Proverbs Experiment: Day Sixteen

Proverbs Chapter Sixteen:

People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. (vs. 2)

I thought this was an interesting verse. I'm trying to figure out what the writer meant: does he/she mean that sometimes we may even think we're doing something right, but God knows the real intentions in our hearts, intentions that we may not even know are in there? Does it mean that we justify ourselves and think we are pure, by either (1) weighing our purity vs. someone else, or (2) honestly thinking we have it all together?

Sometimes I wish I could ask the writer of Proverbs what they truly meant behind what they said.

Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall. (vs. 18)

For some reason, this verse reminds me of Tom Cruise. I happened to see a trailer for his new movie coming out on Friday, so that could be a reason as well. I read on Yahoo! News that after a few years, he has finally come out and admitted that he regrets treating Matt Lauer badly and talking down to him when the subject of psychiatry came up in their interview. I never really saw the interview, only snippets, but it was amazing how condescending he was of people with depression and people who needed help psychologically. And I think that this attitude he displayed - not to mention the erratic behavior he showed on Oprah - has led to a definite drop in his appeal and popularity as an actor. I hope that his regret is not due to a publicist telling him it would be good for his career, that he truly and honestly feels that he was wrong to act the way he did.

There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. (vs. 25)

I have always heard this verse used in the context of salvation and heaven and hell, but is this really what Solomon meant? If you read certain scholars, they make the claim that in the OT, there really isn't a well-developed "theology" of hell, eternal damnation, and eternal punishment for sins. I'll have to dig deeper into this, but if anyone else has an opinion on what this verse really means, I would love to hear it.

Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained by living a godly life. (vs. 31)

Hmm. Okay.

I now have a few gray hairs - mostly in the sides of my hair. Perhaps I'll look like the dude from The Fantastic Four before going completely gray. I'm not sure about that last part of the verse, sounds kind of sketchy to me. There are a lot of people with gray hair that I would not put into the "godly life" category.