Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 646 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom

Harmony And Restraint – Proverbs 17

Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 646 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trails we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore Proverbs 17 from The Voice Translation, which will give us a fresh perspective on this book of timeless wisdom.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. If you are a regular listener or reader of the Wisdom-Trek Podcast and Journal, you may realize that we are publishing these episodes a couple of days late this week. This is due to an unfortunate and serious accident I had this past weekend.

I will be chronicling the accident and my subsequent recovery on our Tuesday and Thursday “Wisdom-Nugget” episodes for a few weeks. I published the first segment on Day 645 if you would like to follow along with my saga of “Life Lessons Learned the Hard Way.” I think that you will enjoy the story as we all realize that at age 60 there are still some hard lessons about life to be learned.

Our granddaughter Hazel will return to Columbus Children’s Hospital for more bloodwork. If the counts are high enough, she will begin her next regimen of chemo treatments. If not, they will test her bone marrow again to make sure that it is continuing to produce the good cells needed for full recovery. Life is one of balance. Proverbs 17 describes it as…

Harmony and Restraint

The proverbs are so good! Check out the first verse in this chapter about household harmony, “Better to gnaw on a bit of dry crust in peace than to feast in a house full of stress.” Solomon gets it – whether you’re a father, son, brother, friend, old or young, harmony is always more favorable than strife.

How do we foster harmony? Because harmony comes from exercising restraint these proverbs really emphasize self-control. Look at the chapter’s design…The first 14 proverbs end with a compelling image about self-control – “Picking a fight is like leaking water from a crack in a dam, so walk away from an argument before the outburst.” – while another 14 proverbs end with even more wisdom on self-control over our words. The self-control at the end is about how we use our words. Words can get us into a lot of trouble, and Solomon reminds us that less is often more.

Much of the wisdom in this chapter is directed at the fool, particularly the foolish son. It would seem from Chapter 17 that the household is the natural place where fools learn and grow. Let’s instead make our homes laboratories of wisdom! As I read Chapter 17, think about your home and how you can make it a place that embodies self-control.

Listen intently as I read Proverbs 17.

¹ Better to gnaw on a bit of dry crust in peace
than to feast in a house full of stress.
² A wise servant will be put in charge of a child who behaves badly
and will take a share of the inheritance like one of the family.
³ Silver is purified in the crucible, gold in the furnace,
but motives of the heart are judged by the Eternal.
⁴ Wrongdoers perk up when listening to gossip,
and liars lean in close to hear talk of mischief.
⁵ Anyone who makes fun of the poor disparages his Maker,
and those who celebrate another’s misfortune will not escape certain punishment.
⁶ Grandchildren are the crowning glory and ultimate delight of old age,
and parents are the pride of their children.
⁷ Elegant speech sounds odd when it comes from a fool,
and a lie on the lips of a leader is even more out of place!
⁸ A bribe is like an enchanting charm to one who counts on it—
everywhere he looks he sees the illusion of success.
⁹ Those who forgive faults foster love,
but those who repeatedly recall them ruin relationships.
¹⁰ A single correction makes a more lasting impression on one who is wise
than a hundred lashes do on a fool.
¹¹ Evil people are determined to rebel,
and so a merciless messenger will chase them down.
¹² Better to face a mother bear stripped of her cubs
than to encounter a fool caught up in his foolishness.
¹³ Those who repay good with evil
bring unrelenting trouble upon their families.
¹⁴ Picking a fight is like leaking water from a crack in a dam,
so walk away from an argument before the outburst.
¹⁵ Both of these deeply offend the Eternal:
one who acquits the guilty and one who condemns the innocent.
¹⁶ Even if fools had the means to obtain wisdom,
they would not be able to benefit from it.
¹⁷ A true friend loves regardless of the situation,
and a real brother exists to share the tough times.
¹⁸ Only a fool shakes hands on a deal
and guarantees repayment of someone else’s loan.
¹⁹ A person who loves sin loves a fight,
and one who builds a grand entrance dares others to tear it down.
²⁰ Crooked-hearted people never recognize anything good,
and those who distort the truth court disaster.
²¹ Having a fool for a child is misery;
there is no joy in parenting a fool.
²² A joy-filled heart is curative balm,
but a broken spirit hurts all the way to the bone.
²³ A wicked person accepts a bribe under the table
to derail the course of justice.
²⁴ Those who understand look to wisdom for guidance,
but fools fasten their eyes on some distant horizon.
²⁵ Foolish children irritate their fathers
and embitter their mothers.
²⁶ Also know this: It is wrong to penalize those who do what is right
or to lash the noble because of their integrity.
²⁷ Those with knowledge know when to be quiet,
and those with understanding know how to remain calm.
²⁸ Even a fool who keeps quiet is considered wise,
for when he keeps his mouth shut, he appears clever. 

That will conclude our exploration of Proverbs 17.  The question for today is, “Do maintain harmony and restraint by not using unwise and inappropriate words in your relationships?” If so, you will discover more peace and joy each day of life. Each week we will explore a full chapter in Proverbs. I hope that you will join us next week for Chapter 18 so that you can gain wisdom, insight, and understanding for yourself.

The entire book of Proverbs provides us with rich wisdom, insight, and understanding on a myriad of life issues. Regardless of where you are in your faith walk, if you follow the precepts in Proverbs, your life will be rich and satisfying. I encourage you to take them and plant the seeds of wisdom in your heart so that you will reap a harvest of wisdom throughout your life.

Tomorrow we will continue Life Lessons Leaned The Hard Way on our Wisdom Unplugged series about my recent accident and on-going recovery. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of our past treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe at iTunes or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this trek of life together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. Leave a Living Legacy Each Day

This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!