How do you use the proverbs? The hundreds of pithy sayings that Solomon composed address a vast range of issues. Keeping them at hand for the right moment is part of the job of the wise Christian.
For instance, suppose you know a troublemaker in the church, and you routinely see this person stirring up conflict (all of this is strictly hypothetical, of course!) Would you be able to call to mind this observation, "As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife" (vs. 21). If you realize that you are dealing with such a "quarrelsome person", it can help you to know what to expect. The proverb reveals that the fruit of a person like that is strife, so don't be surprised when you see it.
When you come across somebody playing games, setting traps and otherwise causing trouble, keep in mind a proverb like 26:27: "Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back upon the one who starts it rolling." And be sure that you are not a person like that. After all, you've been warned!
We must also be careful in the choosing of friends. Those are the people that we will become more like. Chapter 26 has negative things to say about fools, the lazy, and the meddlesome. Be aware that there are still real life consequences to such behavior, even 3000 years after proverbs were written about people like that.
I hope that you will find the right time and place to employ the proverbs. Let it not be said of you, "The legs of a disabled person hang limp; so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool!" (vs. 7)
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