God’s Holy Word is to be taken as our guide to live a blessed and fulfilling life. This is a true statement whether your chosen translation is King James, New International, New Literal, or any number of others taken from the original manuscripts.
In this book we turn to the book of Proverbs and will be making reference to the New Literal (NLT) and New International (NIV) translations. This is a book to be applied to life based on the statements made in the first chapter, such as

● Verse 5 – Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser
● Verse 7 – Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline
● Verse 10 – If sinners entice you, turn your back on them

When interacting with others, you will hear statements such as “God’s Word is what it is and means what it means.” That is a true statement, but it can have different meanings for each individual depending on his or her current circumstances in life. We will be considering the many “if” statements in Proverbs under the control of our own free will and that of others.
For example, do you know of a child who strayed away from the faith although that child was raised in a home with solid Christian values? Turning to Proverbs 22:6, we read “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” Is this a contradiction with the outcome of the previously mentioned situation? It could be considered that way if you refuse to go back to the “fools despise wisdom and discipline” statement in Chapter 1, verse 7. We all have chosen the wrong path and “played the fool” at some point in life. Then we choose to turn to God from that worldly path and become justified by the blood of Jesus.