As You Think in your Heart, So You Become

Proverbs 23:1-18

1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food.

4 Do not overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease!
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.

6 Do not eat the bread of a miser,
Nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
"Eat and drink!" he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.

9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not remove the ancient landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their Redeemer is mighty;
He will plead their cause against you.

12 Apply your heart to instruction,
And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold correction from a child,
For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod,
And deliver his soul from hell.

15 My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;
18 For surely there is a hereafter,
And your hope will not be cut off.

There are many warnings of wisdom to avoid the excesses of the world set in opposition to the will and word of God.  The temptation to associate with corrupt important men of position and power is a tale that has found its way into many works of fiction, but is all too real in life as well.  The advice here is to carefully consider what is offered to you as a meal to consume and to watch your own desires for the delicacies in the process.  If the craving for more of the good and best begins to take over your thoughts and desires, it is better to cut your throat in a manner of speaking to keep the spiritually unhealthy from entering into your inner being.  The delicacies of the love of gain are like temptations of greed and self-service of desires which deceive us into compromising God’s commands and principles of scripture.  Similarly, it is unwise to be a workaholic just to gain more and more material wealth; if we have understanding, we will stop ourselves from traveling down that path of destruction.  By focusing our vision to see only gain, we see transitory possessions which often are not really going to materialize and if they do, they fly away from us as we run in futility to grasp the them as a passing wind (Ecclesiastes 4:6).  We are also advised against the opposite pursuit of being overly frugal as a miser with an evil eye.  This one becomes what he thinks and feels in his heart, desiring delicacies not to be shared with others even when it appears he is offering them to you.  In the end, consuming this offer only comes back up from you as vomit from his bad food, and all your words of consent turn unpleasant.  Yes, speaking good advice to such people only bring the fools to utterly despise your good words of counsel because they do not want to hear what you offer in place of power, greed, or selfish evils.  Furthermore, we are warned about taking away the markers of righteous living as landmarks along the way in human history which God has given throughout the scriptures for our example to learn wisdom from (Romans 15:4).  By doing so and harming others, we forget that God watches over His people as their Redeemer with power and justice.  Knowing this, our mindset must be to hear words of knowledge from the Bible and listen in order to learn and do as He tells us because of His redeeming grace for us, and not to tear down the sound doctrine passed down to us from faithful and godly men through the ages (2 Timothy 2:2).  We should accept God’s discipline to correct us as we wander into sin and bad teaching that removes the old landmarks of truth meant to lead and guide us on the path of righteousness and wisdom of holiness that deliver us from God’s wrath and judgment.  Instead wisdom causes us to speak right things according to His word, and that wisdom causes rejoicing to God and to those who go before and alongside us in this pilgrimage of faith.  We do not envy the sinners who seek their temporal gain (Psalm 73:3, 17-19, 27-28), but are zealously valiant for the truth in the fear of the Lord and with an undying hope in a resurrection to an eternal future to come.  Wisdom encourages us to become what we think in our hearts, followers and lovers of God in Christ, and not fill our hearts and minds with the world’s goals of power, greed, and self-seeking.