Bible Study July 12, 2024
Proverbs 18:20 – 24 (LSB)
“From the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied; With the produce of his lips he will be satisfied. 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from Yahweh. 23 The poor man speaks supplications, But the rich man answers with strong words. 24 A man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Have you ever had a reversal of friendship? I had a neighbor in West Chester, Ohio who invited me to play golf in a retired league after I retired. I played two years in fact we rode in the same golf cart. We even shared time as several families at Halloween passing out candy to little kids. One day he brought up something in a discussion about politics and how I voted, although I refuse to answer that question to anyone he surmised I was more conservative than he. He mentioned one day that anyone who would vote for a particular candidate was an idiot. He then told me I was an idiot and the golf and friendship ended.
Who do you think of when you see a reversal of friendship – Job comes to my mind. His three “best friends” all gave him advice albeit bad advice. They came to outline Job’s failures and lecture him on all he had done wrong when if fact he had done nothing wrong.
Even at times siblings disagree and in some unfortunate cases there is ill will developing that leads to outright infighting. There is nothing worse that be at a celebration of life service to see families living in discontent.
Jesus is the best friend we can have and we should pattern our lives after Him.
God Bless.
Asbury Chapel 