Proverbs
Ongoing Wisdom
Category: Lessons from the Wise Guy
My son, do not forget my instruction but let your heart keep my commandments. Because length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. (Proverbs 3:1-2)
One of the most recognizable 'blessings' of the last 50 years is Spock's, "Live long and prosper." That the Vulcan would have this aphorism as his regular benediction is no surprise given the fact that the actor was of Jewish influence. It is, in fact, a simple summary of the promises held out to the Jewish people if they kept the covenant laws (see Deut. 28). Peace (Heb. shalom) involves far more than the absence of disturbance, it includes comprehensive well-being; every aspect of life reaches full bloom when true peace is accomplished. And living to a ripe old age was a sign of God's beneficence. Such were the basic desires of the Jewish people. Solomon reminds his son that the realization of these blessings would be his if only he will take to heart his wise counsel.
Under the New Covenant, we do not possess the same temporal, Near-Eastern promises (instead, we are promised the whole world); however, the general principles laid out in Proverbs are beneficial and good for wise living in all generations. Every Christian would do well to learn, memorize, and live out the instructions from this sage. We just might find ourselves experiencing a life of heavenly peace after all.
Friends in High (and Low) Places
Category: Lessons from the Wise Guy
Mercy and truth do not let them leave you. Bind them upon your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart. And find favor and good understanding in the eyes of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)
Two indispensable things that accompany the wise man wherever he goes are mercy and truth. The precise meanings of the Hebrew terms are not easily discovered. They are variously translated 'lovingkindness' or 'steadfast love' and 'faithfulness', respectively.
The New Testament speaks of a love that covers a multitude of sins, also of forgiving others in proportion to how much the Father has forgiven us. These statements, I believe, are along the same lines as Solomon's mention of mercy. A major part of loving another person is maintaining our affection for him or her when we have been let down. This kind of forgiving love seems to come naturally for young children who go from squabbling to embracing in the blink of an eye. However, such rapid-repair abilities diminish as a person grows older. It takes longer and requires much more effort to "get over it," no matter what it is.
The second attribute, whether translated 'truth' or 'faithfulness', likewise does not come easily. Remaining true to one's word is an archaic ideal in the minds of many. Statistically speaking, we know that over 50% of the men and women who make wedding vows are lying. For the sake of cute tradition, they say, "till death do us part," but what they really mean is, "till do us part." Every time we sign a credit card slip, we are re-affirming that men are generally untrustworthy. Like the store sign said, "In God we trust, all others pay cash."
Jesus taught us to say what we mean and mean what we say. If we say 'yes' then we ought to really mean it. If not, then say 'no'. Commitments are easily made and easily broken. Rare indeed is the person who keeps his word when it will cost him something he desires.
Those who manifest a generous mercy and a fierce loyalty toward others find themselves on the receiving end of kind words and deeds, not only from other men, but also from God Himself.
Whom Can We Trust?
Category: Lessons from the Wise Guy
Trust unto the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your understanding. On all your roads know Him and He will straighten your paths. (Proverbs 3:5, 6)
The wise man instructs his son to trust Yahweh implicitly and entirely, and to resist the urge to place his trust in himself and his own insights.
Let's see, on the one hand the advice is to trust in God. God is omniscient; He knows pi, the names of all the stars in those undiscovered galaxies beyond far, far, away, and who will win the World Series in 2097 (He even knows the score and the MVP). God is omnipotent; He could move the whole universe with a quick exhale, He upholds the cosmos with a word, and He could rip the peak off of Mt. Everest like a man tears a piece of sourdough bread from the loaf. God is good, more generous to wicked humans than St. Francis was to hampsters, lavishing kindness upon dirt-bags (literally!), and forgiving heaping piles of disobedience of those who had been the recipients of His prodigious love. To this we could add that He is eternally dependable, faithful, trustworthy, wise, patient, indefatiguable, and gentle.
On the other hand we are advised not to trust in ourselves. We are ignorant; we don't know what is going to happen five minutes from now, and can hardly remember what happened five minutes ago. We are weak; we are in awe of Lance Armstrong because he can ride a bike farther and faster than the rest of us. We are evil; we kill helpless babies, we rape, murder, and steal from others, and we choose political leaders who legalize murder and theft. To this we could add that we cannot be trusted to keep our word, we often betray our spouses and friends, we are foolish, impulsive, easily exhaustable, and harsh.
Hmmmm...Trust God?...Trust man?...God?...Man?... Yep, it seems like Solomon is handing down some pretty solid advice. But how often do we ignore it?
Ever Sat on a Raspberry Bush?
Category: Lessons from the Wise Guy
Trust unto the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your understanding. On all your roads know Him and He will straighten your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Solomon uses the metaphor of leaning to communicate the concept of trust. If we are going to place our weight on an object, we better be sure that it can bear us up. A big oak tree will do, a raspberry bush won't. When it comes to getting along in life, our discernment has less chance of supporting us than the raspberry bush. If it is wisdom we desire, then we need to rest our decision-making elbow on the only post capable of keeping us from falling on it.
The Greek translation renders the first clause of v5, "Be a man who has been won over (or 'persuaded') in the whole heart in dependence upon God." Trust is not something that we simply do, it takes strenuous effort to convince our mind and will that relying on God rather than our own instincts is the most rational possible conclusion we can reach. But reach it we must and with our entire heart. We must labor to be persuaded that this is so. Like most things in life, saying that we trust the Lord is easy; it's the actual trusting that we find difficult.
The world is filled with alternatives to trusting God. Humanism wants us to believe that man's intellect is indeed the highest form of intelligence. The omnicient God has been replaced with the omniscient sceintist. Given enough time and the right instruments, Dr, Darwin will solve all problems and conquer all foes. We just need to be patient and trust him. And whatever Dr. Darwin cannot fix, congress surely can. If we just establish the right government programs, we will find ourselves resting comfortably in Utopia's welcoming arms. Welfare, housing projects, social security, war on drugs, war on poverty, war on ignorance, war on war, it won't be long now until Unlce Sam enables us all to realize our dreams and live happily ever after.
Such is humanism's dogma. The one thing standing in its way, however, is religion. Believing in a benevolent, all-powerful God stands diametrically opposed to the secular-humanist's plan. His proverb is, Trust in Man with all your heart, and do not hope in superstition and a mythological deity, in all your ways know human ingenuity, and you will feel really good. Solomon presents us with a dilemma: trust God's wisdom or trust man's. One takes a man directly where he needs to go; the other finds him wandering around all over the place.
Which Way, Dad?
Category: Lessons from the Wise Guy
Trust unto the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your understanding. On all your roads know Him and He will straighten your paths. (Proverbs 3:5, 6)
Those who have memorized this famous couplet will recognize where my translation differs from the popular English versions. They typically read, "In all your ways acknowledge Him," where I have it "know Him." I believe the sage has something deeper in mind than simply admitting God's existence as we jog down the paths of life. In order to trust a man, we need more than a general acquaintance with him, we need to know his character, his abilities, his successes. We need to know that he is worthy of our trust. The same is true of God. In order to grow in our trust of Him, we must grow in our intimate knowledge of Him.
Reaching back to the time before Krista and I wed, one of the key phrases of our relationship has been trust me. Whenever I want to cease all questionning or speculation in her mind, I say those two words and all conversation ceases. With this terse expression, I affirm to my wife that whatever the subject happens to be, she can set aside any doubt and rely wholeheartedly in what I have affirmed. Now, the onus is squarely on me to come through every time, otherwise the phrase will fail to carry the same force. Early on, she would respond like the man who said to Jesus, "I believe; help my unbelief." She chose to trust me, but it was based more on mere volition than on experience. She did not yet possess enough historical evidence to determine whether my word could be trusted. She did not know me well enough. But as her knowledge of my character has expanded, she knows that when I say those words it is a sure thing.
Now there is still one good reason for Krista to doubt me. I am fallible, fallen, and finite. Regardless of my best intentions or purest motives, I may still fail her. In the end, I may not be strong enough. Fatigue or miscalculation may prove my downfall. There are mulititudes of circumstances that are beyond my control, any number of which might destroy my plan. The same is not true of God, however. He cannot come up short. Failure is an absolute impossibility with Him. And this is why we need to know Him. We need to know what He has promised. We need to consider His track record. We need to become intimately familiar with His character. Simply put, we need to spend time with our Father learning who He is and what He's about. This knowledge comes, of course, primarily through reading the letters He wrote to us, talking with Him in prayer, and getting to know His other children. As we attain to and progress in this kind of relationship with Him, we will find that the road is not so long and winding. The way becomes more clear. We don't have to stop and ask directions so often.
Do What Feels Good
Category: Lessons from the Wise Guy
Do not become wise in your own eyes; fear Yahweh and turn aside from evil. Healing it will be to your bellies and drink to your bones. (Proverbs 3:7-8)
Once again, we find a correlation between wisdom, fearing the Lord, and rejecting evil. The three together form a strong bond in the teaching of Proverbs, and they have much to teach us about what true wisdom looks like.
Anyone who has studied (or even read once) the book of Judges will know that the recurring motif is "everyone did what was right in his own eyes." I suspect that some historian in the distant future will utilize a similar thematic phrase when summarizing American behavior from the 20th century onward. For the priests of the modern American religion constantly advise us to follow our heart, to look deep inside for the answers of truth, morality, meaning, hope, significance, and what two plus two equals. "Look within," they say. "Get in touch with your inner feelings." "Self-actualize." "Come to grips with who you are." "Do what's right for you." "It's all good!"
Dr. Omniscience and all of his students at Darwin University are persuaded that our species is evolving, moving in an upward direction. We are progressive. The sky is the limit. No wait! That's too limiting. There is no limit to what the human animal can achieve if we devote ourselves to its improvement. We can do it if we put our minds to it. The evolutionist's version of this proverb is "Become wise in your own eyes. Ignore the Lord and stop believing in evil (except the evil of calling something evil). It will make you feel really good, and someday we will find cures for all of man's diseases."
Solomon has a more honest evaluation of the human heart. He knows its potential for evil. He knows that the discerning capabilities of a man will lead him to write a book on how he would have killed his wife and to adore Britney Spears. Therefore Solomon exhorts his son to resist the temptation to act according to his inward desires and intuitions. The wiser course is to know what God considers evil and run far away from it, to define right and wrong from the divine perspective and reject all that displeases God. This is to be done with the full knowledge that there are consequences to our decisions. That's where the fear of the Lord comes in. Any person who knowingly and willingly chooses to do evil should be afraid of God. He will in no wise let the wicked go unpunished, and no amount of scientific advance will be able to cure the pain that God inflicts upon the unrepentant.
Furthermore, the writer says that the benefits of pleasing God will be felt in our guts, right down to the bone. This is what so many people (even Christians sometimes) misunderstand. When we do what feels good to us, we end up with ulcers, eating disorders, and morning sickness. When we obey God, we avoid His wrath, and we feel good to boot. How could there be a wiser choice?
Don't Get Scrooged
Category: Lessons from the Wise Guy
Glorify Yahweh out of your wealth and out of the first of all your produce, and your storehouses will be filled full and new wine will burst your wine vats. (Proverbs 3:9-10)
Solomon makes this claim on very solid footing. He has God on record affirming that if the Jews would keep the covenant, He would prosper them beyond their wildest dreams. When they did, He did (Solomon would know). But when they became fat, dumb, and happy, they forgot how they got that way, and began dancing with idols, which led to God keeping the other promise of the covenant--that if they disobeyed He would destroy them. Which He also did.
The relationship between honoring God with money and in turn receiving His blessing is not exclusive to the Old Covenant, however. The New Covenant of which we are a part also speaks of it using the concepts of reaping and sowing. The apostle Paul declares that those who give a lot will get a lot; and those who play Scrooge will get scrooged.
In 2 Corinthians 9, this point is made clearly and without qualification. In the context of preparing a bountiful gift of money to be taken to poor believers elsewhere, the apostle affirms: He who sows in a limited way, in a limited way also he will reap; and he who sows in blessing, in blessing also he will reap (v6). God loves a cheerful giver (v7). (And we know that God's love never remains inside as mere emotion; it always comes out in action.) God is able to make all grace abound to each believer (v8). He who supplies seed for sowing will multiply seed and increase the harvest (v10). He will give us more so that we have more reason to give thanks (v11).
Although we are not permitted to simply name and claim God's blessings, we are permitted (better, required) to expect them when He has promised them to us. We need to be careful not to allow the abuse of a few fools or thugs to distort the true meaning of words. We should give generously (especially) to believers in need, and expect (without presumption) that God will give us more to give away.
Here is where a motivation check is a good idea. Our reason for giving should never be solely so that God will give more to us; nor should we give more at the end of a year merely to reduce our taxable income. We should give because it pleases the Lord Jesus Christ; and because God has blessed us so that we can be a blessing to others. And because our King will reward us. But that last one ought not be the first one.