Proverbs 17:16-28

Today’s Scripture:

16 Why should a foolish person try to buy wisdom?    They are not even able to understand it.

17 A friend loves at all times.    They are there to help when trouble comes.

18 A person who has no sense agrees to pay what other people owe.    It isn’t wise to promise to pay other people’s bills.

19 The one who loves to argue loves to sin.    The one who builds a high gate is just asking to be destroyed.

20 If your heart is twisted, you won’t succeed.    If your tongue tells lies, you will get into trouble.

21 It is sad to have a foolish child.    The parents of a godless fool have no joy.

22 A cheerful heart makes you healthy.    But a broken spirit dries you up.

23 Anyone who does wrong accepts favors in secret.    Then they turn what is right into what is wrong.

24 Anyone who understands what is right keeps wisdom in view.    But the eyes of a foolish person look everywhere else.

25 A foolish child makes his father sad    and his mother sorry.

26 It isn’t good to fine those who aren’t guilty.    So it certainly isn’t good to whip officials just because they are honest.

27 Anyone who has knowledge controls their words.    Anyone who has understanding is not easily upset.

28 We think even foolish people are wise if they keep silent.    We think they understand what is right if they control their tongues.

Prayer Transcript:

Lord, I’m going to start with that. We think even foolish people are wise if they keep silent. We think they understand what is right, if they control their tongues and so Lord, help us to be silent today, help us instead of talking back, instead of spouting our opinions, help us to be quiet. What a discipline that is and how hard that can be Lord, but we trust You to show us how to do that, to keep a guard over our mouths. Lord, I love this verse and memorized it when I was way back in high school, after I first met you, ” A friend loves at all times, they are there to help when trouble comes” and as one who kind of had to make my friends into my family, because of how things were in my family. That was such a strong and important verse for me, so I pray for friendships today, I pray that first of all, those who are lonely, that You would send friends. I am reminded of even before I knew how to pray in the 7th & 8th grade, I was longing for friends and I Kind of prayed, even though I didn’t know You, I was longing for just one friend and Lord You were so gracious to me, even then, because You sent two and I was so grateful and yet I know Lord, that this is a struggle for us throughout our whole lives, especially after we are out of school and we are in the workforce and we’re having busy lives and we don’t have time and all of that Lord. Lord, help us to make time for our friendships, help us to understand too Lord, that friends come in surprising packages. One of the things I’ve learnt over the years is I can’t necessarily trust my first impressions of a potential friend, that actually, you send them in surprising packages and some of my very closest friends right now, are maybe not people whom I was attracted to at first, or maybe I just kind of dismissed in my mind, which was really not fair and certainly was unkind, but Lord, You are the one who brings people to us  and so I pray for the lonely today, that You would bring a friend and that You would provide relationship for us. Lord, open our eyes to the ones that we need to pursue and the ones that we need to cease from pursuing. Lord, I trust You for that and I trust,