Proverbs 10:13-16 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 10:13-16, which read,

v.13 - On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who lacks understanding.

The mouth is the focus again as the indicator of what is going on deeper in the heart.  The tongue is the exposer toward the end of the chain indicating results from fruitful wisdom or destructive foolishness.  The wise discern what they say and how they say it.  It is not that they don't say something critical, important, and timely but rather they share the truth which is core to wisdom with a love for those who will hear it.  

Those who do not have a discerning tongue because they do not heed to the wisdom of God will receive discipline or the rod as it says in this verse.  Those who lack understanding of the truth and communicating it to others with sharing of God's grace and love will start to feel the discipline of the Lord.  That discipline is for the purpose to correct the action with teaching of what is right to follow the example given of us in Scripture.  As parents we follow this order when we have to discipline our children who need to be corrected but also given instruction of the right and backed up by our own physical example before them.  

v.14 - Wise men store up knowledge, but with the mouth of the foolish ruin is at hand.

Wisdom is to be built upon.  Aren't you so thankful that the Bible continues to teach us throughout our lifetime?  The Bible unfolds as we take time to be with it on a personal daily basis and a corporate weekly basis.  The bank of wisdom is full for the wise to draw upon but the fool is bankrupt and ruin is at hand even though his or her mouth is still going.  Take note again of the mouth as pointed out as an indicator of what is really going on that exposes what bank is being drawn upon, a bank full of God's wisdom or a bank full of a lot of hot air.

v.15,16 - The rich man's wealth is his fortress, the ruin of the poor is their poverty.  The wages of the righteous is life, the income of the wicked, punishment. 

The rich will put stock in their wealth.  The poor will dwell on what they don't have, on their poverty.  Both sides of the coin here need to trust in the Lord for their provisions physically and spiritually.  It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor but it matters if you are righteous following after the God of grace who gave His One and only Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins and provide eternal life or if you are wicked following after Satan who strives to question God's providing plan.

You can be rich and righteous or you can be poor and righteous.  You can be rich and wicked or you can be poor and wicked.  In the worst way, the rich lean on what they have materially and the world's influence that it brings.  Also, the poor lean on the victim status of what they don't have and prey off the charity of others.  In the best way, the rich who are righteous use the wealth they have not as a fortress but a opportunity to use it for the glory of God.  Also, in the best way, the poor who are righteous use their position to show how God provides even the basic of needs and contentment in His plan and purpose.  

Two different words are used here for wages and income.  The righteous receive the wages or the reward of eternal life.  The wicked receive the income or product of punishment.  One word, wages, is much more positive than the other word, income.  Both are working but one sees who the Giver is and what He has provided and the other focuses on what is due to him or her because of what they individually have done.  Both are working and so the question is "How are you working?"  Are you working to receive wages with your eyes focused on what God has provided you rich or poor by the world's standards but righteous in His sight?  Are you working to receive income with your eyes focused on what you provide using the wicked ways of the world at times to receive it?  

It is not if you are rich or poor, it is if you are righteous before God because of God or if you are wicked because of disregarding God's wisdom and plan.  Watch your words and see where their source is coming from today.  Let's pray.

"Lord, how often I have revealed who I am really following by the words I have said.  Thank You for correcting me and giving me other words to say, Yours, and speaking them in Your grace and truth.  Today may I not focus on my status dictated by the world but on my connection to You based on the cross of Your Son, Jesus.  Amen."

Pastor Adam