Stamp of Approval

(Proverbs 25:23 KJV)  The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.

Do you think people knew this before Solomon wrote it?  Is this common experience or divine revelation?  If this had been David writing, I could have looked back at his experience as a shepherd and guessed it was observation or camp fire wisdom.  I don’t know that Solomon got out in the real world much.  Since the Holy Spirit caused it to be included we need to go with the Hand of God no matter how common the statement was.  Consider it a stamp of approval.

Many times what you find in the Bible is “common sense”.  That is why you find similar statements to the Golden Rule in other religious and philosophical traditions.  What the Bible does is help us separate the common sense from the cultural flatulence.  We have all heard people say, “Everybody knows...” when we know that they don’t know.

So?  We really need to stop frequently and examine our assumptions.  Make sure you are quoting Jesus and not Benjamin Franklin.