Still in Proverbs, today we look at chaps 13-15. I see more proverbs extolling the virtues and warning of the vices from yesterday's list, but some additional ones are added:

Respect for the Word/Despising the Word

Hanging out with the wise/Hanging out with the foolish

Disciplining one's children/Sparing the rod

Action/Talk

Truthful witness/Lying witness

Being slow to anger/Having a quick temper

Glad in heart/Sorrowful heart

Yesterday I confessed to being bothered by 12:21. It just seems to be not true in my experience. There is a similar thought expressed in 13:21: "Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous" (NIV). I've seen many a sinner who, for a time at least, prospers. The writer of Psalm 73 was quite troubled by the same observation: "For I was envious of the arrogant: I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not plagued like other people." (Psalm 73:3-5, NRSV)

Proverbs assumes some connection between our character or behavior and the outcomes we experience in life. And in the long haul, my experience would agree. But it doesn't always work out so neatly in the short term. Sometimes the wicked/foolish DO prosper for a season, and the righteous/wise suffer. Biblical faith has always maintained, however, that in the LONG TERM, there is justice (i.e., the Last Judgment).

What do you think?