1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
2 The rich and the poor meet together;
the Lord is the Maker of them all.
3 The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple go on and suffer for it.
4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
7 The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
8 Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of his fury will fail.
9 Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
10 Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out,
and quarreling and abuse will cease.
11 He who loves purity of heart,
and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
12 The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the traitor.
13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!”
14 The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
16 Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth,
or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
Proverbs 22 may be most well known for it’s verse 6 – Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Today, I’d like to focus on another point. After completing the biography, “Boenhoeffer” by Eric Metaxas, (For the 2nd Time) – I have been trying to make a habit of a more “focused” meditation on scripture. This week I will be using Proverbs 22 as my meditation chapter. Dietrich Boenhoeffer was fan of deep meditation. This practice not only allowed Boenhoeffer to HEAR more of the Lord through the scriptures but also gave him confidence in daily life, specifically, to be able to call upon these scriptures when needed through memorization. I wish to be able to do the same for my own life application.
Starting the practice, today’s meditation inspired the following verse of focus:
Verse 9 States:
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
In sharing last week of my daughter’s wedding, meeting with a friend for lunch, and a full week of thought reflection over the last few years; no better words have come to me than these: : Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
So what does this “has a bountiful eye” mean?
I have taken it to mean the opposite of a negative eye… or in other words… EVERYONE HAS A CHOICE in their “eye” perspectives…
Choice 1: a Bountiful eye…. looking for the bounty, looking for the positive, vision for a GREAT FUTURE… outlook that is OPTIMISTIC… looking to help, to serve, to give.. to GAIN…
Choice 2: a Negative eye…. Looking for the bad, only seeing the rain clouds, looking for the downfall that lies around the next corner… noticing poor qualities in others… As Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh would state, ” Woe is me” …
Can you find your eyes in either of these two choices?
Back to the verse:
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
This seems like a no-brainer for us ! When we look ahead and to the future with a positive perspective, WE WILL BE BLESSED and WE CAN BLESS OTHERS.
IS there really any further discussion on what choice we should be making?
Look , i get it… hardships and heartaches suck. I get it. Not only through my own choices, but through the choices of others, i have experienced some very dark days. Evil days, wicked days, deceitful days; however the Lord we serve calls us to something better. Through our faith in Jesus Christ we ARE CALLED out of those clouded glasses we have looked through.
It it time for us to wipe the lens and start using the Lord’s “Bountiful eye” perspective! With everything!!!
Barnabas Man 