October 3, 2018: Day 53 – Proverbs 11

The primary theme of this chapter is that people basically get what they give back.  People get what they deserve is what we hear.  Now as we looked at Job we realized that this Job’s primary point was exactly the opposite, that people do not get what they deserve, but rather we serve a God who doesn’t let us in on His plans, and that His plans don’t normally line up with what we would expect.  The rain does fall on the evil and on the good.  But this chapter in Proverbs encourages the reader to do good, to be righteous, to be generous.  The motivation for this action is that you will be repaid on this earth for all of those actions and for that way of life.  Look at some of the particulars as the author also uses the opposite as true.  Not only do the good get good, but the bad get bad.

We hear that righteousness saves and wickedness leads to trouble.  There are all of these ying and yang statements that when they are read on face value the person reading it has to say: yeah, that makes sense.  But as much as it makes sense, it doesn’t describe the reality in which we live, a reality that Job knew only too well. The wicked do not receive death as a reward on this earth.  Do I need to remind you of where we learn this lesson?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERWREcPIoPA

I know, Billy Joel isn’t Scripture, but we do know that justice is not always seen on this earth, but Proverbs encourages us to live a certain way because we are able to see the opposite which leads to wickedness.  I am not encouraging people to not be “good”, but I am trying to display a dose of reality where good or bad does not dictate longevity or blessing in this life.

Let me point back to something that ought to be our guiding light.  We live our lives not to receive a reward, we live our lives as a testament of gratitude to the one who created and redeemed us.  That has to be our motivation.  If our motivation is to receive all those good things that the author of Proverbs states, then we will be sorely disappointed and find ourselves questioning why God does certain things.  We are the potter and He is the clay, we ought to leave it at that and live our lives in complete thanksgiving for anything that we have.