Proverbs 20

Proverbs 20:1 "Wine [is] a mocker, strong drink [is] raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."

Proverbs 20:2 "The fear of a king [is] as the roaring of a lion: [whoso] provoketh him to anger sinneth [against] his own soul."

Proverbs 20:3 "[It is] an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling."

Proverbs 20:4 "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; [therefore] shall he beg in harvest, and [have] nothing."

Proverbs 20:5 "Counsel in the heart of man [is like] deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out."

This verse gives an example of what is and what is not the Lord’s will. Believers are not allowed to be intoxicated with alcoholic beverages; the reason for this prohibition is wherein excess; that is is, drunkenness leads to moral intemperance.   The Bible teaches to be good to your enemies. Bless them that curse you. A fool keeps a strife going.   I see in this sluggard (lazy person) someone who looks for just any excuse not to work.   I believe, and that it is so important to study your Bible every day. If some day we were not allowed to have a Bible we could hold in our hand, we that have studied regularly would still have the Bible hidden away in our heart. No one could take that Bible away from us. 

Proverbs 20:7 "The just [man] walketh in his integrity: his children [are] blessed after him."

Proverbs 20:8 "A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes."

Proverbs 20:9 "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?"

Proverbs 20:10 "Divers weights, [and] divers measures, both of them [are] alike abomination to the LORD."

We see by this that a just man lives his Christianity. He walks in his salvation every day. He walks uprightly before the Lord.  Even his children are highly thought of by the community because of their father's walk before God.  We know that the King of kings (Jesus Christ) can see directly through those who would stand before Him and lie.  The answer is no one can make him self sinless. Only Jesus can cleanse our heart from sin.  God hates dishonesty.   This sin does not just bring harm to the sinner, but to the person he has cheated by false weights and measurements, as well.

A worldly man just gropes around trying one thing and another until he finds the Way, which is Jesus.  Since a man cannot comprehend the unfolding purposes of God’s providence in his life, he has to walk in faith.

Proverbs 20:27 "The spirit of man [is] the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly."

Proverbs 20:28 "Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy."

Proverbs 20:29 "The glory of young men [is] their strength: and the beauty of old men [is] the grey head."

Proverbs 20:30 "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so [do] stripes the inward parts of the belly."

"God's Light shining within us separates us from the darkness of the world. The light that is within us is the Light of Jesus.  We see in this that if a king wants to continue to be a king he must not be cruel, he must be merciful.   A king that rules with mercy and truth will be king for a long time.  Young men will pump iron or exercise to make them even stronger. Paul warns about putting too much emphasis on the bodily exercise.  The beautiful grey hair of an old man shows wisdom and experience. For a man to live long enough to have grey hair, God would have to have blessed him.  These stripes in the belly indicate punishment that is felt with our inner most being. We are supposed to see in the bruises and in the stripes that correction has come for the sins in our lives.