King Solomon's wisdom on the righteous and the unrighteous

Today's reading is from Proverbs 10-12 and 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4 is definitely one of my favorite chapters in the bible but I will save it for later. The Book of Proverbs is part of the "Biblical Wisdom Literature" along with the Book of Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. King Solomon is the principal author for this book of wise sayings. Charles Swindoll of Insight for Living explains why the book is important:
"Proverbs accomplishes something no other biblical book does: it simply compiles numerous short instructions for living an effective life on earth. While other books articulate profound theological truths, lengthy narratives of triumph and failure, or prophetic preaching to a disobedient people, Proverbs concerns itself completely with instructing people in the path of wisdom. The writers of the book recognized the varied circumstances of a person’s life and provided principles to apply in a variety of situations rather than instructions to follow in only a few specific instances."

So when I read through Proverbs 10-12, I keep this in mind: Solomon isn't saying that there are two kinds of people - the righteous and the unrighteous, or the good and the bad people. He is simply making a list of situations we will find ourselves in, and we will have to make good or bad choices with the intended consequences. I will try to summarize chapter 10 here. It's a useful exercise to get a little more understanding into these sayings which appear rather randomly.

Bible Ref	Situation	Good/Wise Choice	Bad/Foolish Choice	Consequences
10:1	Relationship with parents	Be wise	Be foolish	Will bring joy to them or will bring grief to them
10:2-3	Regarding treasures	Earn it properly	Cheat	Will be kept safe vs won't really enjoy any of it
10:4-5	Regarding work	Be diligent	Be lazy	Wealth vs poverty
10:6-10	Describing his character	Walk and talk in integrity	Take shortcut and make "chatter" talk	Blessings and security vs insecurity and ruin
10:12	Towards our enemies	Love them	Hate them	Peace vs conflict
10:17	Discipline and Correction	Heed discipline	Ignore correction	Fulfillment vs leading others astray
10:18-21	Regarding our speech	Being prudent and does not excuse wrong	Slandering and denial	Will be highly valued vs inconsequential
10:27-30	Our relationship towards God	Fear God and obey Him	Disobey Him	Live longer, joyful & secure vs Life cut short and bear no fruit
11:1	Business practice	Honest	Dishonest	Find God's favor vs finding his wrath

Back to 2 Corinthians 4. Here I find Paul going through major difficulties in life and his reaction to them is amazing. He is demonstrating what a person in Christ is like in the face of hardship. Listen to his words:
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." (2 Corinthians 4:7-12)