Day 12, Proverbs Chapter 12

Learn Wise Counsel

Andranise "Niecy" Harvey

A person who loves instruction grows into a very intelligent being. I believe part of the instruction meant here is instruction in right living. We are eager to learn God's ways, we quickly see sins in our life and repent. The greatest knowledge that we can have is to know God and his Word. "Brutish" means acting like a beast who does not accumulate knowledge. If we are not eager to learn of God, we are like a beast without a conscience.

A good man is seeking to please God instead of himself. The Lord is pleased with this. A wicked man is always trying to figure out ways to do evil. God will not approve of evil in any fashion. God condemns evil every time.

When you see a righteous man, it is like looking at a giant oak tree with deep, deep roots. He will not be easily moved even though the winds of false doctrine be strong. Even in the parable of the sowing of the seed in Luke 8, Jesus tells us the seed that fell on good ground had good roots and brought forth much fruit and that the wicked man doesn't even bother to see the seed at all.

We see, here, how important it is for a woman to be upright. Not only for her own good and welfare, but so her family will not be ashamed of her. Her husband can be very proud of her, because she will not make him ashamed of her. It would crown him for her to be totally faithful to him. In the spirit teaching on this verse, Jesus is coming back for a chaste virgin (the true believers) to be His bride. Nothing is worse than an unfaithful wife. She brings torment and shame to her husband, her family, and herself.

A righteous person thinks of things that are correct. His ways are the ways of God. His thoughts are truthful and fair. The wicked are deceivers, trying to convince others that lies are truth. Not only are they deceiving others, but the people who council them are deceivers, as well. They believe a lie and try to convince others to believe lies. Wicked people lie in wait to destroy someone else for selfish gain. False accusations many times cause a person to kill someone who is totally innocent. The upright speak words of life not death.

Tribulations comes to all of us, but the wicked cannot stand up to trials, because they have no source of strength (Jesus) to rely upon. A righteous person will stand firm in adversity knowing that God will see him through. Glory to God!!!!

If you know not to sin and go ahead and sin anyway, you are more guilty than someone who sins not knowing that it is sin. I will give a small example here beginning with Hebrews 6:4 "For [it is] impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost," Hebrews 6:5 "And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come," Hebrews 6:6 "If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put [him] to an open shame."

My own personal belief is, we must walk in our salvation after we receive it. We must not go back into worldly sin, but must have the desire in our heart to walk uprightly before God. There has been much said in our society today about perversion. Perversion of any kind is terrible, but when it becomes a way of life with you, it is perversion of the heart. He, truly, who has a perverted heart will be despised. Perversion has to do with unnatural sex or extreme extent of sin.

Proverbs 12:10 "A righteous [man] regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked [are] cruel. "This Scripture, I believe, is speaking of someone of some means (enough to have a servant) who is not liked by people. The second person is someone who has nothing to be proud of, and yet is bragging about himself all the time. He is so down trodden that he can't even feed himself and yet he is a braggart. He constantly tells every one how wonderful he is. At least the first man was not dependent on someone else to provide for his food. As bad as the first man is, he is better off than the second.

Show me a man who is cruel to animals, and I will show you a wicked man. God showed mercy to animals when He told the man to rest his animals on the sabbath, as well as resting himself. Man rules over the animals, and God made the animals to serve man; but an animal you feed well and care for, will work better for you. People who love God love people as well; and are kind to animals who are dependent on them. A wicked person does not love God, or man, and is cruel to animals who cannot help themselves.

Someone who works his fields with his hands shall not go hungry, but someone who does not want to work and is always looking for short cuts to take, really does not understand God's principles and may not eat. There are no short cuts. Those who work eat, and those who do not work, do without.

Proverbs 12:12 "The wicked desireth the net of evil [men]: but the root of the righteous yieldeth [fruit]." We see, in this Scripture, the righteous produce fruit pleasing unto God. A workman who needeth not to be ashamed is a righteous person. It seems to me the wicked here are trying to set a trap to get something that they have not worked for. Ill gotten gain is soon gone.

Transgression of the lips would be lies. When you tell a lie, it usually calls for another lie to cover up the first; and pretty soon, the liar is trapped because they cannot remember all the lies and keep them straight. The just person tells the truth. There is no problem for this person to remember. They just tells the facts and the truth wins out every time. The just have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

Proverbs 12:14 "A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of [his] mouth: and the recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him."
We see here, that speaking can produce fruit. A minister who tells others about Jesus can produce much fruit for God with words that come from the minister's mouth. I Corinthians 1:21 says "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

You see, preaching produces fruit for the kingdom.
Recompense (rewards) comes from men working with their own hands.

© 2015 by Andranise Harvey. All Rights Reserved.