Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 666 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Get What's Coming to You - Proverbs 21

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 666 of our trek, and it 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 Proverbs 20 from The Voice Translation which will give us a fresh perspective on this book of timeless wisdom.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. Hazel received her chemo treatment last Thursday and additional medicine via a lumbar puncture on Friday. She seems to be responding well to the treatments considering the strong dosage. Nat, Elizabeth, and all four kids were able to go to the Columbus Zoo on Saturday, which was a great time together with the family. The oncology staff at Nationwide Children’s Hospital indicated that they will be switching the treatment regimen in September, which will adversely affect how Hazel feels, so they recommended investing time together doing family activities during August before that. They have an additional trip planned for later this month.

Unlike Hazel’s situation where she has done nothing herself to deserve the adverse effects of leukemia and the treatments, Chapter 21 of Proverbs shows a direct correlation between our choices in life and the results of those choices. Proverbs 21 tells us that you…

Get What’s Coming to You

In this chapter, we find an interesting design. “The Eternal” appears in the opening 3 verses and the closing 2 verses, like literary bookends. Set in between these two sections is the topic of justice. This specific arrangement reminds us that God is the beginning and the end— evil can do its worst, but righteousness will prevail.

Verses 9 and 19 are both about a wife that is difficult to get along with. At first, they seem kind of random and out of place, but when we view them in light of the rest of the chapter’s main themes, they serve a functional role in the design of the chapter. These verses serve as organizational markers that break up the 3 sections (verses 4-8, 10-18, 20-29).

Bruce Waltke, in his commentary on Proverbs, outlines the chapter this way:

Verses 1-3 The LORD’s Sovereign Wisdom

Verses 4-8 The defeat of the wicked

Verse 9 The difficult wife

Verses 10-18 The triumph of the righteous over the wicked

Verse 19 The difficult wife

Verses 20-29 The lasting gratification of the righteous

Verses 30-31 The LORD’s Sovereign Wisdom

The main idea is that the wicked will get what’s coming to them, but as verse 15 reminds us, “when justice is done, those who are in the right celebrate.” God’s justice is a good thing, but it’s also sobering and should motivate us to pursue faith and wisdom.Listen intently as I read Proverbs 21.

1 The king’s heart is like a channel of water directed by the Eternal:

He chooses which way He bends it.

2 Everyone may think his own way of living is right,

but the Eternal examines our hearts.

3 To do what is right and to seek justice—

these please Him more than sacrifice.

4 The lamp of the wicked lights his way;

a proud look, an arrogant heart—all sin.

5 A well-thought-out plan will work to your advantage,

but hasty actions will cost you dearly.

6 The fortune made by a swindler

is a fast-burning fog and a recipe for death.

7 Wicked people will be swept up in their own violence

because they refuse to seek justice.

8 Dishonest people walk along the crooked path they have made,