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Pathways Through Proverbs
Daily Devotional
November 22, 2008
Today's Reading - Proverbs 22
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Following Scripture Verses
Proverbs Chapter 22
- A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.
- The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.
- A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
- By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.
- Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
- Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
- The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
- He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.
- He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.
- Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
- He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
- The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.
- The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
- The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
- Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
- He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
- Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
- For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
- That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
- Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
- That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?
- Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
- For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
- Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
- Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
- Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
- If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
- Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
- Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
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Today's Pathway:
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In most modern societies there is often a great gulf between the rich and the poor. In many cases the rich man looks down upon the poor man, perhaps seeing him as somehow inferior. The poor, on the other hand, often are jealous of the rich and despise them for their wealth. In today's verse, Solomon reminds us that the rich and the poor both need to function together.
Economically, both the wealthy and the poor serve purposes. The poor are often those who do the physical labor to produce goods that the wealthy buy, and the wealthy provide the jobs that the poor work at. Socially, both rich and poor people shop at the same grocery stores, walk the same streets, and get involved in the same community events. Certainly spiritually there is to be no boundary between the rich and poor. Paul writes in Galatians 3:28 that in Christ there is "neither bond nor free". Since the slave would have been very poor, and the free man would have been in a better financial condition, it seems clear that Paul is saying that rich and poor should be able to sit together and fellowship together as brothers in Christ and as members of a local church. There is no place for economic discrimination in the Lord's work.
Solomon concludes by writing that the Lord is the Creator of both the rich and the poor. If a man was born into a wealthy home, that was the Lord's doing. If a man has the skills required to become rich, those skills were given to him by God. If a man does not have the ability or opportunity to become rich, that is also the Lord's choice for him. Therefore, since God has made the man, he does not have the right to feel superior because of his wealth nor be bitter over his poverty. God has decided, and a man's responsibility is to take what the Lord has given him and use it for His glory.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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