Read Proverbs 14 and 15 at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Pro 10:1b-19:9 {p} Contrast between wise/ foolish, righteous/ wicked, rich/ poor
This strong theme in Proverbs is a mass of overlapping chiastic structures. Here is one I found this morning (the gaps in this structure are elements of other structures overlapping this one):
1a) Pro 15:1, A soft answer turns away wrath/ a harsh word stirs up anger;
1b) Pro 15:2, The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly/ the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness;
1c) Pro 15:4, A wholesome tongue is a tree of life/ perverseness in it breaks the spirit;
1d) Pro 15:5, A fool despises his father’s instruction/ he who receives correction is prudent;
central axis) Pro 15:8-9, The sacrifice + way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord/ He delights in + loves the upright;
2d) Pro 15:10-12, He who hates correction;
2c) Pro 15:13, A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance/ by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken;
2b) Pro 15:14, The heart the understanding seeks knowledge/ the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness;
2a) Pro 15:18, A wrathful man stirs up strife/ he who is slow to anger allays contention.
This morning I was meditating on the causes of a broken spirit (C pair). One cause is sorrow. This puts me in mind of a Proverb we read yesterday:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Pro 13:12
And there is the mention of a tree of life again. What is the difference between someone who weathers sorrows, and someone who is crushed under the weight of them? It cannot be in the sorrow itself, because I have known people who weathered great and many sorrows, like water rolling off a duck’s back, and others who crumble under the first trouble.
I think Pro 13:12 gives us a clue. Its theme is expectations: what one hopes for and desires. When a hoped- for outcome is delayed, the heart sickens. The enemy loves to take our sense of shock or surprise that something bad has happened (or something good has been delayed) and feed it until it grows into sorrow, by saying things like, It will never happen, You might as well give up, God isn’t going to come through (or help you, or take care of you), Things will never change, yada, yada, yada.
The things the enemy speaks to feed a disappointment into a sorrow, is a perverse tongue (Pro 15:4). Every single one of those statements (which we have all heard playing in our heads) is an untruth easily refuted by the promises of the true word of God. If we listen to the perverse tongue, then our sorrow becomes a crushing weight that breaks the spirit. But if, instead, we listen to the wholesome tongue – the truth of the word of God – it becomes a tree of life. If we feed on the tree of life long enough and consistently enough, we find ourselves weathering storms and sorrows with joy, because we will be assured that the trouble is a temporary state, subject to the authority of God Almighty, who just happens to be our Father who loves us! Our merry heart in the middle of the trials of life provides us with a continual feast (even though all we might have is a dinner of herbs rather than a fatted calf). ♥
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