Proverbs 29:21 It's just logical

A servant pampered from youth will turn out to be insolent.
A servant pampered from childhood will become a rebel.
If you pamper a servant from his childhood, later on he'll become ungrateful.

I put three translations of this verse up there, because I thought each one brought a little different meaning to the table, but they all play well together.

Have you ever heard of an "if then" statement? I believe it is used in logical reasoning, in mathematics and in computer science. To those folks, it is a conditional statement --- let me explain:

It tells a computer program to execute (act on) a certain section of code (computer geek text) only if a particular test evaluates to true. Lets say there is a high tech bicycle that is electronically assisted . . . the computer could tell the brakes to be applied if a certain condition was true (the bike is going down an incline at an insane rate of speed, the computer picks up screaming from the rider, etc, etc). If that condition was not true, the computer would not mess with the braking system.

In logic, a professor might write on the chalkboard, "All men are mortal." Then he could turn to the class and say, "If I am a man . . . " and a student might finish for him, "then you are mortal." This can be carried to ridiculous conclusions by some people who want to trip others up, and say "All fish are wet." They'll then point to a person who just climbed out of a pool and say, "She's wet, she must be a fish".....but hopefully the professor will have told you that the statement is directional; you can't turn it around backwards.

OK, this was a round-about way to get to this: there are some conditional statements in the Bible! There are a lot of "if then" statements, and we have studied a ton of them in Proverbs. Whenever Solomon points out an action, and then notes a consequence that will happen, he just used one of those conditional statements.

So let's look back up at the verse translated up there. We've talked before about how we are servants of God. And in all three translations the word "pampered" is used. The dictionary says that pampered means:

"to treat with extreme and excessive care, to gratify every whim, to humor, to indulge, to baby.....

Where am I going with this?
Right here.
Have we ever whined about how we think our Father is treating us? Have we sniffled about how hard we have it? How we don't get our way? How things just aren't up to snuff in our way of thinking?
Hmmmmm.  I think I heard myself being rebellious, insolent, and ungrateful.
We're asking Him to pamper us, aren't we? To gratify our whim, to indulge us? Ouch.
I think God wants different results than the conditional statement says will happen (rebel, insolent, ungrateful). I think I need to remember these verses:

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:33

 I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word.My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees. Psalm 119:67, 71

And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.  Romans 8:17

And lastly . . .

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

It's just logical.

Proverbs 26:27 Right back at ya!

²⁷ Whoever digs a pit will fall into it;
    if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.

Hmmm, this one sounds a lot like "you reap what you sow" doesn't it? I think we can see in the scriptures that the plans men make for evil will sometimes come right back to them, and haunt them!

Remember in the book of Esther, when Haman was planning to do away with Mordecai? He couldn't stand Esther's uncle and was scheming to kill him . . . he ended up being hanged on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai! 
It's often true that the plans of the wicked and of the sinner will catch them in their own traps. Solomon's dad, David, noted this in Psalm 7:15:

¹⁵ Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out
    falls into the pit they have made.
¹⁶ The trouble they cause recoils on them;
    their violence comes down on their own heads.

Now, that's not to say that it happens every time, but it does happen! Like the prophets of old, we can point our fingers at those that we think are doing wrong, and get all frustrated with our Father, and say, "Why are they prospering? Why haven't they fallen into their own traps?" But we've talked before about the patience of God as He allows them time to turn to Him.

And in truth, instead of pointing fingers at them, perhaps we should look at our own lives.  As Christians, if we willfully choose to do wrong, and to sin, we can rest assured that our sin will roll back over on us, or in the modern-day vernacular, "it will come back to bite us." Do we say we are Christians? One of the proofs is that the Holy Spirit is living within us --- we won't get away with indulging in sin for very long!

Our conscience, if we are God's children, will bother us when we sin. The thought of our wrong-doing will haunt us. You probably haven't pursued your wickedness long enough for your conscience to be "seared," or callous to the work of the Spirit, so it really bothers you. The old preachers call this conviction -- not a term you hear too often in today's churches, but it's a really good concept. It encompasses the work of the Spirit and the results in your disposition. You are not a happy camper.

But, let's say that you are stubborn (maybe even pig-headed; that is a term my grandma used) and continue in your sin. You turn a deaf ear to the Spirit, and keep pushing on down the path of sin. What happens next? Chastisement. You get caught. Your sin is exposed. Hopefully you are embarrassed and repentant. That is what His chastisement is for --- to get you to turn away from the sin, and turn back in His direction . . . to keep trying to be more like Him.

We need to remember this verse the next time we consider doing something that the Spirit is whispering to us about - words of caution: "don't go there." Especially if our wrong-doing will involve another person.

We can rest assured that the stone we are rolling will roll right back over us!

Proverbs 24: 21-22 God used a headline

²¹ Fear the Lord and the king, my son,
    and do not join with rebellious officials,
²² for those two will send sudden destruction on them,
    and who knows what calamities they can bring?

I was studying this section and consulted Matthew Henry's commentary, and Gill's Exposition. Both men extracted from these verses a lesson from a political perspective -- disloyalty, treason, and betrayal were some issues that they kicked around.  I hope I am not going down a wrong pathway here, but I feel the contrast here is for our lives --- if we fear (reverence) the Lord, and fear (obey) the king (the law of our land) then we will not experience the sudden destruction that can be a consequence . . .

Let me explain what I mean.

For about ten days now, the headlines on sports pages, web sites and newspapers have been proclaiming the penalties that were assessed on a northeastern university football program for their covering up the heinous acts of one of their coaches. As some would say, I don't have a pony in the race --- I'm not a fan nor an enemy of the university.  We can all agree that the crimes were horrible, and needed to be exposed and punished. We can also agree that it is wrong to cover up crimes and allow more to be committed.
Where people start to disagree, though, is on the punishment meted out to the school: no post-season bowl games for four years, a hefty fine to pay, etc., etc.  I've heard some that lament the effects that this will have on the players who are currently on campus, and who had nothing to do with the cover up.
Here is the point, though. Everyone makes decisions each and every day of our respective lives. Those decisions have consequences -- we've talked about that before. It is both a matter of common sense, and a Biblical principle, that those consequences don't necessarily stop with us.
Those consequences can impact the lives of those who come after us.  Big time.

I was reminded of this as I studied these verses. Sudden destruction can come --- sudden exposure and the resulting consequences . . . if we don't have a reverence for God's Word, and for the law of the land, too.  Reverence for His Word would have engendered a decency and a morality that said, "This must be stopped."  And a respect for the law would have sparked a response of, "This must be not only stopped, but punished." Instead, the destruction that Solomon mentions in verse 22 has come.
We can apply this to our own lives, too. Our reverence for our Lord will cause us to confess our shortcomings --  

 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,
    but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

And our respect for law  will cause us to strive to be good citizens --

 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.  (Romans 13:3)

Do we reverence the Lord, and respect the king?