I watch husbands and wives destroy their marriage through selfishness, sarcasm, and denial and then they wonder why they have such a bad mar

Solomon is giving the contrast with this phrase. He is saying that those who have understanding feel the same pull to the selfish thing, but

Because living life means that you must rub up against other people with other agendas, they will be for their own and often opposed to your

What Solomon wants us to see is that wisdom and knowledge are available to everybody, but they will not appear until we are really intereste

The key idea here is that Solomon wants leaders to think before they make decisions and not just act out of their own universe or their own

When a wise person sees a disagreement coming that they cannot win nor has no easy resolution, then they abandon that topic. There is no poi

Solomon is helping us understand in this proverb two things: the need to get outside wisdom and counsel, and the balance between keeping eve

All of us have foolishness as a part of who we are which is why it is best not to keep talking because eventually we betray our own selfishn

Wisdom is not something that you stumble across. You must be looking for it. You must find it. Solomon is saying that the truly right choice

A person who is wise in his own eyes is someone who thinks they have it all together and do not need anyone else. This is a person who does

In this section, Solomon continues to speak of the wonders of wisdom and what it will do if it is allowed full entrance into your life. In t

If you are wise, you will have a different destiny path than if you were not wise. How this is possible we do not know. God knows all the po

Proverbs 23:9 "Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words." There are clearly people who you should not tell your wise plans to – those who are confirmed in their selfishness, impulsiveness, rebelliousness, cynical nature, and greed. Remember the essence of wisdom is finding and moving forward with a triple-win decision in which God wins, others win, and you win. The essence of being a fool is being self-focused. The wins in a wisdom s

Proverbs 15:9 "The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but He loves one who pursues righteousness." The way of the wicked is how the wicked live their life. It is a pathway of continual selfishness and twisting of opportunities to provide the selfish desires of the wicked. Remember that the wicked live outside of the boundaries of the Ten Commandments, not even making an attempt to get back within the moral boundaries of the commandments. They steal and think not

Proverbs 24:7 "Wisdom is too exalted for a fool, he does not open his mouth in the gate" Wisdom carries clearly the ability to see options and nuances of actions that others do not see: The ability to find the wise course of action amongst the ones presented; the ability to see a good choice amongst the two that are the only choices; to be able to perceive more than the obvious choices is the wise thing. Wisdom is, at times, realizing that the truly wise and righteous choice

Proverbs 4:7 "The beginning of wisdom is: acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding" The beginning of being wise is the realization that you need to acquire more applied knowledge. Knowledge is not sufficient in itself. Notice that the writer of the book of Proverbs wants you to understand that you need wisdom and not wealth, not fame, nor power, or any of the things that people traditionally want. You want wisdom. Wisdom is the triple-win. It is applied

Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction"​ This proverb is about how to avoid being a fool. A fool is one who is self-focused and selfish. The fool doesn't want to learn the facts because they have made up their mind. The fool wants what they want and they are bent on getting what they want or the world is an unfair place. But God is playing a different game. God is playing the wisdom game. In wisdom, everyone gets

Proverbs 17:6 "Grandchildren are the crown of old men, and the glory of sons is their fathers" The word grandchildren is the word ben which could mean son or grandchildren or any descendant. In this case, the translators of the NASB have used the term grandchildren because of the term old men in the proverb. The idea is not necessarily that it is the children of your children that cause you to have a crown but your children and your children's children. Remember, it was not v

Proverbs 14:6 "A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge is easy to one who has understanding" As in anyone's life there comes times when the scoffer does not know what to do. They are at a crossroads and desperately want to know which choice is the right choice. But their negative, mocking perspective keeps the wise choice from being perceived. They see it as too simplistic, impossible, and it will never turn around and benefit them. They are literally blinded to

Proverbs 4:5 "Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth." This is the first commandment that David gave to Solomon. After a lengthy build-up in the beginning of Proverbs 4 about the wonder of being taught by the father and the importance of remembering what dad taught, this is actually what dad taught. How to make the triple-win choice within the boundaries of God's morality and how things are related to one another – especi