Today let's look at Proverbs 14, the first 5 verses:

The truly wise woman builds up her house,But the foolish one tears it down with her own hands. 2 The one walking in his uprightness fears Jehovah,But the one whose ways are devious despises Him. 3 The rod of haughtiness is in the mouth of the fool,But the lips of the wise will protect them. 4 Where there are no cattle the manger is clean,But the power of a bull yields an abundant harvest. 5 A faithful witness will not lie,But a false witness lies with every breath.

Prov 14:1: The foolish one is disregarding God's counsel or discipline, thus is missing out on the spiritual values and wisdom necessary to be spiritually upbuilding to her family.

Prov 14:2: The upright one has genuine godly fear, which is a healthy fear of displeasing or hurting God in some way. HE loves us, especially if we seek to please him, and the man of godly fear does not want to harm that relationship, or hurt God's feelings by disobeying him in some way.

Prov 14:3: The foolish one tends to be haughty in spirit, offended by God's counsel or discipline, rather than humbly accepting it and seeking to improve. We're encouraged in God's word to consider others as superior to us, benefitting from their knowledge and counsel. The foolish would benefit more by listening more than speaking of his own ideas and knowledge, remembering we have two ears and only 1 mouth--James says we should be quick to listen, but slow about speaking and slow about wrath or anger. (James 1:19).

Prov 14:4: The Scriptures encourage hard work as opposed to laziness. Children should not be praised so much for the knowledge they gain, as for putting that knowledge to work to benefit others by it. The praise should be using their knowledge aright, to help others. This encourages them to be busy, good workers. The verse shows hard work pays off in an "abundant harvest."

Prov 14:5: The Christian "new personality" seeks honesty in all things, rejecting lies as displeasing God, the One who "cannot lie" (Titus 1:2). Says Colossians 3:9,10: "Do not lie to one another. Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it." However, being honest does not mean we must reveal truth to all persons, including those who might use the knowledge they gain to harm others. According to Ecclesiastes 3:7 there is "a time to be silent and a time to speak."