Proverbs 13:14

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:14, “The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” God gave the law, and the book of Proverbs was written while people were living under the covenant of the law, and so the law represents God’s truth as it has been revealed. It is not only God’s law, but it is also called “the law of the wise.” If you are wise, you will get right with God and you will appropriate His law and His truth as your own. “The snares of death” refer to the things that will ruin you spiritually speaking and take you away from the Lord. Pride, selfishness, stubbornness, and the refusal to repent are among those things. God’s Word reminds you of the importance of repenting of sin and turning to Jesus.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:15, “Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.” There are many benefits from having wisdom and understanding. One of the benefits is that you will gain favor from others. Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man. You are a transgressor if you do not turn from your transgressions. But the “way of transgressors is hard.” It is a hard way with terrible difficulties to stay on the path of sin. It is much better to follow Jesus. How the world lies and how Hollywood lies concerning non-Christian lifestyles. Sin leads to sorrow. It has always been that way, and it will always be that way. Jesus said to Saul, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Why torture yourself? Turn to the Lord and be saved.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:16, “Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly.” Understand the importance of knowledge. There is a lot to know about every subject. Knowledge is power. People will pay you for your knowledge. Knowledge will lead to success. Knowledge will keep you out of trouble. Knowledge will give you victory over your enemies. A fool is always known because part of being foolish is that everyone knows you are foolish. That is why there is no favor or honor in being a fool.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:17, “A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.” If you send someone as a messenger or an ambassador, you will want them to be faithful to the purpose that you have given to them. Once we believe in Jesus, that is exactly what God does with us. Jesus sends us to be His messengers to take the message of the gospel to the world. Some have failed at that great commission. Why did they fail? They were “wicked” messengers. They got side-tracked, they fell into sin, or they lost faith in the midst of difficult circumstances. They were not faithful. Of course, they can always ask for forgiveness and get back on that straight and narrow path.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:18, “Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured.” Instruction is offered to everyone. God loves everyone and calls everyone to come to Jesus. But God gives everyone a free choice. Some people choose to refuse God’s instruction. They will end up with poverty and shame from a spiritual standpoint. On the other hand when the Holy Spirit touches you to point out your faults and sins, make sure you receive and listen to them.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:19, “The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.” Make sure that you have the right goals, and then you will have a future of enjoying the accomplishment of those goals. The right goals are as follows: make sure that you have trusted in the Lord Jesus, follow the Lord as faithfully as you can, and confess your sins whenever you need to in order to stay in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He will always forgive your sins, and therefore you can always stay in fellowship with Him. Mission accomplished: staying in fellowship with the Lord Jesus, walking with Him, and serving Him. That is a great goal to have, and you can succeed at that goal by continually confessing your sins. You might need to confess your sins often because Jesus has set a very high standard for us, and we are weak and selfish and full of strong desires. Just make sure that you have a strong desire to serve the Lord.

Notice the last part of Proverbs 13:19 that says, “it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.” There are people in the world who are doing evil right now, and who hate the message of repentance. They think it is abomination to depart from evil. They do not want to repent. But the value of repenting is that your sins get forgiven, and the Lord will allow you to enter into heaven. Therefore, anyone who thinks it is an abomination to depart from evil surely is a fool just as the Bible says.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:20, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Be careful whom you choose to be your friends. People are greatly affected by those whom they are close to. Go with wise men and you will be wise. Go with godly people and you will learn to be godly. The opposite is also true, go with foolish people and you will be foolish. You will copy their foolish acts and learn their foolish ideas. That is the power of the group over you.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:21, “Evil pursueth sinners: but to the righteous good shall be repayed.” If your sins are not confessed and forgiven, then you do not have the protection that Jesus gives, and you are open season to the evil that will come after you. It is part of consequences and a part of just retribution. We need the Lord and His mercy. You are one of the righteous if you have trusted in Jesus to be your savior. Your sins are gone, and now it is just a question of how many rewards you will get when you see the savior. Your good shall be repaid. Work towards that goal. Do not let anything stop you from piling up rewards to receive from the One who shed His blood for you.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.” Your life is temporary, and you want your life to count for something. You want to make a difference and you want the results of what you do to last beyond your few years on this earth. If you are a “good” person, then you will have lasting results because you are doing God’s work. Jesus is using you to be a witness to others. Some will come to Christ because of Christ in you. The inheritance that you will give to your children and grandchildren and anyone else who knew you will be a Christian character and honor and integrity. At the judgment the souls that you helped to influence will be a witness to the Lord to add to your glory and your crown. Concerning material things, if you want to build an inheritance that lasts, help to build a Christian ministry with your prayers, spiritual gifts, and giving. If you help build a Christian ministry, then as long as that ministry stays true to the Lord, your influence and help remains a part of all of it even after you are gone.

The reason that “the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just,” is because sinners will eventually lose everything, and the just will eventually inherit everything. Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” It says in First Corinthians 6:2, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” If you want to be involved in things that last forever, turn to the Lord Jesus and serve Him.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:23, “Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.” Some people are poor, but they have learned how to survive. They might not have extra money in their pockets, but they know how to put first things first and get the food that they need. When verse 23 speaks of the “tillage of the poor,” it means that the poor that the verse is talking about are working. They might be poor, but it is not any fault of their own. They do their work and till their land the best that they can. Some people are destroyed because they make the wrong decisions. That is one of the reasons that we need practical wisdom in this life. Make a foolish decision, and your life will be shorter. If you decide to go on a walk by yourself at 2:00 in the morning in a bad neighborhood every night, you may not live as long as someone who thinks about those circumstances and decides not to do that.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:24, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” This verse talks about the importance of correction for children. We all need correction, and since children live under the authority of their parents, who love their children give them that correction. If you know Jesus as savior, then God is your Father, and He knows how to chasten better than anyone. It says in Hebrews 12:6, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Once you believe on Jesus, the Lord is trying to make something out of you so that you will be fruitful in your service to Him. The purpose of chastening is not just to punish, but to teach. People do need to learn to respect authority. God is the highest authority, and under God in the family the parents are the authority over the children. If you do not learn to honor and respect authority when you are a child, you will have some hard lessons in life until your do learn it.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:25, “The righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul: but the belly of the wicked shall want.” What will make you satisfied with life and satisfied with your own life? That is an important question. No matter what kind of success that you attain to, you will not be happy or content if you do not have the “satisfying” of your soul. Human beings were created in order to have fellowship with God, and you will never be satisfied until you know Him. You will be incomplete. You will have something missing. The true meaning of life is to know God in your soul, and that comes by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says “the belly of the wicked shall want,” because sinners must repent in order to turn from their sinful ways and turn to the Lord. To repent means to change your mind. People must change their mind about the direction they are going in life, and turn to Jesus. If they do not, they will never find true satisfaction.

Christians should always be content, because we have the Lord and all of His promises. No matter what is happening around us, we can be content with the Savior, accepting all that He has chosen to allow to come our way. It is much better to be a Christian and trust the Lord, than to constantly suffer the anxiety, the fear and the discontent of a wicked and sinful life.

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