PRO-VERBS: Ruminatin' Rod's Favorites (The Top 20)

Hello boys and girls...how's life? One of the best ways to navigate through this thing called life...is an intimate relationship with the Scriptures. You get extra points if you can tell us what our friend Mr. T's...T stands for in his name. The Bible is a collection of 66 books written from multiple perspectives under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. One of the books is what I consider the most practical. It is a book that hits the nitty gritty straight on. The Book of Proverbs.

This Rambling is dedicate to my pastor...Ronnie Meek. This year...the Sunday theme is going through the Bible. Of course it would take years to preach on every book of the Bible...but he is giving a thumbnail sketch...pulling out nuggets from the book...and getting us interested enough to read the Bible for ourselves...and let God speak to us individually. This Sunday's message was Ronnie's Top Ten Favorite Proverbs. There are hundreds of proverbs to choose from so...there are plenty for me to glean from...with enough for you to enjoy. PROVERBS...literally means a comparison...and it came to be used for any sage or moralistic pronouncement (Ryrie Study Bible). Chapter one gives the purpose of the collection of comparisons and advice on how to live life. (1) To know wisdom (2) To discern sayings of understanding
(3) To receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity (4) To give the youth knowledge and discretion (5) To give a wise man hearing, increase in learning, understanding, and acquire wise counsel (6) to understand a proverb, a figure, words of the wise and their riddles. (Proverbs 1:2-6) The beginning of this knowledge is THE FEAR OF THE LORD. (Proverbs 1:7). To me this explains why this world and a lot of peoples lives are screwed up...(I include me in this mix)...we don't fear the Lord. As you read some of my favorite Proverbs...keep in mind that I like to approach the book by the name of PRO-VERBS. Pro equals positive...verbs equals action. This is a book of POSITIVE ACTION ...that will make our lives a whole lot better. Don't do what is recommended...and reap the consequences...self-inflicted consequences. These are not in any specific order of preference.

NOTE: Remember that there are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs... and there are 30 to 31 days in a month. You can Proverberize your self for 31 days and come out the other side of the month a better man or woman. Add in 5 Psalms a day and you got the DOUBLE IMPACT.



#1 Proverbs 1:10,15: "My son, if sinners entice you...DO NOT CONSENT." And, "My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your feet from their path." This is the Just Say No...before it became a term coined by Nancy Reagan to stand against drugs. It speaks of the choice that we have...to consent or not consent this is the question.

#2 Proverbs 3:1-8: This one speaks of the importance of keeping the teachings/commandments. The cause and effect is favor in the sight of God and man. The key is to trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding, acknowledge all your ways to Him and he will make your paths straight. Don't be wise in your own eyes, fear the lord, turn from evil. The cause and effect: (1) healing to your body (2) refreshment to your bones.

#3 Proverbs 4:20-24: This speaks of the importance of the Word and your words. Again it is a healthy thing to do and the choice is yours.

#4 Proverbs 5:15-20: This talks about being faithful to your wife. Do not "drink water" from anywhere else except your own cistern and well. There is "danger with the stranger".

#5 Proverbs 7:5-27: This is one of my favorite ones that tells a tale of a young man lacking sense...and the progressive nature of his SUDDEN destruction...that really was not sudden. It plots out his deliberate route to a harlot...until he has a close encounter of the 1st kind. He ends up like an ox going to the slaughter or an arrow pierced bird. The cost=his life.

#6 Proverbs 14:4: Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox." No activity...no grain...strong ox...lots of grain. It may be messy (disturbed hay and oxen poop)...but that is what it takes to get the harvest.

#7 Proverbs 14:12; 12:15; 16:25: "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death/destruction." This Proverbs is repeated 3 times. You get the idea that God wants us to get it through our thick skulls...that our way IS NOT right...no matter how much we think it is.

#8 Proverbs 15:1-4: A recurring them is the tongues, words, anger, the mouth...and how they can be destructive...a perverted spirit crushing weapon of mass destruction OR...a soothing tongue.

#9 Proverbs 16:1-3: Take your plans...and your motivation...and put them on the motive scale of the Lord. Commit your works to the Lord in the first place...and the plans will be established versus having to be changed after the motive weigh-in.

#10 Proverbs 18:10: In an age of weak towers falling under the hand of the enemy...a STRONG TOWER is needed for the righteous to run into for the purpose of safety. That strong tower is: THE NAME OF THE LORD. Jesus is the name above all names.

#11 Proverbs 20:27: The little s (human spirit) of man...is a lamp...a housing for oil that when lit will give illumination, comfort, warmth, dispelling of the darkness. The Holy Spirit (Big S) is the oil housed in the lamp in the innermost parts of our being.

#12 Proverbs 21:9, 19 : This is the counterpart to the current...if mama ain't happy...ain't nobody happy.

#13 Proverbs 24:33-34: A recurrent theme is laziness. "A little sleep... a little slumber...a little folding of the hands to rest...THEN your poverty will come as a robber, and your WANT like an armed man." The cause and effect factor again is in play. Do this...and that will happen...don't do this...and that will happen.

#14 Proverbs 27:15-16: See #12

#15 Proverbs 27:17: "Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

Accountability sharpens accountability...hombre sharpens hombre. In this Lone Ranger society...men are dull...have lost their edge. When men begin to hold each other accountable in their walk with the Lord...the edge comes back.

#16 Proverbs 25:21-22: This is the Old Testament root of the New Testament flourition...Romans 12:16-21. This is how you leave room for God to move against your enemies...and also how you edge God out of taking care of your enemies.

#17 Proverbs 31:10-31: The standard for an excellent wife. One way that a woman can meet this standard...is IF the man acts like Christ towards the Church...and lays down his life for the woman. (Ephesians 5:22-30). Another way for the standard for an excellent wife to be met is for the man to practice I Peter 2:7...and grant her honor as a FELLOW HEIR of the grace of life versus a slavegirl. Eve was called ALONG SIDE not called UNDER Adam's feet.

#18 Proverbs 31:8-9: It ain't all about you. Manifest your love for Jesus towards others.

#19 Proverbs 29:18: "Where there is no VISION...the people PERISH." The word perish means to be unrestrained. The vision is linked to the law/Word of God. Where there is no insight into the Word of God...the people are unrestrained. Self-restraint....pulling in the reins on ourselves based on the Word of God...helps us to avoid much heartache.

#20 Proverbs 30:32,33: I saved this one for the last. It is one of my favorite Pro-verbs. it is the key on how to deal with strife in my life.
" If you have been foolish in EXALTING (pride) yourself...or if you have PLOTTED out evil (pre-meditated evil)...PUT YOUR HAND ON YOUR MOUTH. For the churning of milk PRODUCES butter, and pressing the nose BRINGS FORTH blood; SO the CHURNING of anger PRODUCES STRIFE."

The solution for dealing with strife is controlling your mouth. Your mouth is the churn...where you place anger...and agitate it over and over and over until it becomes strife. If you place in the churn...the mouth... love, joy, peace, positive words, faith, belief, the Word of God...and agitated these things by saying them over and over again...you will produce...as the old Elvis songs states..."A hunka hunk of..." CHURNIN' LOVE.

Well...there you go. These are my top 20 favorite Proverbs...and that only scratches the surface.

Thanks and a Tip O' Da Hat to Pastor Ronnie Meek...for all that he does for Smyrna Assembly...and the body of Christ at large...and especially for inspiring this Rambling.

Love and Proverbial Kisses
Rod "Like a man who trusts what he cannot see" Boyd