Neville Goddard on Proverbs 22:3-5 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read Proverbs 22 in context

Scripture Focus

3A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

4By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.

5Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

Proverbs 22:3-5

Biblical Context

Wise discernment sees danger ahead and withdraws; the naive rush ahead and suffer. Humility before the LORD yields true riches, honor, and life.

Neville's Inner Vision

Think of the prudent man as a state of consciousness, not a person walking a road. To foreseeth evil is to detect the inner vibration before it becomes outer accident, and to hideth oneself is to withdraw attention from fear and from impulses that would give birth to trouble. The simple pass on and are punished because their imagination is unguarded, their awareness loose. By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life—not as external fortune, but as the alignment of your feeling with the I AM, the ever-present awareness. When you acknowledge that you are one with the divine, your images become protective, not punitive, and the thorns and snares lie in the path of the forward person who refuses to yield. Keep your soul by training your attention to the interior, choose love, patience, and humility, and you will walk in safety. The inner discipline creates the outer road; your world bends toward the state you inhabit within.

Practice This Now

Imaginative act: assume the feeling of the prudent self and see yourself turning aside at the first sign of danger, saying, 'I keep my soul; I am hid in the I AM.' Do it for a few minutes until the image feels real.