The Stubborn and wicked will suffer at their own hands

Prov 1:31-33 and they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own desires. (32) For the turning away of the simple kills them, and the ease of fools destroys them. (33) But whoever listens to me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

They shall eat of the fruit of their own way (derek) and be filled with their own devices and counsel. What will be the result of them following their own counsel and finding their own way? The backsliding of the foolish/simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. They are labelled as simple and foolish and their destruction is their turning away or backsliding and their prosperity or abundance. The way of fools is to rebel and turn away from any form of law while they seek wealth, prosperity and power. The things that they seek will ultimately destroy them and the things they lust after will become their enemies.

If you seek things outside of the Will of YHVH then that thing will destroy you in the end if you do not repent. We see this in the example where Israel left Egypt and complains about the food asking for meat. YHVH granted their request and sends them quails that ultimately caused their destruction. DO NOT follow your own desires and ask YHVH to grant you your will unless you have submitted it to Him first to find out if it is His Will because He might grant you your desire but it will lead to your destruction if it is not His Will.

Whoever will listen to YHVH and follow His Will, will dwell in safety and they will be protected against evil and fear. YHVH said that He will give you the desires of your heart, in this verse we see they will be filled with their own desires.

Psa 37:4 Delight yourself also in YHVH, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

The two opposites enlighten us on the fact that YHVH wants to place desires in our hearts that originated from Him, He wants us to desire what He desires and not leave us to follow our own desires and be destroyed by them. Most people think that the verse in Psa 37:4 means that YHVH will take your desires and make it a reality for you, it is actually the opposite, He will help you to remove your desires and replace it with His desires and then He will make His desires a reality in your life.

Delight yourself is the word "anag" that means; to be soft, effeminate, to become womanish, tender, weak, peaceful, less reproachful, to melt into weakness.

First used in Scripture in Deut 28:56 where it describes a good soft spirited woman and how she would conduct herself.

So in order to "delight yourself" in YHVH is to submit like a perfect bride would submit to her husband; with willingness, respect, tenderness and supplication and trust. YHVH will place His desires in your heart if you become His Bride and submit your life with tenderness and willingness unto Him, acknowledging His authority and submitting under His Will. Totally different to what we thought "delight yourself" means.

When will YHVH not listen and not answer your prayers?

God is good and He just sit and wait till you call upon Him and then He will rescue you from your distress. Is this an accurate statement? Many people believe it is and they use YHVH and call upon His Name when they really need Him. This comes form the cultures where they had house gods; a god for the harvest, a god for fertility, a god for prosperity, a god for the rain etc. Each time they had a problem, they went to their gods and pray to and worship the god that relates to that specific need that they have. If they do not have any issues in that area, then they would not pray to that god. We treat YHVH he same way by only calling on His Name when we are in trouble, the only difference is that He is one God that does all of these things and we go to Him for everything. This proverb describes YHVH's response if we choose to interact with Him in this way.

Prov 1:24-27 Because I called, and you refused; I stretched out my hand, and no one paid attention; (25) but you have despised all my advice, and would have none of my warning. (26) I also will laugh at your trouble; I will mock when your fear comes; (27) when your fear comes as a wasting away, and your ruin comes like a tempest when trouble and pain come upon you.

YHVH says that He called upon you, He has called out your name and stretched out His hand to you by offering you counsel and wisdom on a daily basis. We have seen this in the previous verses where wisdom cries out but nobody listens.

Prov 1:20-21 Wisdom cries outside; she utters her voice in the streets; (21) she cries in the chief place of gathering, in the openings of the gates; in the city she utters her words, saying,

YHVH knows that we need Him and He knows that we cannot live effectively without His counsel and wisdom and that is why He offers this to us freely and on a regular basis. The question is, do we listen to His counsel and do we make the effort to learn from Him? You know the answer to this question for your life, let everybody examine their own hearts and be the judge of their own actions.

YHVH says that He will laugh at those who did not listen when they go through calamity and He mocks them when they fear and go through distress. It almost sounds like when someone tells you; "...I told you so, you should have listened..." when things go wrong in your life and you refused to listen to someone's advice. Will YHVH do this, surely He is greater than this, laughing at our sin and weaknesses? Yes He can do this because He will reflect back onto those they have done to Him. We have learned earlier that people scoff and mock YHVH's Word and make fun of those who follow it. YHVH will definitely return the favour and let your sin be your judge and the consequences will be your punishment. What you sow you will also reap and your attitude towards Him will be reflected back to you in the time of your distress. It is not that YHVH is mean or insensitive; it is because He is righteous and fair that He reacts in this way.

Prov 1:28-30 Then they shall call upon me, and I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; (29) instead they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of YHVH. (30) They would have none of my counsel; they despised all my correction,

When distress is at the doorstep they will call upon YHVH and when fear overwhelm them, and then they will seek YHVH but will not find Him. Your relationship with YHVH is like any other relationship, you have to deposit into the relationship in order to allow you to withdraw from the relationship. That is why Y'shua will tell the people who approach Him; "...go away from Me, I do not know you, you workers of lawlessness...".

Mat 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. (22) Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? (23) And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness!

When you are in trouble you cannot quickly build a relationship and gain from it immediately. You have to build a relationship, just like a house, starting from a solid foundation giving stability, walls that give protection and a roof that covers all. The best Person to have this kind of relationship with is YHVH through His Son Y'shua that you will gain the most from. YHVH invites us to have such a relationship with Him so that we will not only have all the benefits knowing Him, but that we might be influenced and change for the better. Just like the saying says; "...you become like the people you mix with..", and what a better Person to mixt with than YHVH in order to become like Him and be changed to be created in His Image and His Likeness as was His intent right from the start. Gen 1:26.

When you are in distress and when fear is at your doorstep, then YHVH will listen to your cry and give ear to your prayer. He will have pity over you and deliver you from all your fears and destroy all your enemies. Just make sure that you are in the right relationship with Him and make it your heart's desire to become like Him, humbling yourself so that He might change you according to His Will and His Pleasure.

You listen with your Heart - Receiving the Anointing of the Spirit of Wisdom

Prov 1:20-23 Wisdom cries outside; she utters her voice in the streets; (21) she cries in the chief place of gathering, in the openings of the gates; in the city she utters her words, saying, (22) How long will you love simplicity, simple ones? And will scorners delight in their scorning? And will fools hate knowledge? (23) Turn at my warning; behold, I will pour out my Spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.

Wisdom cries out in the streets and announces her triumph in public places but no one listens. The fools hate knowledge, the scorners love scorning and the simple ones want to stay simple, no one wants to change and apply wisdom to their lives. Why is this that no one wants to change and better themselves improving the quality of their lives? It is because wisdom comes from YHVH and simplicity, scorning and foolishness comes form Satan and from the flesh. We, or our flesh is more prone to fleshly things than spiritual things and the two are not compatible. It is like oil and water that do not mix. The only way to apply spiritual things (wisdom) to a fleshly body, is with the help and power of YHVH's Spirit. We read in Pro 1:23 that YHVH will pour out His Spirit unto those who choose to turn/repent from their fleshly ways, He will do the rest. It starts with a choice, then YHVH will work with you supporting your decision and help you to overcome by revealing His wisdom to you, through His Word and His Spirit.

Can you invent wisdom or are you the author of wise words? No, all wisdom comes from YHVH and He is the originator of it all. It started at Creation where He brought everything that is spiritual into the physical realm, through His words of wisdom. Wisdom is the vehicle between the two worlds (spiritual and physical), the spiritual forms the physical. The only issue is, will the physical receive the words of wisdom in order to submit to the recreation process to better or restore the fallen physical state? We listen through our ears and wisdom is crying out in order to recreate and restore our fallen physical state. We need to open our ears and listen (shema) to YHVH Words and allow His Spirit to recreate us.

How do we adhere to the cry of wisdom? It is described in the parable of the sower:

Mat 13:3-9 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow. (4) And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them. (5) Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth. And they sprang up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. (6) And the sun rising, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. (7) And some fell among thorns. And the thorns sprung up and choked them. (8) And some fell on the good ground and yielded fruit, indeed one a hundredfold, and one sixty, and one thirty. (9) He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

This Parable describes our hearts as different types of soil:

· the way side or hard trodden road,

· the stony ground with a layer of soft top soil,

· the thorny ground

· and lastly the good soft ground.

These four types of ground describes four types of hearts;

· a totally unteachable set in your ways heart,

· a heart that will listen at first but will loose interest after a short period of time,

· a heart that that is very busy and has a lot of other important interests

· a receptive humble teachable heart that takes time to digest the information and change accordingly.

What kind of heart do you have and are you able to listen to the cry of wisdom and receive her words? Humble yourselves and ask YHVH to help you to become humble so that you may be receptive to His Word and His Spirit. Humility and teachability is the key to a life or repentance and change for the better.

YHVH's Spirit prepares people's hearts just like His Spirit prepared the empty and void earth hovering over the face of the water.

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form and empty. And darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Elohim moved on the face of the waters.

It says that darkness was upon the face of the deep (water) and YHVH's Spirit moved upon the face of the water. In the same way we can draw the conclusion that darkness is on the "face" of people's hearts but YHVH's Spirit moves over their hearts as well. Why did YHVH's Spirit move over the face of the water where the darkness coincided? Water is the source of life and life cannot exist without water. YHVH removed the darkness over the waters by creating Light and then formed the rest of creation from the water. In the same way should the darkness be removed from every person's heart by introducing light (Truth) so that YHVH's Spirit can use the person's heart to create life from it, removing the void and emptiness. Have you ever felt empty and void? If you still do, then you need YHVH's Light (Word/Truth) and His Spirit to recreate your heart and bring it to life.

Greed Conquers Kingdoms

Prov 1:16-19 for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. (17) Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, (18) And they lie in wait for their own blood; they watch secretly for their own lives. (19) So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain; it takes away its owners' life.

One of the terms describing a greedy and stingy person is the phrase "evil eye". So if you "cast the evil eye" you look for someone or an opportunity to gain from, at the cost of someone else. This is exactly what these verses describe here; they cast their nets in the sight of the birds in order to catch those who dare to feed on the bate they set under it. This is one of the cleverest schemes of the wicked; hide something in clear site and nobody will think it is evil or dangerous. They cast their nets in the clear site of the birds; they set up their evil plan in and their "bate" in everybody’s site and wait for fools to be entrapped. This let me think of advertising on television, internet and in magazines; they make use of public advertisement to promote sin and those who are fleshly will be caught by it. The best way to sell anything is to connect it with pleasure because our civilization is addicted to pleasure; from eating and drinking, right through to sex and drugs.

The greedy is described as someone who takes away the life of someone else. Why is that?

Greedy is the word "batsa" that means; to break off, to cut off, to plunder, covetousness, to finish or stop, to fulfil, gain, get, greedy, to be wounded.

This word is first used in Scripture in Jdg 5:19 where Deborah sang a song after their victory against the king of Canaan where he was killed by a nail driven through his temples. She sang of the victory of the kings who fought and took no gain of silver because of them losing the battle. Greedy is connected to wars in order to gain kingdoms, riches and power. People lose their lives when kings stand up against one another to conquer through battle and to gain more power and authority.

Another place where this word is used is in a more positive way in Lam 2:17 where it says that YHVH has fulfilled (batsa) His Word that He Commanded. If you think of YHVH as King and fulfilling His Word as enlarging His Kingdom, then the use of this word (batsa) makes more sense. YHVH will battle against evil and people will lose their lives so that His Kingdom will increase and be established. Our faith is basically connected to the Kingdom of YHVH and to a spiritual battle that is raging between good and evil. Those who oppose YHVH's Plan will lose their lives at the end of the day and those who work with Him and who are part of His spiritual army will receive eternal life and will be part of YHVH's everlasting Kingdom. Is YHVH greedy for pursuing this Kingdom Plan? No, He is not, He is only taking back and restoring what the enemy took from Him through greed (batsa), converting YHVH's Kingdom, power and Authority as described in Isa 14:13-15.

Isa 14:13-15 For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of Elohim; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. (14) I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. (15) Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the Pit.

Lucifer wanted to be like YHVH, the Most High and wanted to exalt his throne above YHVH's throne, taking over YHVH's Kingdom. This was the first sin that was committed; covetousness, and formed the basis and foundation of all other sin.

Exo 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

You shall not covet, states the tenth Commandment, because there in lies the motivation to kill, steal, commit adultery and to worship other gods including yourself. What you sow you will reap, YHVH will repay (batsa), greed with (batsa) greed, taking back that was taken from Him by force.

Choose your Friends Wisely, do not earn a living through sin.

Prov 1:10-15 My son, if sinners lure you, do not be willing. (11) If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, we will watch secretly for the innocent without cause; (12) let us swallow them up alive as the grave, and whole, as those who go down into the pit; (13) we shall find all precious goods; we shall fill our houses with plunder; (14) cast in your lot among us, and let us have one purse. (15) My son, do not walk in the way with them! Keep back your foot from their path,

Prov 1:10-15 - We are living in the world but we should not be part of the world. Just like Y'shua stood in the boat while He preached to the people on the land, should we distance our selves from the sinners but be close enough to be relevant. If you do not keep your distance, then sinners will lure you in and before you know it, your 'old man' will arise and take over. Sin is like gravity, it is a continual force we have to oppose all the time and we have to make sure we keep our balance unless we fall.

If sinners entice or allure you in, do not consent or be willing. Entice means to enlarge you or prosper you. If sinners want to help you to be prosperous in you joining their evil scheme, do not join them, no matter how attractive it may look. Do not take part in someone's plan to make quick money because there is always a winner and always a looser; if you make quick money you gain it from someone else who in most cases, are tricked by the scheme you are using. There is no way of making a quick buck and you should earn your living from the sweat of your brow. Gen 3:19.

There are many professions today that require you to sin while you work, jobs like: prostitution, liquor store owners, drug merchants, film makers, actors & actresses (promoting violence, sex & drugs). All of the above provide a service of product that causes other people to be enslaved or sin. Some jobs require you to belong to a certain club like Freemasons, in order to be in a certain job or level of management. All of these are similar to what we find in Proverbs, do not support them, join them or be part of them in any way because the money you will make will be cursed and it will not bring you joy.

Then you get professions that require you to work on the Sabbath and the Feast days, these are not evil in it self like the ones we looked at previously, but they require you to break YHVH's Commandments regarding His days of rest. When you apply for a job you should ask if they require you to work on the Sabbath, if they do then you decline and look for another job. Most people think this is not a big deal but if you work every Saturday and Feast day you miss the input form the Father and His Word and will soon backslide and back in the world. If you compromise with one thing you will end up compromising with everything. The best way to guard your faith is to keep the Sabbath day holy and set apart for YHVH and His things so that you will get regular input to help you sto stay on the road.

Prov 1:15 - Walk not in their way and refrain your foot from their path.

Walk is the word "halak" that means; to walk, to behave, to and fro, to follow, be at the point, wander.

Your "walk" also represents all your words and your actions, that means that you have to know YHVH's Ways in order to behave in such a way that you imitate Him. Your "halachah" is everything you do, your mannerisms, your words, all your actions and habits and customs. A Disciple is someone who was required to sit under his Rabbi and learn his Walk or "halechah" so that he might learn to become like his Rabbi and later on take over when his Rabbi passed away. Y'shua ask of us to become disciples of Him, to imitate Him, to learn His "halechah" so that we might Walk in His Ways and become like Him. Do not be discipled by the world and learn their ways, imitating the people in the world.

Way is the word "derek" - to tread, bend, lead, march, way, road, distance, journey, manner, habit.

If you look at the Hebrew letters, it looks like a bridge that has a flat surface with three support pillars. "Kaf" means hand, "resh" means head or reasoning and "dalet" means door. YHVH's road or bridge is made up of your actions (hand), what you do, it is made up of your mind (head) what you think and it is about your "gates" (ears, eyes, mouth) - "door", of what you allow in and out of yourself. These are the areas that YHVH defines as "the road" you must follow and the areas where you practically apply His Word to in order to stay on His "road" / Ways. If you have these three areas under control and submitted under YHVH's suggested directives, then you will not have any issue of going astray, turning to the left or right form what He Instructed to be the "safe route" to travel in your life. YHVH's Ways give support, it is a easy flat surface to travel on, it is straight and gives support, taking out the "bumps, highs and lows" out of your life. When you follow YHVH, then He will make your paths straight. Psa 5:8, Isa 40:3, Jer 31:9, Mat 3:3, Heb 12:13. Y'shua is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Psa 5:8 Lead me, O YHVH, in Your righteousness, because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face.

Mat 3:3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of YHVH make His paths straight."

We get directions for our life from His Word because the word Torah means Instructions as in giving someone directions to a certain place. These Instructions will lead you to the "bridges" (Ways) of YHVH that will carry you over the "ups and downs" of life, easing out all the holes and stumbling blocks in your way. To follow the ways of the world is the same as not choosing YHVH's "bridges" and you will end up in the ditch with the blind. Follow YHVH's Instructions so that He can lead you through the "Red sea" on a land bridge destroying the enemy behind you.

The Ornament of Salvation & the Helmet of Grace. Are you a Sheep or a Pig?

Prov 1:9 for they shall be an ornament of grace to your head and chains around your neck.

Discipline and Instruction (Torah) shall be as an ornament of grace on your head and chains around your neck.

Ornament is the word "livyah" that means; something attached, a wreath. It's root word means; to twine, to unite, to borrow (as a form of obligation), to cleave, join one self.


This word is first used in Scripture in Gen 29:34 where Leah born Levi and said that Jacob will love her and cleave to her because of the son she gave him. Jacob had an obligation to Leah (she thought) in giving him a son. Levi means "to interweave or join" and has the same basic meaning as Ornament as "to twine" or "unite". If I borrowed money from a friend, I have an obligation towards that person and that transaction becomes an "ornament" of obligation between us, a bond if you will, that bind us together. Leah "borrowed" Jacob a son and that bound her to him in a sense. YHVH "borrowed" his son to us and that gives us an "ornament" of grace on our heads. Our covering is found in the Blood of the Messiah and in this "covering of the head" we find salvation.

Eph 6:13-18 Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of YHVH, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Therefore stand, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness (15) and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. (16) Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of YHVH, (18) praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching to this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

Paul explains in Eph 6:13-18 the amour of YHVH where the head is covered with the helmet of salvation which is the Blood of Messiah, our Ornament and "connection" and Way to the Father. This means that the "Ornament of Grace" is he Helmet of Salvation which is the Blood of Messiah.

We see that in the word "livyah" where the "lamed-vav" is connected to "Yah" or YHVH. Y'shua is the One who connects us to YHVH and He is the only Way to the Father. Levi was the tribe that "connected" the people to YHVH and Y'shua became the High Priest (not of the Levitical order) that connects us now to the Father. He replaced their function and became the "real thing" but we still need the "connection to the Father", nothing is abolished only made better. Y'shua is the Word of YHVH made flesh containing His discipline and Instructions (Torah); Y'shua is the Judge Who will give the final verdict on everybody's lives and He is the One Who will teach the Torah from Mount Zion. Isa 2:3.


Discipline and instruction is like a chain around your neck.


Chain is the word "anaq" that means; necklace, chain, to fit out with supplies, to adorn with a necklace.

This word is first used in Scripture in Deut 15:14 where this word is used to describe abundant giving of supplies form their flock that YHVH blessed them with.

Neck is the word "gargeroth" that means; throat or neck.

Its root word is first used in Scripture in Lev 11:7 describing the swine and why it is an unclean animal that has a split hoof but does not chew (garar) the cud. Combining these two throats, chain (supplies / food) and neck (throat / chew the cud) we see an interesting combination showing us that believers are like clean animals and one of tie attributes of a "clean believer" is that they have to "chew the cud" in order to be classified clean. You get people who looks like believers (have split hooves) but they do not "chew the cud" like the swine.

What does it mean when a Believer "chew the cud"? Proverbs say that Discipline and Instruction (Torah) are like an ornament that someone can see as well as "supplies" you can eat. "Neck" describes on how these supplies (Torah & Discipline) will be consumed and digested. An animal that chew the cud chews the food, swallow it but bring it back from the stomach to chew it again. If you compare the Word of YHVH or His Discipline to food, you should take in His Word/Discipline, swallow it there and then, but bring it back later on, meditating on it. Our thoughts should be busy with YHVH's Word and we should think and meditate on what we have done wrong, if disciplined so that we can repent and rectify where we have gone astray.

Someone who does not "chew the cud" when disciplined will take in what was said, "swallow" it just to get it over and done with. There is no introspection to see what they have done wrong and sometimes label it as someone else's fault, causing more issues after the event. Someone who "chew the cud", truly repents and look into their lives to see where they have messed up and missed the mark. This is the difference between someone who is teachable and someone who is thick skinned and non-repentive, just like a pig.

A true Believer in Messiah is seen by his/her ability to change and rectify what they have wronged through introspection, humility, teach-ability and repentance. All of this happens on the inside and you will see the change afterwards in their actions. On the other hand we see believers that look "Christian" on the outside but wait till you "push their buttons"; you will get a bad attitude and the problem will be reflected back to you or on to someone else. They do not see faults in them selves and find it difficult to say they are sorry. Outwardly they confess their faith in Messiah but inwardly they do not "chew the cud". Are you one of Messiah's sheep or are you still a pig?