UBF Daily Bread

A FUTURE HOPE FOR YOU

Passage: Proverbs 24:13~34

Key verse: 14

Saying 26

¹³Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
    honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
¹⁴Know also that wisdom is like honey for you:
    If you find it, there is a future hope for you,
    and your hope will not be cut off.^(A)

Saying 27

¹⁵Do not lurk like a thief near the house of the righteous,
do not plunder their dwelling place;
¹⁶for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again,
but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.^(B)

Saying 28

¹⁷Do not gloat^(C) when your enemy falls;
when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice,^(D)
¹⁸or the Lord will see and disapprove
and turn his wrath away from them.^(E)

Saying 29

¹⁹Do not fret^(F) because of evildoers
or be envious of the wicked,
²⁰for the evildoer has no future hope,
and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.^(G)

Saying 30

²¹Fear the Lord and the king,^(H) my son,
and do not join with rebellious officials,
²²for those two will send sudden destruction^(I) on them,
and who knows what calamities they can bring?

Further Sayings of the Wise

²³These also are sayings of the wise:^(J)

To show partiality^(K) in judging is not good:^(L)
²⁴Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,”^(M)
will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.
²⁵But it will go well with those who convict the guilty,
and rich blessing will come on them.

²⁶An honest answer
is like a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Put your outdoor work in order
and get your fields ready;
after that, build your house.

²⁸Do not testify against your neighbor without cause^(N)—
would you use your lips to mislead?
²⁹Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me;
I’ll pay them back for what they did.”^(O)

³⁰I went past the field of a sluggard,^(P)
    past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
³¹thorns had come up everywhere,
    the ground was covered with weeds,
    and the stone wall was in ruins.
³²I applied my heart to what I observed
    and learned a lesson from what I saw:
³³A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest^(Q)—
³⁴and poverty will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.^(R)

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Honey from the comb is sweet to our taste. Wisdom is like honey. If we find it, there is a future hope for us, and our hope will not be cut off (14).

Wisdom encourages the righteous to rise again (16). Wisdom keeps the righteous from fretting (19). Wisdom helps the righteous to fear the Lord and the king, and not join in with rebellious officials (21). For the evil doer has no future hope. But there is a future hope for us in wisdom.

Wisdom gives us honest answers which are like a kiss on the lips (26) rather than revenge (29). And wisdom helps us put outdoor work in order and get our fields ready; after that, build our house (27). But a person who says, “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,” will end up in poverty (34). Those who procrastinate are hopeless.

Prayer: Lord, help me seek wisdom which brings hope!

One Word: Seek wisdom; get my future hope!