- Proverbs 13:16-20
- Prov 13:16 (KJB)
- Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool
layeth open his folly.
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- Dealeth - Will act
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- The wise man will use wisdom to direct all his actions in life.
Everything which is filtered through wisdom will have a proper outcome,
whatever is in view. The wise man knows that as long as he follows certain
principles of wisdom, then there will be no surprises nor bad endings.
However, a fool will always operate his life on principles opposite of
wisdom and the problem is that others will immediately see that the fool is
headed for problems. The fool’s life is always laid out for others to see,
not to mock them, but to be warned by their actions that if we disown the
principles of wisdom in our life, then we too, will be like the fool, open
to the whole world. That is why the wise man assesses the situation and then
plans his way. The fool does none of this and goes into a situation head
first without knowledge or a plan.
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- Prov 13:17 (KJB)
- A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador
is health.
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- When someone sends another person to do a job and that person is of a
wicked nature, they may get the job done but the probability is that they
will ruin the job they were sent to do. This is because the unsaved man has
a wicked nature and even though he is dispatched with instructions, his
evil, nature may cause him to try and do things in another way which will
lead to ruin. On the other hand, the faithful ambassador will do the job
according to the instructions they receive and because they are wise in
their approach to their job, they will do the job properly and will not be a
sore spot with their boss. This verse also has a spiritual dimension to it.
The unsaved who try and preach the word are doing it as a job or they are
doing it for profit, especially the frauds on TV who claim to be prophets.
Eventually their true nature will be known as they fall into evil which will
be seen by others. The true preacher of the word is a true ambassador of
Heaven as they expound the word properly.
(2 Cor 5:20 KJV) Now then we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. As
true believers who are ambassadors, we bring the message which God has given
in the Bible and we do not embellish it nor do we make up our own message.
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- Prov 13:18 (KJB)
- Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth
instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.
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- Shame - Disgrace
- Refuseth - Abandons
- Regardeth - Observes
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- Response to instructions gives good insights into a person’s character.
The one who refuses to be corrected and rebuffs all instructions will find
that they will end up in poverty and disgrace. If they refuse instructions,
it shows that they are pride driven individuals and that pride will be
broken when they come to poverty and disgrace. They will be disgraced
because in their pride they kept believing and bragging about how much they
know and what they will accomplish. On the other hand, the wise man who is
given reproof will observe the sayings and then will place them into their
life. If it fixes a breach in their beliefs, then they will be much stronger
and if they are, then they will affect others to the good and that good will
bring honor to him by those he has helped. We do not look to be honored but
when we do things according to the word of God, the honor goes to God
because all we do is obey the principles written therein.
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- Prov 13:19 (KJB)
- The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is
abomination to fools to depart from evil.
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- Accomplished - Fulfilled
- Abomination - Detestable thing
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- When a wise man comes to the point of accomplishing what he set out to
do, that completion is a sweetness to the soul. For whatever he
accomplished, was done according to the principles of Scripture and the
wisdom of God. This is why the soul rejoices because he sees how correct the
principles of wisdom are and when followed, they will easily accomplish the
goals set forth. On the other hand, the fool will never accomplish anything
simply because they will not turn away from the foolish principles they live
by. They try to cut corners and make an easy living for themselves but their
way of doing things always turns out wrong and bad for them. Yet, because
they are foolish, they will refuse to change their ways and maybe only a
catastrophic event will make them look at their lives, maybe!
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- Prov 13:20 (KJB)
- He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of
fools shall be destroyed.
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- This verse easily dovetails verse 19 in that if we follow the ways of
the wise man we too will see accomplishments in our life plus the wisdom of
the wise man will rub off on us and we will order our lives according to the
wisdom in the Scriptures. Those who choose to associate with those who are
fools, will learn the way of the fool and bring their life into ruin just as
the fool has. It is very important that we choose our friends wisely. We do
not want to walk in the way of the fool because he is headed for
destruction. That is not the kind of person you want to emulate, you want to
order your life according to the principles of wisdom found in the
Scriptures and as you see them in action in a wise man’s life, that is the
goal you should seek.
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