Proverbs Challenge, October 2016 – Day Twenty-One
I often think of Proverbs 21 as one of the most powerful chapters in the book. It opens with a strong one, two, three punch and closes with victory coming from the Lord. What a whirlwind of wisdom! The followers of Christ in America during this incredibly discouraging and certainly embarrassing election year will do well to remember the opening verse of Proverbs 21: “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.” Regardless of who wins the presidency, God remains sovereign. He (God) is more than able to turn the heart of the President of the United States wherever He (God) wants that heart to go!
Right after that powerful opening statement, Proverbs 21 continues with a keen second insight: “2 Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.” One of my favorite words in the bible is the conjunction but. That word indicates that the phrase before it carries less precedence or priority or value than the phrase following it. In other words, but something means what comes after the but is what the speaker really wants you to hear. In the second verse of Proverbs 21, the phrase the Holy Spirit wants us to recognize as most significant is “the Lord weighs the hearts”. While our own action or thought may be justifiable or right in our own eyes, we must always remember the fact that God knows what is within us – He knows our true motive.
Then, in the third verse of Proverbs 21, we discover that obedience is better than sacrifice and to listen to God is better than the fat of rams (see 1 Samuel 15:22): “3 To do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice.” The chapter goes on with verse after verse of wise sayings. One that hit home with me today is verse twenty-one: “He who pursues righteousness and loyalty finds life, righteousness and honor.” I am reminded that following after Christ (the righteousness of God) and loyalty (faithful love: we are commanded in the bible to love God and love our neighbor) leads to the discovery (and possession) of life (see 1 John 5:12), righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 5:21) and honor (see 1 Samuel 2:30). May God help me, enable me, to pursue Christ passionately all the days of my life in this earth!
Brotherfaron's Blog 
In these last few weeks of our presidential campaign, verse 1 certainly gives me a sigh of relief and a peaceful heart. I know that God is sovereign. I also know that I need to do my part by repenting, following Christ closer and closer, and by praying for my nation. End time prophecy aside, God will hear the prayers of the righteous and those who repent and heal our land.
Also, I did notice that twice in this chapter the writer tells where he would rather be than with a contentious woman! It is better to live in a corner of a roof, or in a desert place than with contentious woman. I looked up the definition just to check my initial thought, and found that it means someone who is very argumentative, loves to argue, and to provoke an argument.
I know not a few people who have told me they hold grudges, cannot forgive others, and bring up all kinds of past wrongs when they get into an argument. They say with a puffed up chest that “they forgive, but won’t forget.” That is not true forgiveness. I look at them and almost see the heavy weight they carry in their spirit. God never intended for us to carry that, we are to lay those burdens, hurts, wrongs at the foot of the cross. Forgive others AS He forgives us.
So, in this present day, I will stay prayed up (verse 21, the horse prepared for battle) and know that the Lord will have the victory!