Proverbs 25-26

25:9 - Do not betray a confidence, even when you are trying to win an argument. So many times we throw other people under the bus so we can win. that shows a real lack of integrity and trust. If you can't entrust your cause to God while protecting those who have spoken in confidence to you, than your case is not as righteous as you think.

25:14 - Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of gifts never given. - This is really true.

25:19 - Like a broken tooth or a lame foot is reliance on the unfaithful in a time if trouble. - True again.

25:26 - Like a muddied spring or a polluted well are the righteous who give way to the wicked. - never give way to the wicked. Never just get tired of fighting and let the wicked run away with your group or church or community.

25:28 - Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control. - The wall broken down meant there was no longer any sense of security or peace. The enemy could come in at any moment and destroy. Live with self-control and you will live with safety and therefore peace. This affects the leaders among us just as much as the followers. We have to learn and develop a life of self-control and self-discipline or we are like rulers protecting the gap who let the enemy in because we are weak or unwilling to do the hard work of changing our own lives.

26:7-9 - This is a reminder of why we should be careful when we speak proverbs.

26:20 - Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. - People tend to be like carriers. someone speaks words that will injure or kill and we choose whether we take it ourselves or whether we pass it on to another. When someone says something that isn't glorify to God let it die with you. Why tell even one more person. All that does is continue the disease. how many times have we experienced someone saying something stupid and we tell others. All that does is increase the injury the the person who said it and to the hearts of the people you tell.

26:28 - A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin. - Lying and flattery are brothers, not distant cousins. They are one in the same. If you flatter (speaks words that aren't true) or let people off the hook when you needed to speak words that were true to them, you lead them to ruin.

Michael