Puzzling proverbs

My daily Bible reading plan currently is taking me through the book of Proverbs. This may sound odd, but some of my favorite proverbs are those that, at least on first reading, I don’t understand. I believe God’s Spirit led Solomon to include such proverbs to make us stop and think. To ask ourselves, “What does this mean?” and “What wisdom am I to learn from this?” It is so easy for me, when reading Proverbs, to go from one proverb to another, and when the meaning is fairly straightforward, to simply acknowledge each truth and to assume I know how it applies to my life. But when a proverb makes no sense to me, it forces me to think, “This made sense to Solomon, and moreover, the Holy Spirit led him to include it for our edification. Don’t pass over this, try to get an idea of what it means.”

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