Proverbs 11 – 12

Verse 11:2 is one of those “pride” proverbs:

When pride comes, shame is not far behind,
    but wisdom accompanies those who are humble.

We tend to focus on ourselves and get in trouble. Pride tends to get us into a ton of trouble when we let it go rampant. We tend to think we are “awesome” and then eventually discover that is wrong, shame follows quickly. Boastful people will be fact checked or challenged by someone with greater skills, this produces shame. Interestingly, when this happens to a humble person they learn from the experience, where the proud wonder how it could happen.

Verse 11:15 focuses on our lending:

 Trouble compounds when you guarantee a stranger’s debt,
    but you’ll be safe if you refuse the pledge.

This reminds me of a line from Hamlet: “Neither a borrower or a lender be.” This is a very important principle one must learn otherwise you will be chasing bad debt often. I tend to look at loaning money as a gift more than a loan, if paid back wonderful otherwise I don’t like the stress involved worrying about collection. Unfortunately most of the world doesn’t think that way!!

Verse 12:2 talks about how we should live:

The Eternal prefers those who do good,
    but He condemns those who plot evil.

We need to focus on pleasing God first and not our own desires. God does not ignore them; he just wants our focus off them and on Him. When our focus twists inward we start to ignore the will of God and often get misguided into evil plots. Suddenly the idea “they can afford it” becomes a logical statement which causes us to do unwise things. God will provide and loves to make you happy, let Him focus on you and you focus on Him. The servant’s mentality is the point here.