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PROVERBS: ALIGNING TO GOD'S FIXED MORAL ORDER
Part III: Displaying God's Fixed Moral Order
L. Viewing Specific Proverbs Of God's Fixed Moral Order
(Proverbs 21:1-31)
  1. Introduction
    1. After motivating a young man to heed an observed fixed moral order, the literary genre of the Egyptian sboyet that the Book of Proverbs uses works to supply actual proverbs to reveal that order, cf. Bruce Waltke, "The Book of Proverbs and Ancient Wisdom Literature," Bibliotheca Sacra, 136:543, p. 221-238.
    2. Solomon reveals that order to be God's order for his son to heed. We continue our study of that order:
  2. Viewing Specific Proverbs Of God's Fixed Moral Order From Proverbs 21:1-31.
    1. A son must realize that God sovereignly influences the decisions and attitudes of rulers, so he is best not catering to the king's will at the cost of obeying God, but putting God's will above that of the king, 21:1.
    2. A son must realize God is not only sovereign, but omniscient: hence, he is best being honest with God, 2.
    3. A son should learn that obeying God is preferable to God over doing what he himself thinks is good, 21:3.
    4. A son must see that the wicked thrive on pride, but that it is sin: hence, he should avoid pride himself, 4.
    5. A son must learn that making careful plans will surely lead to abundance in contrast to hasty planning, 5.
    6. A son must see that as gaining wealth by deceit produces fleeting wealth, he must be honest in dealings, 6.
    7. A son should learn that practicing violence results in reactionary problems, so he should avoid violence, 7.
    8. A son must see he can discern one's ultimate innocence or guilt by the way he conducts his way of life, 8.
    9. A son must learn to avoid marrying a woman of strife as she will can make his life miserable, 21:9.
    10. A son must see that he can discern an evil person by the fact that he grants no mercy to associates, 21:10.
    11. A son must learn the value of paying heed to instruction the first time around: otherwise, lessons learned under duress are much more painful and embarrassing, Proverbs 21:11.
    12. A son must see that God, the Righteous One, notes and subverts the household of the wicked, Pr. 21:12. Hence, he must avoid sin and cleave to righteousness for the sake of his extended household!
    13. A son must learn that it is to his own advantage to heed the needs of the oppressed if he would expect them to return the favor in his times of dire need, Proverbs 21:13.
    14. A son should see that gifts given in secret go far to avert potentially harmful human conflicts, Prov. 21:14.
    15. A son must learn that his practicing justice is invaluable as it helps the upright and discourages sinners, 15
    16. A son should learn not deliberately to turn his back on godly living at this will result in his death, 21:16.
    17. A son must see that living for pleasure itself as a goal is expensive, for this will result in poverty, 21:17.
    18. A son must learn not to oppress, but be upright: the former will become recipients of their own ways, 18.
    19. A son should learn to avoid marrying an ill-tempered woman if he would avoid an unhappy life, 21:19.
    20. A son must learn to heed God's ways as it gives him foresight to manage his income to avoid poverty, 20.
    21. A son must value living uprightly and being loyally loving to others to gain life, prosperity and honor, 21.
    22. A son must value heeding God as it will help him to know and destroy the security of mighty foes, 21:22.
    23. A son must see that controlling his speech guards his mental, emotional and spiritual being from harm, 23.
    24. A son must learn to avoid all mockery: it exposes one's pride that is hated by God and others, 24; 16:5.
    25. A son must see that aligning to God's fixed moral order will not leave him craving material goods but not possessing them: rather, it will make him industrious so he will even have wealth to give, Prov. 21:25-26.
    26. A son must learn to avoid harboring bad motives: God despises these more than hypocritical acts, 21:27.
    27. A son must see that for his own welfare, he must carefully evaluate what a witness tells him, 21:28.
    28. A son must learn to discern how just a man is by how carefully he considers the validity of his stands, 29
    29. A son must see it is futile to make plans that oppose God's will: he must align his plans to God's, 30.
    30. A son must learn it is futile to try forcing his way versus God's omnipotence: he must align to God, 31.
Lesson: From these proverbs, we learn that a youth is much better off learning from his parents that heeding God's ways is to his own distinct advantage in the adult world.

Application: (1) We parents must have the courage under God's leading to inform our maturing sons and daughters of the VALUE of heeding God's fixed moral order. (2) As maturing children or as adults ourselves, we can apply these truths to our own lives for eventual blessings.