Proverbs 25

The beginning of this chapter tells us that these proverbs were collected by the men of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a king of Israel that repented to the Lord and dedicated himself and the throne to righteousness before the Lord. He was one of the greatest of the kings simply because He did what God said.
The proverbs sound very familiar to the rest of the book picking up on the themes of the importance of words both good and bad, differences between the wicked and the evil, and the blessing of living right.

• Verse 21-22 are very interesting. They are referenced by Paul in Romans 12 (you can check out the blog entry for that day in the archives as well) and seem to carry the idea that the best way to confront an enemy is to show them kindness, not so you can eventually punish them but so that both of you will see the goodness of God.
• Verse 28 could be posted on our doors so that every time we leave our rooms we are reminded of the importance of self control. Self control is really an ironic term when you think about it. Really it means that we have to abandon self, give up control, in order to live the disciplined life that God calls us to. We all have times when we want to blow up, lash out in anger, or decide to please ourselves and just go a little crazy. But just like a city without protective walls, those things open us up to destruction and defeat. We can have victory over the sinful temptations of the world if and only if we give up ourselves to the Lord and live life His way.

Have a great, wise weekend and...

Go Live.