Chapter 29
No breaks.
2023 - This verse struck me today:
9 If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet. [Pro 29:9 ESV]. Now think about those TV interview programs where they just sit around and shout at each other. The one interviewed gets irritated and refuses to be quiet while the host talks. The host asks a question and then interrupts his "guest" and shouts him down. And how about those where three or four people are ALL shouting at the same time and you can't understand what any of them are trying to say. Think Jerry Springer. Think Piers Morgan. Think CNN and Fox - they aren't always this way, but they are both sometimes guilty of it. And what about the political debates we'll be seeing more and more often for the next year or so? Based on this verse from Proverbs, we ought to watch and see who laughs or rages...but never shuts up. Never listens. Consider the possibility that if everyone on the show - or on the debate stage - is shouting, then perhaps they are all fools. Should we be spending any time watching fools yell at each other? Should we even consider casting our votes for someone who can't have a conversation without shouting? This verse is just two verses down: 11 A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. [Pro 29:11 ESV]. We might want to keep these two verses handy.
Possible FB post.
This verse could use some study:
18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. [Pro 29:18 ESV]
I may be reading too much into it, but this concept of "casting off restraint" seems to describe present day America.
26 Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the LORD that a man gets justice. [Pro 29:26 ESV]
The long term view of justice...
27 An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked. [Pro 29:27 ESV]
When we see the riots, the brick throwing, the mobs beating a helpless person, it offends us because it is so unjust, so useless. We have no room in our hearts to sympathize with these things. It is difficult or impossible to overlook, to forgive, and especially to justify such behavior. But here's the thing. To these people, it is just as impossible to sympathize with us when we go calmly about our business doing things that are peaceful and legal. They cannot stand to see this, it infuriates them to the same extend that their violence infuriates us. We want them stopped now! And they want us stopped too. We are mutually abominable. But we never see ourselves as that other one sees us, just as it never occurs to them that we want them thrown in jail and the key thrown away.