Proverbs 23

Proverbs 23

1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, 2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. 3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food. 4 Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. 5 When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. 6 Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, 7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. 8 You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words. 9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words. 10 Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless, 11 for their Redeemer is strong; he will plead their cause against you. 12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge. 13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 14 If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol. 15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad. 16 My inmost being will exult when your lips speak what is right. 17 Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. 18 Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way. 20 Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, 21 for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

22 Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old. 23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. 25 Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.

26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. 27 For a prostitute is a deep pit; an adulteress is a narrow well. 28 She lies in wait like a robber and increases the traitors among mankind.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30 Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. 31 Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. 32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. 33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. 34 You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. 35 “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”

Devotional

Introduction

Have you ever dug yourself so deep in sinful ways or foolish behaviour that you just end up participating in increasingly foolish things? Perhaps you made a mistake and then you cover it up by lying about it, and so on and so forth. Proverbs 23 actually warns us to not partake in that which will only lead us deeper into folly. As well as that, obliging ourselves will only make a situation unpleasant or unfruitful. It is just not worth it.

Proverbs actually provides us three situations in which you might partake and shouldn't.

Study

1) Eating with someone who wishes you to do evil (vs.1-3)

"When you sit down to eat with a ruler, observe carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food." (vs.1-3)

I think it would be fair for me to assume that we all have hung out with the wrong crowd, even if only for a day, and have done something we regretted later. Or we make ourselves obligated to doing something bad, because we asked them for a favour. Whatever it is, proverbs warns against it.

Instead, we are to check their motives. We should not desire what they might offer, because in the end, they might ask us to participate in their wicked schemes.

Psalm 141 says:

"Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies! (Psalm 141:4)

To eat of their "delicacies", to feel obligated to do the evil they propose is foolish. And it is because we partook with them. We allowed ourselves to come near them, to draw them close. If we do not distance ourselves from them, we are foolish. When we do come near, we end up falling into more foolish patterns. We must not partake with people who will cause us to stumble.

2) Eating the food of a stingy man (vs.6-8)

"Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy; do not desire his delicacies, for he is like one who is inwardly calculating. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words."(vs.6-8)

When it talks of the stingy man, it means someone who desires to get rich. When he seems to be welcoming you, to be caring for you, he is actually more concerned about money. He is deceitful in his ways.

This section imitates the previous as this man is deceitful. He offers something that might look good. He is enticing, whilst the food in vs.1-3 was more enticing. However, he deceives. In the end, the food he offers is disgusting. He is disgusting. Even your pleasant words, likely in response to his deceitfully pleasant ones, will be futile. It is that bad a meal.

Of course, we are not talking about food. That's just the metaphor. No, the deceitful man will mislead you, he will seem caring. He is the person who will flatter, who will entice with empty words, but he offers "good" for your bad deeds.

It's pretty much temptation to sin. He entices, you say yes. You are deceived into thinking something is good, but it's really quite gross.

Ironically, the man himself wants to get rich, but the very thing that will make him eternally rich (being wise), he rejects and continues in his foolish deceit.

3) Do not partake in drunkeness (vs.19-21, 29-35)

"Hear, my son, and be wise,  and direct your heart in the way. Be not among drunkards  or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags." (vs.19-21)

"Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt;  they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink.”" (vs.29-35)

This part of the passage, I think, it much more literal. It literally means, don't get drunk. To partake in drunkenness is warned against in the Bible all the time. The main reason is because you are being overcome to the point where you are not conscious of your own actions. As our hearts are inherently sinful, we are bound to participate in foolish and wicked things.

I don't know about you, but Proverbs 23:29-35 made me a little teary. It is an incredibly depressing visual of the destruction that drunkenness can bring. Let's examine quickly...

1. brings poverty (vs.21)

2. You will be deeply sad (vs.29)

3. You will complain (vs.29)

4. You will look physical worse-for-wear (vs.30)

5. Will kill you (vs.32)

6. You will fall in delirium, speak strange things, and speak sinful things (vs.33)

7. Your head will be spinning/you will literally feel faint (vs.34)

8. You will not be fully conscious (vs.35a)

9. You will still drink, in spite of the misery it causes (vs.35b)

Does this list make you a little sad? It is not a good thing, and yet many partake in drunkenness which only leads to foolishness and destruction. We once again become tempted to partake in actions that might lead us into more foolish behaviour.

Conclusion

Did you know, through Jesus, we are free from our sin? Even better, we are not slaves to sin any more. This means that we don't have to feel obliged, or controlled by anything. We only need to look to the Master of the universe, our father in Heaven, who can actually cure everything.

I have known so many people whose lives have been changed from being addicted and controlled by their own foolishness, because they turned to the freedom Christ offered. There is not greater rescue plan for us. This is it.

But you know what? That doesn't burden me. That doesn't scare me. Because I know that partaking in any sort of foolishness will only dig a deep dark pit that I don't want to fall into. I know that as I sin, I will continue to sin.

I pray that the Saviour Jesus makes you feel less controlled by your sin. I pray that you will allow him to take the reins. I pray that you will allow him to direct your life in every obstacle. Don't partake, just overtake it.

And on that cheesy note I'll let you get on with your day - have a blessed one!