Proverbs 19:1-5

Proverbs 19:1-5
English Standard Version
19 Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity
    than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
2 Desire without knowledge is not good,
    and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
3 When a man's folly brings his way to ruin,
    his heart rages against the LORD.
4 Wealth brings many new friends,
    but a poor man is deserted by his friend.
5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and he who breathes out lies will not escape.

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I'd say that Proverbs 19:1 could be one of my "life verses."  It is better to be poor and have integrity than to be rich and have none--the person that is described here as crooked in speech, which is evidence of his foolishness.  Solomon also says that people who are full of ambition, but not also full of knowledge and wisdom are dangerous.  So is the hasty person who is quick to go somewhere, but misses the direction he should be going in.  Solomon encourages people to think before they act, and to act with both wisdom and integrity.

A foolish man brings himself and everything within his sphere of influence to ruin, but then he blames God for how bad his life is when he's only facing the consequences of his bad choices.  It is true that sometimes the LORD causes trouble in the lives of the foolish and wicked so that they might repent.

The world thinks that if you have lots of money, you will have lots of friends, but those kinds of friends will desert the man as soon as he becomes poor.  They do not love the man, but instead they love his money which they believe they should have a piece of, even though they have no right to it.  See the parable of the Prodigal Son and all the "friends" he made in the far away land while the money lasted and the endless parties continued, but those "friends" were nowhere to be found when the money dried up and the prodigal son ended up in the pigsty eating the food meant for the pigs.

Last but not least for today, a person who falsely accuses others and swears falsely should not go unpunished when they are found out.  God will eventually take care of it, but Solomon is writing instructions to his son who he knows will succeed him as king.  We are back to the idea of integrity and how important that is to God.  The false witness has no integrity.  He swears to a God that he doesn't believe in to tell the truth, but instead he only speaks lies like the devil, the father of lies.  Such men will not go unpunished.  Even if they are born again, there will be consequences for them to pay and people will have a hard time trusting them for the rest of their lives.  Those who are not born again and did not have their sins atoned for by the death of Jesus will have their part in the Lake of Fire.


Revelation 21:8
English Standard Version
​8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

This is not to say that the sin of lying is worse than any other sin that will send you to hell, but Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father except through Me" in John 14:6.  There are a couple of pictures that we get in the Bible of opposites where one is the complete absence of something that picture the nature of God and the nature of evil (like the devil).  God is light and in Him there is no darkness (because darkness is the absence of light).  God is Truth, He cannot lie or bear false witness.  Lying is the absence of truth.  I'm sure you can think of some other examples (be careful to not say though that God is Love and in Him there is no hate, because we know God's perfect love causes Him to hate sin and the consequences of sin).