Today, I am reading and commenting on Proverbs 9-13.
The writer tells us that both wisdom and folly invite the simple, the gullible, those inclined to evil, to come to them. Wisdom offers discipline and hard work leading to insight. Folly offers stolen water and secret pleasures. Wisdom tells us that those who mock others and the wicked get angry when told that they have made, or are about to make, a mistake, while the wise welcome such advice. In fact, the wise welcome being rebuked. Those who seek righteousness listen to those who seek to correct their behavior, even when their behavior did not need correcting. Wisdom recognizes that they can always gain more wisdom and listen to the advice of others, even when that advice seems foolish. The wise embrace discipline and being disciplined while the foolish resent being corrected. The writer also tells us that we find in others what we seek in them. If we look for good in others, we will find it, but if we seek evil, we will find that. In part this means that people will tend to respond to what we expect of them. If we expect people to respond with goodness, and treat them accordingly, most of the time they will do so. On the other hand, if we expect people to respond maliciously, they often will do so. More importantly, if we expect people to be good, we will usually find ourselves around those who are good, while if we expect people to be evil, we will usually find ourselves around those who do evil.
I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
