Solomon discusses several miscellaneous subjects today, and he instructs us to fear God more than man.
"Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor." (Proverbs 29:23) If we need an example of this, we don't need to look any further than the Lord Jesus, who is "meek and lowly of heart" (Matthew 11:29), but who has been "exalted to the highest place" (Philippians 2:9). If we want to be like Him we must submit ourselves to God, having the same attitude the Lord Jesus had. The Lord honors a humble spirit, but He resists the proud. (James 4:6)
"The accomplices of thieves are their own enemies; they are put under oath and dare not testify." (Proverbs 29:24) In other words, with friends like these you don't need enemies. A wicked man will choose friends as wicked as he is, and their character can't be trusted anymore than his own character can be trusted.
"Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." (Proverbs 29:25) How many wrong things have we agreed to because we were afraid of what someone would think about us or say about us? How many times have we cared more about man's opinion than God's opinion? Our duty is to obey our God. He is the one we will stand before someday to give an account for our lives. It won't matter then what our neighbors or friends thought about us. Solomon says, "It's a trap to care too much about what others think of us, or to fear man more than we fear God. We need to obey God, and if some people don't want to have anything to do with us because of our faith, that's fine. The righteous life is not a popularity contest. Stand for what you believe in."
"Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the Lord that one gets justice." (Proverbs 29:26) Solomon's wisdom came from the Lord, so he could be making the statement that when a person brings his case before a godly judge, it's really the Lord who is securing justice. But I think he also makes another point here, because we don't always get justice from our legal system. The courts are run by men and women who are imperfect. We can trust God to set things straight in His court even if no court of man gets it right. Many a murderer or criminal has gone free because of a lack of enough evidence to convict, but God saw their crimes and they will someday have to answer to Him.
"The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright." (Proverbs 29:27) You may have heard the saying, "oil and water don't mix". Neither do the righteous and the wicked. They are opposites of each other, as the Apostle Paul said, "What do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14b) Wickedness desires to have its way, and righteousness desires to have its way. We find here the principle of not being unequally yoked together. Believers should marry believers. Business owners who are believers should only take on partners who are a believers. If not, there's always going to be a struggle.
Tomorrow we begin our final two chapters of the book of Proverbs. Chapter 30 is a section to itself and is attributed to a man named Agur who was a collector of wise sayings. Chapter 31 deals with the wife of noble character. This is a great chapter for women, but men can learn a lot from it too. Single men will learn what to look for in a godly wife; men who are already married can read about attributes they can praise in the godly character of their wives. When we conclude the book of Proverbs we hope to do a study on the prophetic book of Zechariah.
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