November 09, 2020 Proverbs cont...
Days of Thanksgiving
Today I am thankful for love.
Today the sun was bright and God smiled upon the United States. Our hope is in him. Isaiah is a great book that reinforces one powerful theme over and over again. That theme is things go wrong when there is a lack of justice among the people. What makes God happy! Justice among the people. People being fair. It is not our religious meetings or our celebrations but it is how we treat one another. Next year can be better if we treat others the way we want to be treated.
It is even possible to do good to your enemies. If you think it is impossible to do it than ask God to give you his spirit and than it will be possible.
This week: 6 Chapters left in the Book of Proverbs
Facts and Fun news about Israel.
There are thousands of believers all around the world.
...Know that man does not live by bread alone...
(Deuteronomy 8:3)
Israel is an old-new country, small in size, but with a culturally active, heterogeneous population. Four thousand years of Jewish heritage, over a century of Zionism, and more than half a century of modern statehood have contributed to a culture which has already created an identity of its own, while preserving the uniqueness of 70 different communities.
A largely immigrant society, Israel's creative expression has absorbed many different cultural and social influences, as it blends tradition and innovation, and strives to steer a course between Israeli particularism and universalism. The constant search for cultural identity is expressed through creativity in a broad range of art forms, appreciated and enjoyed by a great many people as part of daily life.
| by Asher Weill Asher Weill is the former editor of Ariel - the Israel Review of Arts and Letters. A review of any country's cultural history over the last fifty years would show enormous changes - undoubtedly a quantum leap - and certainly more changes than in any other fifty year period in history. How much more so in Israel, where that same period was marked by a series of cataclysmic events which had - and are still having - an effect on the very nature and cultural character of this young but old nation. Check out the article at : www.https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/AboutIsrael/Culture/Pages/CULTURE.aspx |
The Book of Proverbs
Chapter 26
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,
honor is not fitting for a fool.
Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,
an undeserved cursed does not come to rest.
(thankfully no one can curse you and if a curse comes it is because it is deserved but if it is not deserved you don't have to fret. Secondly when people curse you with their mouth ....no worries....and never fret over what someone is saying or what someone is hoping will happen to you.)
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,
and a rod for the backs of fools!
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you yourself will be just like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
(some people may read this and see a contradiction: I think the writer is referring to different types of situations. For me, the first one is saying fools talk bad but if you do the same thing you are just like him or her. The second one says to me if you answer a fool with his own folly he thinks he is wise. He thinks he is right because you answered him according to his thoughts and understanding of the situation.)
Sending a message by the hands of a fool
is like cutting off one's feet or drinking poison.
Like the useless legs of one who is lame
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
Like tying a stone in a sling is the giving of honor to a fool.
Like a thornbush in a drunkard's hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
Like an archer who wounds at random is one who hires a fool or any passer-by.
As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.
Do you see a person wise in their own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than them.
A sluggard says, "There's a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!
(I think this one refers to our excuses and it makes complete sense to me. Basically the sluggard looks for every reason not to go.
As a dor turns on it hinges,
so a sluggard turns on his bed.
A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven people
who answers discreetly.
Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears
is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own.
Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death
is one who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only Joking!"
Without wood a fire goes out;
without a gossip a quarrel dies down.
As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,
so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.
Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware
are fervent lips with an evil heart.
Enemies disguise themselves with their lips,
but in their hearts they harbor deceit.
Through their speech is charming, do not believe them,
for seven abominations fill their hearts,
their malice may be concealed by deception,
but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly,
whoever digs a pit will fall into it;
If someone rolls a stone, it roll back on them.
3 Reasons to treat others right
1. A common theme in the old testament/New Testament. What you do unto others will eventually be done unto you.
2. Do you want good things to happen to you.
3. It pleases God to treat people right. Not just right people. Or good people. But bad people and our enemies. As a christian you are not supposed to chase after your enemies to do them harm because as a believer you already know the word is true. It is God who judges them not us.
Sometimes people believe that someone came into their life and curse them. I have thought this way but I want to say this is wrong thinking. What happens is we mistreat people and guess what bad things happen because we did what was wrong. If bad is happening it is possible to take responsibility for how you have treated others and just maybe it is the universal principle of sowing and reaping or karma as the world calls it. So let us do good so that we can receive good things on this earth.
A lying tongue hates those it hurts,
and a flattering mouth works ruin.
Have a great day!
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