PROVERBS 11
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight,
but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust.
7 When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too.
8 The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead.
9 With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor,
but by knowledge the righteous are delivered. – Proverbs 11:2-9
PROVERBS 11 HUMILITY & WISDOM ARE INSEPARABLE
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
When one has reverence for God, they will be humble
They won’t have grand ideas about their identities
The meek looks outside himself and bows to his Creator
He is content at the way God has made him into His likeness
The proud distorts the purpose of God’s imprint on his image
He thinks he can change the plan and will of God by whining
His mouth is full of lies, mockery, rebellion and constant lying.
We can clearly see how the writer synonymously uses humility and wisdom interchangeably. One can’t go without the other. Since the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, it only goes to show that those who are in awe and in praise of God are humble enough to acknowledge and bow down to his Almighty, Merciful and All-powerful God. This is something that the proud can never do. Because their view of God is very little compared to their grandiose view of themselves, they have no honesty to admit their littleness and insecurity. They are trying to be like God by hiding their weaknesses and failures because they believe they won’t be at par with the One true God. They have deceived themselves in thinking that they can be like him. Isn’t this what the deception of the serpent was in the garden? The devil sowed seeds of grandiosity and a plot to overthrow God by making them believe that they had powers greater than the Maker himself.
These following verses are reiterated in Psalm 1 when David distinguishes the wicked from the blessed. Here, we are given the distinction between the humble and the proud. We all know that the origin of sin is “pride.” It is pride that derails us from the path of righteousness and leads us to follow the path to wickedness. The proud dies and perishes like chaff but the humble are like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruits in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
REFLECTION
- Explain what verse 6 meant when it says “the treacherous are taken captive by their lust?”
