Proverbs 19:16-20

Proverbs 19:16-20
English Standard Version
16 Whoever keeps the commandment keeps his life;
    he who despises his ways will die.
17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD,
    and he will repay him for his deed.
18 Discipline your son, for there is hope;
    do not set your heart on putting him to death.
19 A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
    for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
20 Listen to advice and accept instruction,
    that you may gain wisdom in the future.

---

You will recognize many of the themes and sayings today as things we have heard Solomon say previously, but wisdom is worth repeating.  We often learn by repetition, and these were some of the most important lessons that Solomon has for his son, so he will repeat them quite often in his writings.

First, obedience to the Law of the LORD brings life (both physical and eternal) and blessing, disobedience brings curses and death (both physical and eternal).  You may ask, "I thought no one could gain eternal life by obedience to the Law?," and you would be correct.  However, as we study and obey the Law, we see our need for a Savior and the process of substitutionary atonement that was made in the Law by the sacrificial system, and we understand that we needed a better sacrifice to actually take away our sins.  This is what all the Law and the Prophets points towards.

Next, Solomon tells the readers to be generous with the poor (those who could never pay you back) and just consider it a loan to God, for He will pay you back with interest.  Be good stewards of the money God has entrusted to you and use it to be about His Kingdom purposes.

Discipline your children while they are young and there is still hope for correction.  Do not it get to the point where they turn into hardened criminals, and you hope for the criminal justice system to reform them when all that system can hope to do is one day execute them for the heinous crimes they will commit.  There came a point under the Law when it was the responsibility of the parents to recognize that their son or daughter did not have a conscience and was a danger to themselves and others and society would put them to death because they could not be controlled and would not listen to instruction and teaching or submit to any authority that was put over them.  Solomon told parents to do their best to not let it get to that point.

A man who gets in trouble because he loses his temper easily seeks to have others get him out of trouble, and then he gets into the same kind of trouble over and over again because he continues to let his emotions be in control.  Emotions are not meant to be in charge--they can help motivate us to take action in situations, but they are not meant to overrule our logic, reason and good sense, nor cause us to do things that violate God's Law.  The wrath of man does not worth the righteousness of God.  Vengeance belongs to the LORD and He will repay.

As always, we should listen to advice and instruction now.  It may make the difference on if people will share other wisdom with us in the future.  Be faithful in how you receive and treat the "little" things if you want people to entrust you with "big" things later.