Relationship Principles From the Book of Proverbs: Part 1

These principles are based on dealing with people in general and not marriage relationships.

​Let’s have a look at this scripture:

Proverbs 25; 15- 18
 By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.
 Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.
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 Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house; lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee.
 A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow.

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From the above scripture, we are told to eat honey that is sufficient for us, lest we be filled and vomit it. In other words, taking too much honey can end up being detrimental.

As the following verse goes on to speak about withdrawing your feet from your neighbour’s house and the verse before is speaking about how to persuade a prince, it is safe to see the verse about honey is figurative.

Honey is sweet. Have you ever had a sweet relationship go the other way?

Let’s see what we can learn from this verse.

Take honey that is sufficient for thee. In other words, everyone’s level of sufficiency is different depending on their capacity.

Don’t get too close to people if you are not graced to handle their faults.  We all have faults not everyone is graced to deal with them. Sometimes we may need to grow up a bit to have a closer relationship with some people, as we would be more matured in our love walk. Love covers a multitude of sins.

Have you ever seen a person close to someone and you thought “how could anyone be friends with that person?”, perhaps they had a more tolerance level than others, or have developed their love walk more.  When we grow close to people we don’t have a capacity for, we may end up aborting the relationship altogether.
 
Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house,  lest he be weary of thee.

Know your limits when dealing with people in regards to how much time and space they are willing to give you and relate according to those boundaries.

In today’s society this can also include phone calls or other forms of contact.  We must be careful not to overburden people .  This is one reason some people get blocked on some social media platforms because they are stepping beyond their boundaries. It obviously will depend on the level of the relationship, but we must be discerning. This is all part of knowing boundaries and limits, Every relationship is different.

Tips on relationships to be continued!

Bisi Oladipupo

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