A common piece of conventional wisdom is that “proverbs aren’t promises.” That is, that they are only true sometimes. Though well-intentioned, such principles are often misleading and unhelpful.
Tremper Longman has a more helpful way to fulfill the good intentions of such advice. He says of proverbs: “They are not true in every situation.” He then gives a number of examples showing how you can easily go wrong if you try to apply a proverb to the wrong situation.
So proverbs are not simply “sometimes true.” They are true in the situation intended by the proverb. And they are not true in other situations.
This is far more helpful and pastoral than causing people to question the validity of proverbs, as though they are simply rules of thumb, but you can’t really trust them. Longman’s examples are worth considering.
Check it out!
Proverbs are wise sayings that are generally true of life. Those who follow the advice given in proverbs will have wisdom for dealing with the practical areas of life but they are not meant to be universal guarantees that will come to pass 100 percent of the time. This is what I teach.