Proverbs 21:5-8 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 21:5-8, which read,

v.5 - The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.

Have you been too hasty at times?  I have.  I have witnessed this proverb too many times.  I have jumped the gun or I have acted on something when I should have waited just a little longer.  I was poorer for it.  I didn't put in the time or prayer before making the decision and therefore instead of being at an advantage I experienced poverty.

The diligent make plans and therefore they have sat down and thought out or referred to others about what is in front of them before acting.  The hasty one acts on instinct and usually just within themselves.  No one or thing is consulted before jumping forward.  The diligent many times waits while the hasty hardly ever do.  The Scriptures say to wait upon the Lord and yet how many times have I ran away from Him calling for Him to catch up to me rather than following after Him.

v.6 - The acquisition of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit of death.

I can be hasty and I can be deceitful.  I can gain something by using my lying tongue to get it.  I can twist the truth to acquire something called a treasure in my eyes but it is fleeting and taking me toward death rather than to life.  The twisting of the rules or God's direct commands and principles is never a good thing.  Whatever that treasure is, if you have to be deceitful to get it then it isn't a godly treasure.  Many times I have come to experience something I wanted only to have it own me rather than me owning it.  Those are usually things where I have gone out of the bounds of God's way of acquiring and accepted Satan's tactics to something that truly isn't a treasure at all.

v.7 - The violence of the wicked will drag them away, because they refuse to act with justice.

Acting hastily, resorting to deceitfulness, and now using violence to get what you want.  Quite a progression we can get wrapped up in when we want something so bad.  Instead of acting with justice, we become violent with our minds, tongues, and limbs to acquire something that will drag us away.  I want something that I shouldn't have right now or maybe ever and so I act hastily without consulting others or God's word.  I typically paint a picture that is not true to deceive others that I need what I want.  If I don't get it by those means then I throw a fit to get my way.  How many times have I seen a toddler do this?  How many times have I been a "grown up" toddler using these tactics to get my way?  Instead of walking away from injustice and ungodly practices, we get dragged in further to these types of actions because we refuse to wait, be honest, and allow God to resolve the situation with His devices instead of our own.  

v.8 - The way of a guilty man is crooked, but as for the pure, his conduct is upright.

He is guilty.  I am guilty.  I have been crooked because I have not had conduct that is upright.  I have substituted being pure, not in and of myself, but because of following after the only one pure, God Himself, to being crooked and guilty.  I walk in this way until I stop walking away from God and turn to walk after God.  As I walk after God, my conduct will reflect Him.  I will wait upon the Lord.  I will use my tongue to be used to say what is upright and holy.  I will act with justice and leave any revenge to the Lord.  

Reflection time.  Am I pursuing anything right now by these means?  Am I hasty about something that I need to pray more about or talk to another godly friend about or look to God's Word for more clarity?  Am I twisting my words or God's words about something now or deceiving others with less than the whole truth to get my way?  Am I looking at forcing the issue with some type of ungodly action instead of refusing to use those tactics?  The proverbs this morning says that we are headed to poverty, the pursuit of death, and being dragged away to more crookedness.  The opposite is to follow after God when looking at what we are to acquire and being at an advantage because it has come from Him, life because it has lasting value, and not being dragged but guided by walking with justice rather than against it.  Let us pray.

"Lord, how many times have I been the grown up toddler who has used all these tactics to get my way only to realize it was much inferior to Your way and what You want me to have.  May we see our hastiness, deceitfulness and acts of violence to get something that actually leads to poverty, death, and being dragged or owned by it rather than owning it.  May we see our guiltiness and turn to Your ways and provisions for us as we follow after You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam