Proverbs 12: 10 (NKJV) The Treatment of Your Animals Shows What’s Inside…

Today’s verse talks about the way people treat their animals as being a way to judge their character. I find this interesting because we see more and more animal abuse and neglect as the incidence of other forms of crime, abuse and neglect rise.

Proverbs 12: 10

10 A righteous man regards the life of his animal,

But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

righteous: Morally upright; without guilt or sin Upright: Adhering strictly to moral principles

regards: 1. To give heed; pay attention 2. To take into account; consider. 3. Obsolete: To take care of.

       Synonyms: regard, esteem, admiration, respect

These nouns refer to a feeling based on perception of and approval for the worth of a person or thing

mercies: 1. Compassionate treatment 2. A disposition to be kind and forgiving  3. Alleviation of distress; relief 4. humane and kind, sympathetic, or forgiving treatment of or disposition toward others

wicked: 1. Evil by nature and in practice 2. Highly offensive; obnoxious

cruel: predisposed to inflict violence, pain, or hardship, or to find satisfaction in the suffering of others

By using the definitions of the main words of the Bible Text, we see that people that are morally upright, or adhere strictly to moral principles, will pay attention to the care of their animals. They feel that there is worth in living things, and that they have feelings and need love.

By contrast, those people that are evil by nature and in practice, and that are predisposed to inflict violence, pain, or hardship, or to find satisfaction in the suffering of others, just don’t seem to have the capacity within themselves to give humane and kind, sympathetic or compassionate treatment even to their animals.  Jesus said, "You shall know them by their fruits..."

This is SO SAD! I feel that one of the main ways to change people is to change their hearts, and only love, and in particular, the Love of God and His forgiveness in lives, will do that. When we ask Jesus into our lives to wash us from the sins we’ve repented of, and to become the LORD and Savior in our lives, then HE will change us from within, and when He comes again, Romans 8:21-23 tells us:

Romans 8: 21 – 23 (NKJV)

21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Proverbs 10:27 Choose the Length of Your Life

Today’s verse is about the length of your life. You can choose to prolong or shorten it.

Proverbs 10:27 (NKJV)

27 The fear of the LORD prolongs days,

But the years of the wicked will be shortened.

As we have seen, “the fear of the Lord…” doesn’t mean terror of what He will do to us. It means to have awe and reverence or respect for His authority in our lives. When we look at God… the one that created everything, including us, we should be in awe of the fact that He has CHOSEN to love us though He knows EVERYTHING about us… every evil thought, or word, or action in our hearts and minds. He loved us so much that He didn’t want to lose us to the evil one and everlasting death.

If you have someone or something that is the most beloved thing in your life, would you be able to give that beloved one to others to torture and kill so that someone who hates, despises or simply doesn’t care about you could be saved? THIS is what God did for us because He loves us. We had sinned and separated ourselves from Him and He wanted us back, so He gave His precious Son to pay for our sins. THIS deserves our awe and respect. There is nothing that He can do that shows His love for us more than this.

When we have this kind of “fear/awe/reverence” and choose to learn of His ways, and follow them, then He will prolong the days that He has given us. We’ve seen how He has done this in the past for Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:1-11) when he prolonged his life 15 years.

Those that refuse to acknowledge that He is GOD, our creator, and choose to reject the way that HE, AS GOD, chose to be the only pathway to Heaven, are sinners (not doing as God wants them to do) and are “wicked.” These people don’t choose wise pathways, and end up having their “years shortened.”

Proverbs 10:23 A Fool vs. The Wise

Proverbs 10:23 (NKJV)

23 To do evil is like sport to a fool,

But a man of understanding has wisdom.

When God talks about “fools,” He is speaking about those that “…say in their heart, there is NO God.” Psalm 14:1 (NIV) “The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.” These people love to do “evil” just as so many love to play sports. It is an adventure to them… a source of getting an adrenaline (hormonal) high, just as exercise raises endorphins in those that play hard in their sports. From the evil companions that they keep company with, they will receive glory and honor, but their ways will still end up bringing them death.

As we saw numerous times throughout the first several chapters of Proverbs, those that study God’s ways and His word will gain understanding of God, and since He is the creator of everything, The more we understand about Him and His world, the more likely we are to make wise choices.

Proverbs 8: 22 – 31 Revisited…

In our last study, we were treated to a glimpse of God’s mind during His creation of our Earth. The scriptures in other areas of the Bible tell us that Jesus (the Word at that time and later embodied in flesh) was there with God, helping in the creation. Today, I want to go over these verses again, in just a bit more detail, looking at them as God’s Wisdom—the other side of the same coin.

These first two verses tells us that God has had “wisdom” from the time before earth… before time began being counted. God IS wisdom and is “outside” of the dimension of “time.”

22 “ The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,

Before His works of old.

23 I have been established from everlasting,

From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.

Verses 24 - 29 let us know that God’s Wisdom came before the seas, the mountains, the earth, field, or even the dust, and by that wisdom, He made these things. He had a plan already worked out for human beings, and He used His wisdom to create a world that would be perfect for those humans that He planned to create. He thought of everything BEFORE He created it.

24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,

When there were no fountains abounding with water.

25 Before the mountains were settled,

Before the hills, I was brought forth;
26 While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,

Or the primal dust of the world.

27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there,

When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,

28 When He established the clouds above,

When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,

29 When He assigned to the sea its limit,

So that the waters would not transgress His command,

When He marked out the foundations of the earth,

The last verses for today, picture God as a “Master Craftsman” that was filled with “delight” each day as He lovingly created a world that He PLANNED to be, eventually, inhabited by men and the sons of men… These verses end by telling us that God’s “delight was with the sons of men.”

30 Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;

And I was daily His delight,

Rejoicing always before Him,

31 Rejoicing in His inhabited world,

And my delight was with the sons of men.

Proverbs 8: 22 – 31

Today’s verses are very interesting. I opened up the Word Document that I had copied this whole chapter into, and started reading the verses, and suddenly thought, “who messed with my Proverbs work!” It looked to me like someone had taken the scriptures from Colossians 1:15-20 about Christ and put them in here, and I wondered what was going on, so I went back to the last verses and reread them and found that it was “Wisdom” that was being discussed.

It was sort of like one of those pictures that if you look at it one way, it is something different than if you look at it another way… Like this one… is it a horse or a frog?
That is sort of what happened in my brain… (Twist your head to the right if you don't see it right off)

Anyway, here are today’s verses… and following them, are the verses from Colossians 1:15 – 20.

Proverbs 8: 22 – 31 (NKJV)
22 “ The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,

Before His works of old.

23 I have been established from everlasting,

From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.

24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,

When there were no fountains abounding with water.

25 Before the mountains were settled,

Before the hills, I was brought forth;

26 While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,

Or the primal dust of the world.

27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there,

When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,

28 When He established the clouds above,

When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,

29 When He assigned to the sea its limit,

So that the waters would not transgress His command,

When He marked out the foundations of the earth,

30 Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;[a]

And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him,

31 Rejoicing in His inhabited world,

And my delight was with the sons of men.
Footnotes:
Proverbs 8:30 A Jewish tradition reads one brought up.

Colossians 1:15-20 (NKJV)
15 He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn over all creation.

16 For by Him all things were created

that are in heaven and that are on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through Him and for Him.

17 And He is before all things,

and in Him all things consist.

18 And He is the head of the body, the church,

who is the beginning,

the firstborn from the dead,

that in all things He may have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father

that in Him all the fullness should dwell,

20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself,

by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven,

having made peace through the blood of His cross.

I talked to my son about it and he said something to the effect of “Well… DUH!” We went on to discuss it. When you think about the fact that Jesus is called “The Word” in John 1, and these verses in Colossians speak of Him as creating all things, and you tie that in with God “speaking the Word” and all things came into being, and THEN you put THESE verses in THAT mix, you realize that Jesus embodied “wisdom.”

To me, this all worked together and gave me such a MUCH more rounded picture of the relationship between God, Jesus (His Word) in human form, and the creation through God’s wisdom/word, and I want to think about this for a bit. I will go back to discuss these verses more in depth in the next study...