Today, I can’t help but to pull out a few different things...I love this Proverb!

The first pair of verses that jump out at me are verses 7 and 8:

“One pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.

The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat.”

...and with these, I love verse 25:

“The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,

but the belly of the wicked suffers want.”

Wealth is a funny thing.  For the sake of today, though it may be semantics, I want to differentiate wealth and riches.  In verse 7, notice that the author says ‘riches’...one pretends to be rich, as in has a lot of material possessions, and has nothing.  That would be that he drives a car that is not really within his budget, he lives a lifestyle he can’t afford while saving too little, he is working to LOOK like he belongs in a certain group when he really can’t pull it off financially...he is chasing riches and riches are a motivation for him.  And, look at the word in verse 25, it is SO important - appetite.  The author says that the righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite.  It is important to recognize that for many of us, not all of us, but MANY of us, riches are a thing of appetite.  The more we have, the more we want.  And it is a viscous cycle that never ends.  Appetites are satisfied for a season, and then they must be filled again.  In order to suppress an appetite, you must starve it.  In this context, that means finding ways to learn to say “no” to myself as a matter of routine.

Great question for though - how can I make a habit or a game out of saying “no” to myself regularly?

Look at the contrast with verse 8 - another pretends to be poor (meaning, he doesn’t play the riches game) and what does he get?  Not riches, obviously...but wealth?  What is wealth then?  In the Bible context, wealth is financial contentment - or what author and speaker Brian Portnoy calls, “Funded Contentment”.  This is a term that simply means, I have enough.

Now, the author says all throughout Proverbs that we are to work hard...and I don’t think the author thinks money is bad or that earning a lot of it is bad.  The thing is, the goal is to have enough...and enough is both a mindset and an amount.  The mindset part is what we’ve been talking about...enough is living in a state of controlled appetite and having enough to live a life that gives you a chance to express your visions and your values in how you live.  We could spend days on this topic, and I am deep into the study of how to articulate this and to actually build a process of calculating this - but, or our purposes,  just recognize that thousands of years ago the author was already onto this; living a life of funded contentment - being ‘wealthy’, not rich.

So good!

Another verse that jumps out at me, and is a favorite of mine for a while now is verse 20:

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Here is the one quick thing I will point out here...that the company we keep is hugely important.  It is true for our kids as well as for us adults...we are a product of the company we keep; it is just that simple.  AND, notice that hanging out with foolish people doesn’t guarantee that we’ll become a fool...no, notice that the promise is that it will bring us harm.  Meaning, foolish company harms us over time, or it can be all-of-the-sudden, or both...but keeping foolish company brings problems.  We can’t just teach our kids this stuff and forget it ourselves!

I have to say, the verse that really jumped out at me this morning is verse 15, and it reads “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

I am sure we’ve talked about this already, but this hits on this idea that I heard an entire sermon series on by Andy Stanley called “Right In The Eye” (which is one of my favorite series of all time), and it is this idea that we can justify just about anything to ourselves.  The world is full of people that, in the moment, did what they thought was right in their own eyes.

Think about this.  Guy, who is married, has a girl that he is attracted to at work.  Not a sin...totally normal.  Guy talks to her when she comes by his office from time to time, nothing major, no issue there.  Then, one day the conversation turns away from the weather to something a little more meaningful, and she expresses frustration about her husband the guy, just a passing comment.  A few days later, another comment, and guy does what nice people do and consols her a little, offering some encouragement.  Again, we aren’t in deep water here.  Then they end up eating lunch in the lunch room together...it is a common eating area, no big deal...everyone brings their own lunch and people eat together all of the time.  Next thing you know, he is headed out for an afternoon coffee and asks if she wants something...she says yes, and in fact several others do, so she hops in the car to go get everyone’s coffee with him.  This happens a few times over a month or so and their rides get filled with more meaningful conversations.  Eventually that leads to a drink after work, and you can see where this is going.  In fact, we’ve already read a Proverb containing a version of this story, go back and read Proverb 7...of course, this Proverb makes the female the villain in the story, whereas I was trying to be neutral with the cause here...but you get the point.

Wise in our own eyes...see, wisdom is asking that pesky question we’ve posed before, “What’s the WISE thing to do in this moment?”.  Wisdom is recognizing that life is a series of paths down which we walk...this guy and this girl weren’t doing anything wrong in their early decisions to communicate...nothing at all.  The problem was, they didn’t recognize that they were progressing down a path.  They weren’t worried about doing the WISE thing, they were doing what was right in their own eyes.  Was it okay to be nice to her when she walked by his office?  Yes, of course.  Was it reasonable to listen to her struggles against her husband?  Maybe, but it certainly wasn’t bad to lend an ear that first time when it happened.  Perhaps it was at least in the gray area since he knew he was attracted to her, but still.   And bumping into each other at lunch - I mean, what was he going to do, get up and walk out when she sat down next to him?  6 months into this process and their are involved in a relationship, after having done what was right in their own eyes so many times, and now all of their choices are bad.  People are going to get hurt no matter what they choose.

Seeking God’s wisdom isn’t about us being stupid, it is just understanding that God can see 10 moves ahead, and we often can’t see past the tip of our nose.  Doing what’s right in our own eyes is a fools errand.  Wisdom isn’t doing what’s justifiable, it is doing what’s wise.  As an extension to that, it is doing what God would call us to do...because our minds and our bodies can and will be routinely hijacked by our sinful nature.

Great reading today...great reminder!

https://vimeo.com/35396597 

As I am reading this, it really feels like the author is repeating the same idea numerous times and in various ways, that we might find something that resonates with us individually.  Basically, what is being said is that we should do what is right, and we should sow honor and peace in our daily living.

Probably my favor few verses would be the last 5:

27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor,

but evil comes to him who searches for it.

It makes me want to think about this - “Do I really value what’s best or what I want in the moment?” That’s a hard question.

28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall,

but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

This one hardly needs commentary - but a similar diagnostic question as the last verse comes to mind...that is, “Where do I REALLY place my faith and my trust in my life?”  Another hard question.

29 Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind,

and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.

30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

and whoever captures souls is wise.

Taking these two together, we get this idea that a wise person seeks grace and peace in his household, and that a fool is harsh with the tongue and sows discontent.  We also see that sowing grace and peace and captures souls is wise, but the way of foolishness basically yields to chance; in other words, we stack the deck in our favor by living in wisdom, in peace in our house.

31 If the righteous is repaid on earth,

how much more the wicked and the sinner.

And this last verse that I picked out really drives home this idea that ultimately wisdom and righteousness is honored.  It doesn’t mean that righteousness leads to riches or easy living, but the author attaches a promise of repayment.  In reality, even when I thought that I did right and things didn’t go right, I have benefited.  My conscious is clear.  I felt right with God.  I knew I honored my calling.  Granted, I didn’t have to weather a beheading like John the Baptist or anything like that, but I could see how this promise holds true.

More great words this morning, more great wisdom.  I am going to chalk this up as a “do right” reminder this morning.  For today, I am going to actively seek out a moment to do the right thing, when no one is looking, and to use that moment as an act of worship...not seeking anyone’s approval and acknowledgement but God’s.  It can be something small, but I want to find an opportunity to do something for an audience of one today, just to thank God for His faithfulness to me, and to acknowledge that I got the message this morning about ‘right living’.

First first 14 verses of this Proverb all fit together fairly tightly...with a theme of righteousness and integrity, and I find it really interesting how well the author expresses the idea that we essentially undo ourselves in this world.  We don’t need a devil to ruin things...we have the ability ourselves.   One of the subtle themes that is laid out in Genesis is this idea that we are sinners, we are in trouble, until we are saved.  God doesn’t relegate us on a daily basis, He doesn’t punish us  as much as we just create problems for ourselves.  Here, the author writes that we are headed towards trouble, that we are moving that direction already.  It is wisdom that calls us off of that path.  It is God who is the giver of that wisdom.  And, he seems to communicate that it is integrity and righteousness that give us the ability to hear that wisdom calling out.  It is when we push to be the people were made to be that we can see and hear most clearly.

That’s a really cool idea.

We also see a little about controlling our tongue mixed into this section today as well.

Really good stuff.

Flipping into these wisdom Proverbs now, we are littered with one-liners and applications.  We could literally spend a lifetime in these...and that’s not our goal.  haha

What I am going to do is look for themes and look for the one or two ideas that jump out at me each morning.  That’s really all we can do unless we want to go line-by-line, day-after-day until we reach the end.  But there is so much more of the Bible that I want to get to, so we are just going to get a flavor of what’s in here.

Today though, I see a few different themes pop up...the idea that we should sow seeds for a later harvest when things are going well in our lives, that we should control our tongue, that we should...those and more are all in there today.

For whatever reason, I feel like I should focus on the tongue...the words I speak.

Here are those snippets from today’s reading, combined into one passage:

10 Whoever winks the eye causes trouble,

and a babbling fool will come to ruin.

11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

12 Hatred stirs up strife,

but love covers all offenses.

13 On the lips of him who has understanding, wisdom is found,

but a rod is for the back of him who lacks sense.

18 The one who conceals hatred has lying lips,

and whoever utters slander is a fool.

19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking,

but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;

the heart of the wicked is of little worth.

21 The lips of the righteous feed many,

but fools die for lack of sense.

31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,

but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,

but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse.

Over the last few years, the stress level in my life has really gone up.  There are various reasons for that, and those reasons aren’t the point of this...but with that rise in stress has been a rise in the negativity that I harbor.  And not only that, I spew that negativity out more than I should.  I think most people would characterize me as a happy person still (hopefully), and I wouldn’t say that I am unhappy, generally speaking, it is just that I have noticed that I am not as outwardly positive as I used to be.  In other words, I am not the best version of myself.  And that is frustrating to me...I want to be better than that.  And I think these passages get at one area of life where I can improve.  Our words are so important.  Psychologists have wised up and learned that we can often act ourselves into feeling a certain way...that our behavior often precedes our emotions.  For me, I don’t really have to expand on much of these words, the application is obvious - if I speak positive and uplifting words, if I speak truth and control my tongue, I will be happier, I will be more of a positive influence on those around me, and I will set the tone for more positive life experiences.  Today, my goal is going to literally be to say nothing negative for a day.  I am putting a rubber band on my wrist right now, and I am going to wear that as a reminder of this commitment and will pop myself if I catch myself going down that road.

Day 1 of the instructional Proverbs...I am already getting beaten up a little.  Haha!

This is the last Proverb in this first batch of writings, where we see wisdom lifted up and praised, we see it claimed as being within reach for all of us, something that even calls out to us and yearns to be found.

In reading this morning, the message that I got from this short Proverb is to be open to wisdom when it comes.  We see these character-sketches of the typical products of these opposing people, the scoffer and the wise man; the scoffer, with his closed mind, and the wise man, ever teachable and ever progressing.  It ties a little with the discussion from we had on having someone in our lives that can speak wisdom into us, that can challenge us and hold us accountable to our highest ideals.  It is hard work to do that...it breaks us against ourselves; meaning, it basically assures us that we are going to be falling short repeatedly.  It is like practicing the hard riffs on the guitar, knowing you’ll fail repeatedly, or the constantly trying to get those last couple of reps in the workout, even though you know you just aren’t there yet...it is a little discouraging in one sense, because we know there is failure.  In another though, it should be EN-couraging...because that’s where growth happens.

The beauty of wisdom is that we can always improve...the struggle with wisdom is that we can’t ever fully arrive.  It isn’t a test that we pass...it is stream down which we never cease to flow.  It truly is a journey and not a destination, to use a beautiful line that gets quoted too often nowadays!

Today then, my prayer will be that God gives me a humble heart.  I pray that God would make me curious enough about life that I would see learning as an adventure and not a struggle, and that I would see wisdom’s discipline (whether from a friend or from life itself) as a way of improvement rather than condemnation.  But, I also pray that God would give me the clarity to remember that the struggle in growth is the way forward...that wisdom is earned, not just learned.  I pray that He would give me unceasing energy to keep climbing that mountain.  It can wear me out...I have experienced that.  But one day I know I will look back and realize how high I am, how far I’ve come, and the view will never be the same.  That’s the game with wisdom.

Today we are reminded of the eternal nature of wisdom, and that it really is out there waiting for us to take it and use it.  God created the world to work a certain way, and wisdom is about tapping into that, and leveraging that in the way we live.  The author really drills into that today.

I love how he expresses the eternal nature of wisdom.  I think we sometimes read history books, or the Bible, and we look at people that lived in the past as idiots, as simple-mind, or unknowing.  The reality is, there is a difference between learned knowledge and wisdom.  People that lived 100 years ago certainly had less collected learned knowledge...every generation has more than the one before.  But, wisdom...that’s interesting to think about.  Given the distracted nature of our world these days, that many people can’t get free for their cell phone and harvest their attention for something relevant and important, I am not sure we are collectively any ‘wiser’.  In fact, I think wisdom is so ‘learnable’ that most people that live to the age of probably 65 basically get most of what there is to know in terms of wisdom just from living experience.  But, as we’ve discussed, there is a difference between knowing and applying.  The irony of that 65 year old having all of the wisdom is that his life is 75% over, and he has very little time left to apply that wisdom, to let it compound in his favor.  That’s why reading wisdom, learning it, and applying it daily, starting as young as you possibly can while recognizing it is never too late, is so important.

The promise of wisdom, ironically, is the promise of God - all seek her will find her.  Likewise, those who seek God will find Him, as promised by Jesus thousands of years after these words were likely recorded.  Great stuff.

Today is another of the adultery-themed writings, hosting a great parable about someone looking out of a window and watching a young man walking down a road, heading in the direction of sin, towards this woman’s house...probably knew that he was headed that way, but was justifying to himself that he is just out for a walk, and this road is like any other, and that being over near this woman’s house isn’t a big deal; playing with fire, as we discussed yesterday.  And wouldn’t you know it, the woman sees him and meets him along the way.  She entices him to come to her house and that’s that.

What really jumped out at me today though is this person who is the on-looker...the guy in the window; the writer.  That person can see this man’s sin clearly.  WE, the readers, can see that sin so clearly.  It is like watching a crash in slow motion.  The writer is using the same kind of style that movies use all of the time, and sitcoms, where we almost know intuitively what is going to happen before it ever does, and that’s where the suspense comes in and builds...now we are just waiting for those events to come to fruition.

So here was my thought as I was reading that...”Who is the person in my life to whom I allow access and from whom I get feedback that would help me to understand when I am walking down a path like that, and who can help to stop me in my tracks?”

I have had 2 great men in my life to serve in that role over the years - a friend named Bart and a friend named Bill.  And, they were fantastic to me in that way.  But now, for various reasons, there is no one in that role.  That’s not good...I need that person in my life.  I need that person of wisdom, that person whose lived more life than me and can speak openly to me about their experiences and be honest enough with me to challenge me in mine.   Wisdom isn’t just about being wise individually, but collectively...and it is knowing that we are made for community, and that we are stronger in community.

This Proverb this morning reminds me that I need to re-insert that kind of person into my life.  That is a goal for me for 2021...to put someone into my life, intentionally, for this reason.