Proverbs 14:1 Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.
2 He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.
3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.
Wisdom is very important. God has enough wisdom to supply all of mankind.
Exodus 28:3 And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
In our text, God is speaking to the wise woman. The woman was created to be the help meet for her husband. Today we have many women who are seeking to dominate. That is the basis of the feminist movement. God did not design the woman to dominate. He designed her to be a suitable helper. Women do not do well when they push to dominate. They become ruthless and aggressive.
Proverbs 31 talks of the industrious woman. The description is of a wise woman who is building her house. If you read that passage you will notice that this wise woman is pleasing to her husband. She does not disregard him or disrespect him. It is the foolish woman that disrespects her husband. The foolish woman cannot build her house. She will turn the children against their father and possibly even against her. She will not find contentment in tearing things down. There are far too many broken homes where the woman was foolish.
Of course a godly man will not marry a foolish woman. If he is thinking Biblically, he will see the folly before he ever marries her. In fact he will see it before he gets too far along in getting to know her.
In verse 2 God talked of the upright man. The upright man is the one who walks in the fear of the LORD. It is important for the man to understand his proper place in life.
There are thousands upon thousands of men who live as though there is no true God. Some of them have an imaginary god, who is no different than the god if Islam who is imaginary, or the god of Buddhism or Hinduism, or Catholicism or the United Church or many other false religions.
The upright man has come to understand there is only one true God and he has turned to this true God in repentance and has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. As a true child of God he has also come to understand that he must submit to the will of God on a daily basis.
As we see in verse 2, the perverse man despises the LORD. He does not accept an absolute, holy, and just God. He wants a god that he can manipulate. He wants a god who accepts the lusts of the flesh and the party type.
Verse 3 tells us that the proud person speaks foolish things.
Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
Psalm 73 gives a clear description of the person with the foolish mouth. In Revelation 13 we read of another foolish person:
Revelation 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
There are many men and women who step behind pulpits who are just as foolish as the examples God gives us. They disregard God’s Word and they fill their time with foolish statements. They deceive the gullible. The gullible love to be deceived.
The lips of the wise shall preserve them. God expects His children to speak the truth. In II Timothy the apostle Paul charged Timothy to preach the word in season and out of season. Today there are many preachers who act more like politicians, than preachers. They more concerned about offending someone than they are about speaking the truth. They do not want to get into trouble with the government so they are careful what they say. Meanwhile the government steam rolls over society with lies about a dead virus that will kill millions. Then they declare that the only hope is to get multiple poison shots that will kill far more people than the virus ever would. They support the lies that families should be separated because after all we do not want grandma to get sick by some younger family member who might be carrying the “virus”. So many lies on that one issue were propagated and very few people spoke up. A few that did were fined and some even had the bank accounts frozen. That put a fear into many others who love this world more than God.
We certainly cannot trust in our politicians to speak the truth. They all went along with the lies. Only when they assumed there might be some votes to be had if they squeaked a little, did they do so. The Allison inquiry exposed some of the dirt of that time, but the mainstream media hardly carried it. The government has not said a peep about that inquiry. They just want it to blow over.
There is a new threat coming from Russia now. We will see how far that one goes. Then of course there is the whole sodomite agenda which few preachers want to address. And the divorce and remarriage issue is another that is too hot to handle.
God is love. His Word sets out the standard of righteousness. God knows we are weak and frail. He knows we are all born as lost sinners. He has provided the only way to be forgiven and brought into a right relationship with Him. On our own we can make a royal mess of our lives. We can dig a fairly deep pit. Our pride often keeps us from wanting to deal with that pit. We do not like it in that pit, but we do not want to take the only true way out.
Thus thousands upon thousands of people end up in hell because they refuse to submit to God’s Way. Too many preachers are guilty of assisting thousands to go to hell because they are too afraid for their pay check and for the donations they need to keep their churches going.
The wise person understands there is a cost to speaking the Truth, but that cost is minor in comparison to the cost of despising the Lord. John the Baptist counted the cost. He knew king Herod was living in sin with his brother’s wife. He was arrested and put in prison for loving Herod. He wanted him to stop living in sin and begin to enjoy God’s blessings. John the Baptist lost his head, but he is resting in heaven today. King Herod is in torment in hell and will be “promoted” to the lake of fire one day. That is all he has to look forward to. Be sure you are a wise person.
Pastor Bartel