! This verse says that God likes it when we are kind to the poor and God dislikes it when we avoid helping the poor. When we see someone in need, what do we do? Do we help or do we pretend that we don't see them? To be blessed by God, we should be kind to the poor. And don't forget, God is watching!

Proverbs 28:23

Proverbs 28:23  He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue. When someone asks you if you like the dress they are wearing, what do you say? Do you tell them the truth or do you tell them what they want to hear? Oh, you should never be unkind to someone with a smart mouth, but you should be careful what you say and not hurt someone's feelings. I was at a hospital visiting a family years ago and the new father was admiring his new little baby. But, it was the ugliest baby that I had ever seen! He asked me, "Isn't that the most beautiful baby you have ever seen?" I thought for a moment and said, "Wow, that is some baby!" He was happy with what I had said, and I had still told the truth. We need to be truthful, but kind at the same time. But truthful has to be first. If we lie and say that that is the most beautiful baby that we have ever laid eyes upon, soon the father will realize that we lied to him. We were just flattering him about his ugly baby. And he will not appreciate our lie, even though it was well intended. Tell the truth and be kind in telling it - if you can. But always tell the truth.