From The Mouth of Mike

…perhaps a little later than I’d prefer, but here’s today’s Proverb:

There are six things that the Lord hates,
even seven things that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that are swift to run to evil,
a false witness who pours out lies,
and a person who spreads discord among family members.

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?

Today’s bit of joy comes from Proverbs 6:12-15:

A worthless and wicked person
walks around saying perverse things;
he winks with his eyes,
signals with his feet,
and points with his fingers;
he plots evil with perverse thoughts in his heart,
he spreads contention at all times.
Therefore, his disaster will come suddenly;
in an instant he will be broken, and there will be no remedy.

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?

Proverbs 6:4-11:

Permit no sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare,
and like a bird from the trap of the fowler.
Go to the ant, you sluggard;
observe its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
overseer, or ruler,
yet it prepares its food in the summer;
it gathers at the harvest what it will eat.
How long, you sluggard, will you lie there?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to relax,
and your poverty will come like a robber,
and your need like an armed man.

Okay, okay, I’m a gittin’!

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?

Starting Proverbs chapter 6:

My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor,
and have become a guarantor for a stranger,
if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered,
and have been caught by the words you have spoken,
then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself,
because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power:
go, humble yourself,
and appeal firmly to your neighbor.

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?

The last few verses of Proverbs 5:

But why should you be captivated, my son, by an adulteress,
and embrace the bosom of a different woman?
For the ways of a person are in front of the Lord’s eyes,
and the Lord weighs all that person’s paths.
The wicked will be captured by his own iniquities,
and he will be held by the cords of his own sin.
He will die because there was no discipline;
because of the greatness of his folly he will reel.

(That’s 5:20-23.)

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?

Here is Proverbs, chapter 5, verses 15-19:

Drink water from your own cistern
and running water from your own well.
Should your springs be dispersed outside,
your streams of water in the wide plazas?
Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in your young wife –
a loving doe, a graceful deer;
may her breasts satisfy you at all times,
may you be captivated by her love always.

Wow. This is more fun!

What do you see in this passage?

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?