FYI

There are always those who wonder about the “promises” in the book of Proverbs—you know, those in which it seems to say, “If you fear God and serve Him rightly, you’ll get long life, your enemies will be at peace with you,” etc. They say, “I know people for whom they didn’t come true.” What’s the answer to this objection?

Simply this: they are not promises.

“What are they?”

Look at them carefully—they are observations. They don’t say “If you do so-and-so, then God will do such and such. Instead, they say, “A man did so-and-so, and so God did thus-and-thus.” Not all Proverbs are like this, but after chapter ten, you will find as many as several chapters in which every verse is. I call them FYI chapters.  They provide information about how things usually workout in God’s providence.  However, they make no promises. Read them as FYI verses, and you’ll find there is no difficulty!

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Institute for Nouthetic Studies Blog on 1 November 2011