Today Our Daily Bread Proverbs 17 (Lena's Journalin' in red)

Proverbs 17:1-28
1A dry crust eaten in peace is better than a great feast with strife.
This is how God feels about contention, because His #1 enemy is contentious, divisive, disagreeable. The goals in our lives should be peace at all cost, even if it meant that pursuit did not benefit us naturally and materialistically speaking.
2A wise slave will rule over the master's shameful sons and will share their inheritance.
Do you think the slave tells the sons he’s ruling over them? Of course not, but he is. Rulership does not have to be with controlling, manipulating and tyranical force, infact the Master’s son may have been treating the slave this way, but the slave could indeed be ruling Him with love. Love conquers over all.
3Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart.
4Wrongdoers listen to wicked talk; liars pay attention to destructive words.
5Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished.
6Grandchildren are the crowning glory of the aged; parents are the pride of their children.
This one caught me today, we usually think about our children being our glory, what a thought that we would be theirs, someone they would be proud to have come from and have been raised up by.
7Eloquent speech is not fitting for a fool; even less are lies fitting for a ruler.
8A bribe seems to work like magic for those who give it; they succeed in all they do.
9Disregarding another person's faults preserves love; telling about them separates close friends.
Every fault does not have to be confirmed by a physical voice. God does NOT call us to point faults out, as though we must prove we can see better? The only reason a fault would be mentioned is if the Lord is speaking about and eternal life or death situation and at the same time love is in abundance to bring the merciful answer and the gracious steps towards change. This is given because of care for the person, not for the situation or for our own self-exaltation, because we see better, or to show How Great we Art. Its motivation is to help lead another in righteousness, not religiously, but relationally. It would cause the relationship between two people to become stronger, not be torn down by criticism.
10A single rebuke does more for a person of understanding than a hundred lashes on the back of a fool.
11Evil people seek rebellion, but they will be severely punished.
12It is safer to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than to confront a fool caught in folly.
13If you repay evil for good, evil will never leave your house.
I shutter at this. How does one know what is in th heart of others? What if what we perceive as evil was good from the person’s heart, and if we reacted as the world does and fought back to prove rights or whatever. God knows all motives. If the persons motive inside of their being was good and we repaid with evil (speech or deed) we come under a curse, that cannot be easily broken.
14Beginning a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.
Just drop it! Don’t pick up and partake of the meal your enemy has set before you.
15The LORD despises those who acquit the guilty and condemn the innocent.
16It is senseless to pay tuition to educate a fool who has no heart for wisdom.
17A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need.
18It is poor judgment to co-sign a friend's note, to become responsible for a neighbor's debts.
19Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin; anyone who speaks boastfully F26 invites disaster.
We cannot serve two Masters. Sin and God are Masters, who do we give our lives to and for? Sin? Or God? We cannot love both, because they are far from the same. It is so weird how Christians participate in quarrels as much as the world does, yet they think a righteous quarrell has some sort of merit, or because they are Christians they are exempt. No they are targets to see if God’s enemy can throw another thing in God’s face. Christians? Ha ha, he says to God, look at them they look just like me! Refuse strife at all times, no matter the subject!
20The crooked heart will not prosper; the twisted tongue tumbles into trouble.
21It is painful to be the parent of a fool; there is no joy for the father of a rebel.
22A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength.
How does one go from cheerful to broken? Words, strife, rebuke, rejection, hurts. Where do these enemies come from? Our families, friends, Christians, the church, etc. Why are Christians weak? They are hurt and wounded by those closest to them (so was Jesus by Judas, He experienced the deepest of betrayal to know how it was for those closest to one’s heart to hurt him. One extremely important point that Jesus made in all of this was people are not to be our source of strength, or of emotional joy, or of dependency, if they are we will probably fall into weakness and hurt. God is the only source for us. That does not at all mean we would not be in a deep relationship with another, BUT when He is the source and always the root source, what others do to us won’t move us off of our faith in Him. Look at Jesus, once Judas betrayed Him the whole world came against Him, what did man do to Him then? But God was His source. He endured the cross before God, as His source, for a relationship with us. Even those who beat Him he did it for and loved them, because God is His source. What can man do to me, when God is my source?
23The wicked accept secret bribes to pervert justice.
24Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth.
25A foolish child F27 brings grief to a father and bitterness to a mother.
26It is wrong to fine the godly for being good or to punish nobles for being honest!
27A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered.
This is true patience and consistency, when I choose to hold my tongue from lashing you and I will not express what my and God’s enemy wants me to express, hot, heated, destructive anger.
28Even fools are thought to be wise when they keep silent; when they keep their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.
DO NOT misunderstand. God does not want us to shut our mouths all of the time. There is a misconception that if one is an angry person who always speaks wrong things, that they should just shut up. Then if and when they speak, they can rebuke lightly, but not be angered, NO God wants us to speak love, Change the words, change the thoughts to love – Love builds UP, it will Not tear down. It realizes it is NOT necessary to point out someone’s faults or things they overlook. We are not in constant inspection mode. We will be inspected by God and by God’s spirit. God did not send me here to inspect you. He sent me here to love you, so that later when he inspects you, He’ll find you were loved!
FOOTNOTES:F26: Or who builds up defenses; Hebrew reads who makes a high gate. F27: Hebrew son.