Day 308: Proverbs 19-21 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango

Welcome to the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. We are walking through the entire Bible in a year. You can go to the description or thebaldapartment.com to download a reading plan and join the journey. (upbeat music) Hey, Hambley, welcome to day 308 here at the Bible department. Today we are looking at Proverbs chapters 19, 20, and 21. And hopefully we just get a little bit more wise. Like the goal is to get wiser and wiser and wiser and wiser and wiser. If we walk with the wise, we will get wise and reading the Proverbs is a way to walk with the wise. Wise people have left us their writings and we wanna walk with them by reading what they've got to say. And so if you have not done the reading today, how about you stop this video, pause the audio, go get the reading done, okay? You wanna get Proverbs chapters 19, 20, and 21 fully read and then come on back, all right? For those of us who have done the reading, no real context clues for today. Again, this is not really how Proverbs works, right? It's not a book that is heavy on context, but very, very heavy. Almost every single line out of the book can be applied timelessly as a truth to your life. So low on the context clues, heavy on the timeless truth.

I've been enjoying giving you nerdy nuggets every day, AKA my top 10. Today I've got seven. I think finally I'm gonna be wise. I'm gonna be realistic. I think I can give you seven of my favorite verses that came out of today's reading. So let's get to it, all right? Again, no context, no author, no audience, no history, none of that, okay? Not today at least. So I'm gonna give you seven verses that stuck out to me and just kinda kinda talk through those, okay? Proverbs 19 verse 11. Obviously we got chapter 19, chapter 20 and chapter 21 today on the docket, so let's start with Proverbs chapter 19. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 11 says this. A person's wisdom yields patience. It is to one's glory to overlook an offense. A person's wisdom yields patience. Man, how do you know if you're a wise person? Are you a patient? Are you a patient person, okay? Wise people are in it for the long haul, okay? Remember, Proverbs is gonna warn against get rich, quick schemes. Like anything that's kinda like overnight success, Proverbs is like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Gather money little by little, right? Succeed, grow little by little.

So this same idea can be found in Proverbs 19, 11. A person's wisdom yields patience. Well, what's required to make an investment and not see a return on that investment for 30 years to leave your money in the stock market and just let it do its thing for 30 years. Patience, to buy a piece of property and just let it become more and more valuable over time. Patience, okay? Patience, impatient people want to buy property then sell it and then like buy stocks and sell it, you know? Patience, okay? A person's wisdom yields patience, patience. Not in a rush, zero rush. That doesn't mean that there's never an urgency. It just means there's never a rush. There's a big difference between urgency and rush, okay? And so all right, it is one's glory to overlooking offense. So not only, okay, I'm gonna be patient in life, but I'm gonna be patient in my dealings with other people and I'm able to overlook an offense 'cause I'm a patient person, which means, you know what? I understand that it's gonna take time to develop the people around me or to be in reconciled relationships. And so patience is par for the course. You know, if I'm gonna be someone who is gonna have fruitful relationships, then I'm gonna have to have the kind of patience that can overlook an offense.

That's a great verse, man. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 11, that's worth memorizing. A person's wisdom yields patience. You can't claim to be wise if you're not patient, okay? You can't claim to be wise if you're impulsive. You can't claim to be wise if you're like, if you've got this like frantic kind of behavior. Then no, patience, patience. It is the one's glory to over. So when you, when you overlook an offense, don't think, oh, that person got over on me, think, oh, it's the my glory that I overlook that offense. Like that, that actually reflects good on me. It's not, I'm not soft because I overlooked an offense. I am wise because I overlooked an offense. All right, it's my first one. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 22. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 22 says this. What a person desires is unfailing love, better to be poor than a liar, ha ha, better to be poor than a liar, okay? What a person desires is unfailing love. What is unfailing love? Unfilling love is the kind of love where you can be honest, okay? And then it says, better to be poor than a liar, okay? So the, the, the Bible is giving us wisdom around lying. Like, hey, you, you, if you just met a woman, it's better to be poor. Like it's better to let her know I'm poor than to flex

or to pretend like you're somebody that you're not because that's not gonna be a relationship that leads to unfailing love. You just set yourself up for a gold digger to find you. If you're flexing and lying and acting like you're somebody that you're not, but it's better to be poor than a liar. You don't need a lie. You don't need a lie. When I first met my wife, she knew I was broke. I was broke, it was okay. I'd rather be, I'd rather be poor than a liar. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna lie about, it make it seem like I got more than I do. I don't, I'm broke. I need somebody who's down to help me and who's down to build with me, who's down to build an empire with me, who's down to build a ministry with me. I'd rather be poor than a liar, okay? Next, Proverbs chapter 20, verse one. Wine is a marker and beer, a brawler. Whoever's led astray by them is not wise, is not wise. All right, let's dive into this one because I'll kind of tell you my own story and then kind of teach a principle here that I think Proverbs chapter 20, verse one, wants us to learn, okay. First, first the story. I grew up in a church that essentially taught that any drinking was sin,

drinking alcohol, whether it was a tight amount or enough to get your knee berated, was a sin, okay. And then I went off to college and I met people who, and I lived in England, and then I just came to the realization, okay, the perspective that I heard at church growing up is not true. And so I had to deconstruct that idea that drinking was a sin. Now, here's what happens when you deconstruct. When you deconstruct, you don't know what to trust and what not to trust. So you start questioning everything that that church or that that person taught you. Instead of chewing the meat, spitting out the bones, you'd spit out all the meat, meat and bones, you know? And so deconstruction always leads to an over-correction. And I know a lot of people who, this is the path that they went on. They were raising a church that said, drinking is a sin, and then they realized, okay, the Bible doesn't say that drinking is a sin. And so then in their newfound Christian liberty, they began to enjoy, indulge, and maybe even abuse alcohol. And recently, probably the last two to three years, maybe three years, yeah, probably three years. I made a personal decision that alcohol was of no positive value to me, that I was enjoying and indulging in alcohol

just to celebrate the fact that I could, just to be, you know, I'm free, I'm a Christian, this wasn't right, so I'm gonna enjoy it 'cause I can. And I don't know, I just got to a place of like, why am I doing something just 'cause I can? Doing something just because I can do it is not wise. Literally, Paul says, everything is permissible for you, but not all things are beneficial. So the real question to ask is never, well, is that a sin? It's a terrible question. The, is it a sin question? Is actually not a wise question. Here's a good question. Is it wise? Is it beneficial? Is it profitable? Will it jeopardize my witness? Wisdom is not asking about whether it's a sin. Wisdom is wondering what's the value add? And so for me, I realized I actually don't need to come to any theological stances on whether or not this is a sin or not. 'Cause it's not a sin issue, it's a wisdom issue. And so I began to realize consuming alcohol is just not very wise. There's not a very wise thing to do. So I stopped. I also, and this is also why, You know, what do I have the right to do?

Instead of operating in my Christian rights, I decided, yeah, who cares what I have the right to do? Let's just talk about what's wise, what's beneficial. And I came to this conclusion. If I did not consume alcohol, I could passion lead people who did and did it consume alcohol. By being someone who does not consume alcohol, I could lead people who do and don't consume alcohol. However, if I was someone who did consume alcohol, people who don't consume alcohol would be turned off. And my job is not to assert my rights or my freedoms as a Christian. My job is to be all things to all men. So I put it on the altar and said, I could sacrifice that. Because anything that you can't just slit its throat and sacrifice is an idol. Wine is a mocker. Doesn't say getting drugs a mocker. Wine. Wine's a mocker. Beer a brawler. Wine and beer. Mockers and brawlers. Whoever is led astray by them, not wise. It doesn't say that whoever's led astray by them is in sin. It says whoever's led astray by them, not wise. It's not wise. And so I think that a lot of times we get stuck in this, well, is it a sin? Is it not a sin? Is it a sin? Is it not a sin? And I think that's such a silly debate. Debating on whether or not things are sin or not sin, I think it's immature. Here's what I think is really mature. To ask a better question, is it wise? Is it beneficial? Is it a value add?

I think that's a more helpful question. And I think you'd be hard pressed to convince me or anybody else that drinking is a value add. Now, I'm not saying that you need to abstain. I'm not. I'm just offering a wise perspective, which I think Proverbs chapter 20, verse one wants us to at least consider. Okay, next one, I did three so far. Okay, number four, Proverbs chapter 20 verse 13. It says, "Do not love sleep or you will grow poor. Stay awake and you will have food to spare." I need like every person under the age of 30 to tattoo that on their chest. "Do not love sleep. Do not love sleep." If you like sleep, if you're just like, "The old man, I just love sleep." All right, you're going to be broke. Do not love sleep. Do not love sleep or you will grow poor. I know a lot of people will love sleep and you love sleep. You know, they're just like, "I got to get in bed at a certain time. I can't wake up." You know, it's like, all right, cool, you love sleep. You like sleep, cool. You're going to sleep going to be buddies. You're going to sleep going to be friends because sleep broke and you broke. Y'all both broke. You went to sleep, both broke. So I watched this dude, this guy, you know, he was like, "Hey, I can tell you right now, based on the time you go to sleep, I can tell you how much body fat percentage you got." And I felt convicted because literally the time that he said certain people go to sleep, I was like, "That was my body fat percentage." And I think there's something powerful about being an early riser.

We have multiple episodes of this podcast filmed every morning. You know, Cam picks me up from my house at six o'clock in the morning. By the time 9, 30, 10 o'clock. By the time other people on our team roll in, me and Cam have already finished two, three, four episodes. You know, I don't love sleep. I don't love sleep. One day, I'm asleep. I'm going to do a lot of sleeping. You know what I'm saying? In my 70s and my 80s, when I'm dead, I'm asleep. But it's not time to sleep right now. It's time to get this work done. And these videos ain't going to record themselves. And this Bible ain't going to study itself. This church ain't going to build itself. Those who love sleep do not love sleep. Or you will grow poor. That doesn't mean you can't appreciate sleep. Doesn't mean that you can't desire sleep. It doesn't mean sleep's not an idol. So, you know, a lot of times it's like we got five o'clock flights. That means we wake up at three o'clock in the morning, we get picked up from a hotel at three o'clock in the morning and get brought to the airport and it does just a lot. That's part of just being an adult. If you're grumpy when you don't have enough sleep, you're still a toddler like that. That's crazy. Yo, that's childish.

And I'm kind of grumpy. I didn't get enough sleep. Are you three? I mean, you grumpy, you didn't get enough sleep. Do not love sleep or you will grow poor. Stay awake and you will have food to spare. It's a good verse. Fantastic verse. All right. Next one, I just love wisdom because it's not complicated. It's like, hey, hey, fall out of love with sleep. If you love sleep, you got to start telling yourself, I don't love sleep. The only way, but we've created this narrative and culture that you can't fall out of love with something that you love. You know, once people say they love something, it's like it becomes an untouchable idol. But you can't love sleep. You're going to be a bad parent if you love sleep because kids are born and they take away all your sleep. Okay, Proverbs chapter 20 verse 19 says this. A gossip betrays a confidence. So avoid anyone who talks too much. Isn't that a good verse? If people gossip, just avoid them. Avoid them like the plague. I tell people negativity and gossip are like bad breath. It's gonna cause people to just back away, you know? Just move, just take steps back. You know, gossip and negativity.

You start complaining around me or gossiping about other people. I'm gonna cut that conversation short. I'm gonna be like, oh wow, the angel Gabriel's calling me. Look at that, I gotta go. I'm definitely gonna be like, oh wow, Mickey Mouse is FaceTiming me. I gotta, I gotta, I gotta go. You know, you start just venting or just complaining about this, complaining about that, complaining about this. Being negative, you know, I was talking to somebody recently and they were just being super negative and they were like, yeah, and I can't find a job. And I was like, now when you go to job interviews, is this the person who goes to the job interview? 'Cause I've interviewed a lot of people. Guess what I want? I want excited, you know? I'm not trying to hire a depressed person to work at our organization. I'm not trying to hire Eor, you know? So if you walking in the job interview with Eorvibes, I, they were like, I've done like 20 job interviews. I can't find a job. I was like, I could probably tell you why, you know? You got a negative vibe. You got negative energy. Guess what? Positive, full of joy, you know? Just chipper, upbeat, man.

Everybody's attracted to that. But gossiping, negative, complainers, you know, slackers, avoid anyone who talks too much. That's good advice right there. Probably talking to 21 verse 17 is number six. Probably talking to 21 verse 17. Hey, Humbly, the weight is over. My brand new book, "Crushing Chaos," is out now. And available everywhere books are sold. Literally, today, I walked into a Barnes & Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes & Noble or you can go to a books a million or Amazon or anywhere. Books are sold in grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode. Whoever loves pleasure will become poor. Whoever loves pleasure, pleasure will become poor. Whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich. I think sometimes we associate wealth

with a life of luxury, but actually Proverbs makes the argument, wealth isn't about how much luxury or how much sleep or how much of that stuff you can get. The average wealthy person does not live a life of pleasure and luxury. The average wealthy person in America owns a dry cleaners, a laundry mat, drives a Ford F-150. The average millionaire in America is the kind of person who is not living a flashy lifestyle. Whoever loves pleasure will become poor. Absolutely. My dad found pleasure and crap to that brother's poor. Anyone who the enemy can manipulate your desire for pleasure, you're gonna become poor. So if you like porn, you're gonna be poor. You're gonna be broke. 'Cause that's a form of pleasure. You're gonna be broke. You're gonna find yourself poor. Because anyone who, the moment the enemy knows, you know, your weakness for pleasure, he can exploit you. And anyone who can be exploited is always gonna be poor. So anyone who's just like, I want pleasure. I want a soft life. I want an easy life. I want luxury. You know, you're gonna be poor. 'Cause you're gonna end up working to spend money on vacations you can't afford and on stuff that you can't afford.

So now you're working to keep up a certain lifestyle instead of working to invest, working to sew, working to put away money so you can have capital to start a business. So whoever loves pleasure will become poor. Absolutely. Yes, that, yeah. 'Cause you'll look at a budget and you'll twist the numbers to get the things that you want. Pleasure means that you're not thinking with your brain. You're thinking with your emotions. You're thinking with desire. And that's not a way to make decisions. Whoever loves pleasure, that person's gonna become poor. 'Cause they're gonna end up buying the things that bring them pleasure. 'Cause pleasures aren't free, okay? Whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich. 'Cause it means that you're gonna be, people are gonna take advantage of you. And then last, our last number seven is actually our Thomas truth. So it's both a nerdy nugget and a Thomas truth. Here we go. It's Proverbs chapter 21, verse nine and 19. And these are right next to each other in my Bible. Verse nine is on like the left column and verse 19 is on the right column, okay? It says this. Better to live on a corner of the roof

than share a house with a quarrelsome wife. Oh, don't know if I want no argumentative wife, man. It better to live on the corner of the roof than share a house with a wife who's quarrelsome. Ah, argumentative. Ah, quarrelsome nagging, annoying. Right next to it, okay, verse 19. Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife, okay? So as a nerdy nugget, number one, if you currently have a girlfriend who's quarrelsome and nagging, break up with them. Because if they're nagging you now, like marrying them is not going to put an end to the nagging. If they're mothering you now, that that's not going to stop when you guys get married. All the red flags for quarrelsome nagging behavior are there, quarrelsome and nagging, like hard to agree with, not agreeable. You know, they want you to take their last name. You know, they, they, oh, boy, they wanna, they, oh, Jesus, they wanna hyphenate their last name. They don't wanna take your last name. Just hard to agree with, you know, just quarrelsome and like nagging, like just don't, don't, don't waste your time. Stop, 'cause life with that woman's gonna be aggravating to no end. You're gonna wanna be on the corner of the roof.

And what's gonna happen is you're just gonna not go home and you're gonna find ways to avoid being around her. And I would say that if you're a woman, don't be with a quarrelsome or nagging boyfriend, leave that joker. So if he's always complaining, always negative, you know, if he's angry, like that's just quarrelsome. It's good that you guys have healthy conflict, but if the bulk of the relationship is just arguing and bickering, that's just annoying, man. That person doesn't know how to just be agreeable. It's better to live in the desert than live with that. So that's our nerdy nugget. Now let's flip it into a timeless truth. Guess what, family? We are the bride of Christ. If you're a Christian and you're listening or watching this podcast, we are the bride of Christ. So here's a question. As a bride, am I a quarrelsome and nagging wife to Jesus? Do I keep telling him about the things I need and what I asked and what I asked for the last time I prayed and God, please give me a, please God, please give me this, God, please give me this, God. Are you nagging or are you worshipful? Are you praising? When we gather on Sundays, I never want our church to be a nagging church to Jesus. I want us to be a church that worships the Lord and praises him regardless of what he's done.

And so that comes from a place of gratitude. You've already done more than enough. I'm winning, I'm winning, I'm grateful. And if he can go back up to the nerdy nugget, if you're someone who's quarrelsome, the issues that you're not content and you lack gratitude. If you were to up your level of contentment and gratitude, you wouldn't be a quarrelsome spouse. And then spiritually, if you were to get contentment and gratitude, you wouldn't be quarrelsome and nagging to King Jesus. And so that's timelessly true. So many of these are timelessly true, but that one is 100% true for New Testament believers today. Tomorrow we got day 309. We're gonna be looking at Proverbs 22, 23 and 24. I'm pumped. I love Proverbs. If you can't tell, I love wisdom. Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, wisdom. It's a chief thing. Here's the beginning of wisdom, get wisdom. I'm glad that you're here with me tuned in so that we can get wisdom together. Tomorrow we got Proverbs 22, 23 and 24. If you're on a streak of pride in you, even if you're not on a streak, I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast.

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