1. 👀 What stood out to you? Verses 1-5 remind me of what Jesus and James said about swearing oaths - DON'T! (Mat. 5:33-37 & Jam. 5:12). If you agree to a friend or a stranger you better do what you said you'd do! Verses 6-11 on procrastinating. Verses 12-15 gives us 6 more things to look for to spot a wicked man, and then 7 more in verses 17-19. The rest of the Proverb warns against a literal woman, adultery, and the dire consequences thereof. Interestingly verse 32 says the man who commits adultery lacks understanding - once again hounding on the importance of gathering and keeping wisdom! Verse 34-35 are scary and remind me of the places in the Bible where God is described as a jealous God. He is longsuffering, but He is just; it's going to be a terrifying day for the wicked when He pours out His wrath!! 2. 💡 Did you learn anything new? (If yes, what?) If the adulterer lacks understanding, what other sins have I committed because I lack understanding? Probably a ton; and I hope to some day have enough understanding to see them all and enough discernment to avoid falling into their traps again! 3. 🎯 How can you apply this to your life? I better not overpromise/spread myself so thin that I cannot keep my promises or fulfill my obligations. I'm a pro at procrastinating so reading this Proverb was the slap in the face that I needed to remind me to get moving! And finally, I will not be participating in adultery lol; the line "can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" goes hard, and I'll be remembering that one should the opportunity ever arise

We tend to think God does his best work through our strengths — our talents, our confidence, our competence. But Scripture tells a different story almost everywhere you look: God seems to prefer working through weakness, not despite it. Paul says it plainly: God's strength is "made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9), which is why Paul says he'd rather boast in his weaknesses than his strengths. He goes even further back in Romans, laying out that none of us are righteous on our own, not one, and that no one truly seeks God on their own initiative (Romans 3:10-11). That's not just moral failure, it's an inherent inability — which is exactly why grace has to do the work pride can't. And in 1 Corinthians 1:27, Paul goes further still — God deliberately chose what the world calls foolish and weak, specifically to put the "strong" and "wise" to shame. So weakness isn't a design flaw. It's often the design. Two examples show this playing out in very different ways: 1. God using a weakness that was already there — Moses. When God calls Moses at the burning bush, Moses' objection isn't pride, it's inadequacy. He tells God he's slow of speech (Exodus 4:10). God doesn't fix the impediment. He works around it, pairing Moses with Aaron, and sends him anyway. The weakness stays. God just doesn't need it removed to use him. 2. God creating a weakness that wasn't there — Gideon's army. This one's the sharper example. Gideon shows up with 32,000 men to fight the Midianites, and God says that's too many (Judges 7:2). Not because they'd lose, but because they might win and think they did it themselves. So God has Gideon cut the army down, twice, until only 300 men are left. God engineers the weakness on purpose, so that when the victory comes, there's no mistaking whose it was. Same principle, opposite direction: Moses shows God can work through a limitation you already carry. Gideon shows God can impose one you didn't ask for — for the same reason, so the outcome points to him and not you.

Just thought I might throw this out there since proverbs is all about wisdom: Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. It's not just having the knowledge, but actually applying it. Knowledge would tell you to check your motor oil before leaving on a road trip, wisdom would be actually checking it and filling it up if you need to. (Kind of reminds me of the parable of the ten virgins, lol) I used to wonder who the different characters were in proverbs until I heard it explained. The simple has no knowledge The foolish has the knowledge but still chooses the wrong way The wise has the knowledge and applies it correctly (I don't remember this source, I heard it from a pastor and combined it with my own thoughts) What do you guys think? And what are some practical examples of pursuing wisdom? (Perhaps examples more complex than motor oil, lol. But feel free to share anything)

Proverbs #2 1. 👀 What stood out to you? Verse 4, seeking wisdom as silver 2. 💡 Did you learn anything new? No. 3. 🎯 How can you apply this to your life? I need to be seeking out wisdom like I seek out money. Everyone wants money, and I learned the hard way that wisdom is better than gold (still learning that!) But my pursuit of and love of wisdom should be far more than money.

A bit late, but I'm not using that as an excuse. 🙂 Proverbs #1 1. 👀 What stood out to you? Just the last verse. That whoever listens to wisdom will live securely and will be at ease from fear of evil 2. 💡 Did you learn anything new? (If yes, what?) Yes, see what stood out to me ⬆️ 3. 🎯 How can you apply this to your life? Stop dreading evil and follow wisdom instead, have peace and joy, take action, and be at ease. Fear the Lord, that's the beginning of wisdom.