GOOD DESIRES

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Opening Prayer

Father, I thank You for bringing forth this great nation. May I help strengthen it by my devotion to what is right.

Read PROVERBS 22:1–29

^[1] A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. ^[2] Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all. ^[3] The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. ^[4] Humility is the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life. ^[5] In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls, but those who would preserve their life stay far from them. ^[6] Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. ^[7] The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender. ^[8] Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken. ^[9] The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. ^[10] Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended. ^[11] One who loves a pure heart and who speaks with grace will have the king for a friend. ^[12] The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge, but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful. ^[13] The sluggard says, “There’s a lion outside! I’ll be killed in the public square!” ^[14] The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit; a man who is under the LORD’s wrath falls into it. ^[15] Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away. ^[16] One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich-both come to poverty. ^[17] Saying 1 Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, ^[18] for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. ^[19] So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you. ^[20] Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, ^[21] teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth, so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve? ^[22]Saying 2 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, ^[23] for the LORD will take up their case and will exact life for life. ^[24]Saying 3 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, ^[25] or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. ^[26]Saying 4 Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; ^[27] if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you. ^[28]Saying 5 Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors. ^[29]Saying 6 Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.

Meditate

“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould…” (Rom. 12:2, Phillips). See verses 24,25.

Think Further

I feel the vivid forcefulness of these verses: Put my words in your heart (18); Don’t let someone steal your bed from under you” (27); You, yes, you! (19b). The passage 22:17–21 differs from the brief, pungent sayings in the preceding part of Proverbs; it feels more like chapters 1–9, where the speaker has his hand on my shoulder as an individual (the imperatives are in the singular) and the sayings which follow are significantly longer.

Eleven times Proverbs says unequivocally, “Do not…” I chew over these prohibitions reflectively. Several passages note the boomerang aspects of bad behavior—things have a way of coming back and hitting you. So—”Do as you would have done to you!” The deeper virtues of trust, integrity (worked out in the eyes, ears, heart, belly, soul, lips) and patience must be allied to common sense and self-knowledge. On verse 23, Derek Kidner notes, “To be ruthlessly on the make is to make, above all, an Enemy.” In other words, you are doing wrong by yourself if you do wrong by the poor and needy. I pray for those (myself) who may use my rights to the neglect, or even harm, of the poor. I review my own practices of wealth acquisition and generosity: who today needs my discerning help? Proverbs says much about wealth, poverty, debt, thrift and bribery. Where do I stand on the spectrum between 10:22 and 23:4?

I pray that, whatever my work, I may be a true artisan, an artist (22:29). If I have food, work, friends, I give thanks, remembering those who do not.

Apply

What positive or negative characteristics are you absorbing from those around you? Do you need to make changes in this regard?

Closing prayer

Grant me, Lord, the energy of good desires; deliver me from the hard heart, the fat belly and the evil eye.

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