Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 436 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Sensible People Control Their Temper - Proverbs 19:1-14

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 436 of our Trek and today is Wisdom Wednesday.  Every Wednesday along life’s trails we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs.  Today we will explore the 1st half of chapter 19.

We are broadcasting from our studio at ‘Home2’ in Charlotte, NC.  We do have a busy workload this week filled with client work and podcast related projects.  I find myself anxious about the work to be done, especially when my schedule and workload is not necessarily under my control.  Since I tend to be structured and like a disciplined workflow I have to continually remind myself that if the work is important enough, that it will be accomplished in its own time.  Although at times it is difficult, I try to emulate what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Philippi 4:5-7 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

It is good to gain additional wisdom for life to handle those obstacles and detours that we all run into on a daily basis.  For now, it’s time to break camp and head out on our trail in search of those golden nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs.   One sign of a mature and wise person is that they are also sensible and have self-control as verse 11 of this chapter tells us:

Sensible People Control Their Temper

Let’s start our trek with verse 1:

1 Better to be poor and honest

than to be dishonest and a fool.

Wealth holds such a sway over our world.  While obtaining abundant resources can allow us to have a greater impact in our world for good, if it is obtained dishonestly then it is not worth having.  It would be better, to be honest. Otherwise, you are just a rich fool.

 

2 Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good;

haste makes mistakes.

We all know people who get excited over just about anything, but when you dig beneath the surface, you realize that the excitement many times is short lived and comes because of lack of knowledge.  When we get excited without thinking through all of the consequences, we will tend to make mistakes.  It is much better to logically think through our choices so that we can make choices that are wise.  Then they are worth being enthusiastic about.

 

3 People ruin their lives by their own foolishness

and then are angry at the Lord.

Some people always have drama or crises in their lives and as a result of continually making unwise choices.  Their lives are in shambles, and then they are angry at God for the outcome.  We need to take personal responsibility for every choice that we make.  We all would do well to gain wisdom and make choices that are wise.

 

4 Wealth makes many “friends”;

poverty drives them all away.

Friends that you make, because you have wealth, are fair weather friends at best.  If your wealth is gone, so are those friends.

 

5 A false witness will not go unpunished,

nor will a liar escape.

Although our justice system is not always fair, in the end, a false witness will be found out.  There are consequences for our falsehood and lies.