Another few verses from Proverbs that I keyed in on today:

First off, Proverbs 20:22, “Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”

This is so good, and it is so hard to remember in the heat of the moment - that we aren’t to avenge ourselves.  When we’re hurt, we aren’t to lash out, to get even.  We aren’t to just cut people off from us and hope that they feel some pain from that loss...we are to let God do that work.  I have to say, just being transparent, that the divorce I experienced years ago really helped me to learn this lesson.  There wasn’t anything I could do after my ex-wife had made her decision...I was helpless at that point.  This has nothing to do with taking responsibility for the relationship beforehand or any of that, I am talking about that moment when we hit the ‘do not pass go’ moment and this was happening; it would have been so easy to try to begin avenging myself, to lashing out daily, to carry that forward to now...people go through divorces and are taking things out on their spouses years later.  The reality is, that isn’t my responsibility.  It is so hard to accept that, but a silver lining to a season of life like that is that you can use that season to really come to grips with this reality.  Now, it is much easier for me to let things go, to take steps to distance myself and protect myself from certain people or certain situations, but to do so without that sense of needing to get them back or to get even.  What most people miss about this though is that this advice ISN’T for the other person’s sake...it is for OUR sake.  I can’t move on if I am trying to get even with you for something.  Therefore, I can’t have peace and I be healthy.  Often times, that other person has already moved on, and to steal a quote from someone, we are just drinking poison and hoping it hurts someone else...it is just a fools errand.  Great wisdom in this simple verse.

And then, a pair of verses that sit next to each other that I think are just so good, Proverbs 20:28-29, “Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.  The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.”

And these are fabulous.  LOVE and FAITHFULNESS preserve the king...not power, not even wisdom, but LOVE and FAITHFULNESS.  A loving king is a wise king, by extension...love is the key characteristic of a king, of a leader.  And then a real memory verse, verse 29...that the glory of young men is their strength and the splendor of old is their gray hair.  I mean, that doesn’t need explanation...it is brilliant.  And it begs the question, as a young man, why would you not surround yourself with people of wisdom intentionally in your life?  Which begs another question, isn’t it true that you are almost always younger than some other people, and thus, aren’t you always a ‘young man’ in some way or another?  Translation...we should ALL surround ourselves with wise people whom we can learn from and be challenged by, on a personal level.

Great stuff this morning!

As I have often done, I will break our Proverb into a couple of readings to try to get the most out of it, and there are 3 verses that really jumped out at me this morning.

First was Proverbs 20:1, which says “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”  The reason this jumped out at me is because I actually really enjoy wine, and I enjoy bourbon and Scotch as well...I have gotten to where I am able to appreciate subtle things about them, and have really enjoyed learning about them and all the culture that these beverages bring forward with them.  That said, I am also only being honest with myself if I say that I have had more of these than I should over the last 12 months.  I think COVID has actually really driven up the consumption of alcohol for a lot of people based on what I have been hearing.  We can spend time speculating as to why, but that isn’t really even helpful.  What’s helpful is taking action.  So, I am going to abstain from any kind of alcohol consumption for a week just to do a level-set.  To amplify the effect of this short dry season, I am going to take a moment that thank God for all He has done and continues to do in my life; that will be kind of a ‘substitute’ behavior for the week.  Just a short ‘fast’ of sorts.

The second verse that jumped out at me was Proverbs 20:9, which says “Who can say, “I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin”?”  I love this verse for a simple reason...it states the obvious.  We are ALL sinners...none of us escapes that claim.  I really think this is something I have embraced, but I know there are some people who still struggle with “yeah, but I am not as bad as ___”, like they almost can’t just stop with admitting they are a sinner, period.  I am only pointing this out because of the freedom I have experienced in taking responsibility for my own sin; I am responsible.  The result is that I am truly experience gratefulness for what Jesus has done for me.  But without that responsibility for my own sin really being addressed, it is really hard to appreciate Grace.  And I know a few people who I think really struggle with a true appreciation of Grace because of this struggle.

Then, lastly, Proverbs 20:15, “There is gold and abundance of costly stones, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.”  This is just a great reminder to close out today’s reading that wisdom really is so valuable, and that I need to right-size it’s place in my heart, as well as right-sizing God’s place.  I need to check myself periodically to see what I am really valuing in my life...I need to look at my calendar and my wallet and ask, “If someone got a hold on both of these and tried to figure out my list of priorities, what would they decide on as being most important to me?”  Hard, hard question...great question though.

Proverbs - like a gut punch on many days!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I am listening to s sermon series called “Better decisions, fewer regrets”, and it is really good.  And this question for today’s journal entry is actually part 3 of the series, but it is question I have heard Andy speak about years ago...and since we just finished this series on Ecclesiastes on here, I thought this would be a nice change of pace.  Tomorrow will be a Proverbs day, and we’ll probably do a couple or a few, and then we’ll hone in on another book of the Bible.

The premise of his message is that the decisions we make, in the moment, are what ultimately become the story we’ll tell one day, to someone.  And the hard part is that we can’t see this, or we often don’t, as we are moving along the way.  Here is the link the messages:

https://northpoint.org/messages/better-decisions-fewer-regrets/deciding-our-way-forward

In fact, we see a great demonstration of this when we look at the Bible character Joseph.  And most people have heard the story of Joseph so I won’t retell it, but what’s interesting about his story is that essentially none of what happens to Joseph is really his fault.  The story takes twists and turns and Joseph was just getting the worst result from every outcomes, and yet, he refuses to be a victim.  He took responsibility for his life.  And then there comes a moment when Joseph was approached by Potiphar’s wife, and look at how he responds to her, this is from Genesis 39:7-10:

7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

I’d like to be able to tell my whole story, without any asterisks and without skipping any chapters.  I know there are going to be moments I don’t want to share, and there already are...but I don’t want to have whole chapters that I choose to leave out.  No one does.

In the heat of the moment, when you have a make a big decision, it is a great practice to stop and ask ourselves the question, “What story do I want to tell?”.

And so the author ties a bow on this for us, drawing everything to a conclusion with these two verses:

13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Essentially, he is telling us that fearing God - honoring Him in our hearts, our minds, and with our behavior - is ultimately our job.  Life will bring blessing and will sweep it away, and we ultimately can’t really control that...we can leverage wisdom for our good, and we should, but we can’t really exhibit much control over life.  Further, life isn’t about accomplishment or achievement, it is about pursuit...pursuit of the one thing for which we were made, God’s purpose of each and every one of us, which is unique to us all.

In a way, we could say that the author could have gotten to that point a lot quicker.  But, in another way, we realize that we need that point to be drug out across 11 chapters because we are all going to still do the same thing...we are going to compare ourselves to others and we are going to pursue worldly things for which we have no good reason to pursue.  We are stubborn.

The nice thing is though...this is in writing, and we can refer back.  That’s the miracle of the Bible...the words live on, and we can and we definitely should keep coming back for the reminders of whose we are, and of the purpose of our lives.  Great last chapter today.  Tomorrow, I will dive back into Proverbs and then we’ll pick up on a new book of the Bible in the new few days.

This isn’t the easiest chapter from which to really draw a conclusion about the author’s intent...there are multiple ways to to take it.  That said, there are some things that we definitely can comment on.  First is that the first 4 verses seem to encourage us to prepare for and commit to a journey of life that is long, to work, to sow, and to be committed to wisdom.  But with that is this idea that life can end at any time, and we have little control over that timeline.  The second idea is that God will judge us, which isn’t something we see much, if any, in Ecclesiastes to this point.  The idea being that we are to live in wisdom and we are to understand that life gives and life takes, but ultimately we are going to be judged in some way on what we do in this life.

This chapter is really short but it sets up this idea that there must be a purpose to this life other than personal pleasure, money, accumulation of stuff, etc...there must be a ‘higher’ purpose of some sort.  Chapter 12 will lead us into that, but as we close out the work of the teacher and turn to the point the author is making with the book as a whole, I just want to pause and consider what my biggest take away might be from these chapters.  For me, I think one of the biggest reminders was the fact that we are fragile and that self-control is a poor tool for self-management.  Wisdom isn’t the ability to resist temptation, but the ability to anticipate it and to avoid it.  Wisdom is recognizing that we are fighting a losing battle within ourselves, and that we can do best by doing two thing - learning and understanding how God created life to work and remembering that sin has destroyed the perfect relationship between cause and effect.

I think that is a great lesson to ween from these readings in Ecclesiastes.

I found today’s chapter to carry some almost sarcastic notes, some ironies that were fun to read in a way.

8 - He who digs a pit will fall into it, ...though there is a less ironic way to read this one.

9 He who quarries stones is hurt by them, and he who splits logs is endangered by them.

10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength,

18 Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks.

...but back up in v10 we see a resolution to this, a less cynical comment that I think ties everything together pretty well:  “...but wisdom helps one to succeed.”

I enjoyed the irony of those parts.

But what REALLY jumped out at me this morning was the very first verse:

“Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a stench;

so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.”

If you picture an ointment sitting maybe in an open container, and then a fly lands in it...it destroys the beauty of that ointment, and it can destroy the aroma if it is just left in there.  And further, just a little folly or a little foolishness can destroy a lot of well-earned wisdom.  If you’ve lived long at all, you appreciate the fact that one little decision can destroy a long relationship, it can damage a reputation that was earned over time, or a savings account that was hard-fought.  Small decisions can have big consequences.  It is an irony of life that most good thing accrue through compounding, whereas destruction often comes quickly and intensely.

There is a ton of wisdom in that idea along - that good things generally come through compounding, over time, and destruction comes suddenly, often in just one or two quick decisions.  We must guard ourselves.  As we discussed yesterday, “The prudent sees danger and hides himself...he takes steps to protect himself against himself..., but the simple go on...ignoring the realities of life, of how wisdom and folly work, that wisdom lives in a world of compounding and folly is sudden...and they suffer for it.

That’s a great tie-in between yesterday’s reading and today’s.

I am listening to a sermon series and wanted to respond to that this morning, studying this Proverb that was referenced in the sermon and actually serves as the route verse for the series.  Here is a link to the series and that verse:

https://northpoint.org/messages/better-decisions-fewer-regrets/deciding-our-way-forward

Proverbs 27:12

The prudent sees danger and hides himself,

but the simple go on and suffer for it.

The premise behind this series is that wisdom, the wise person, is a person who not only knows, but one who does.  It is one thing to know the right thing to do, it is another to do it.  That said, will power and self-control and earned skills, and they are limited resources.  Thus, a wise person, a prudent person, is one who takes the steps necessary to reduce the need to use will power in the first place.

Examples:

The prudent see danger...and not only that, they FLEE it, they position themselves against it, they seek refuge.

Wisdom without application is just knowledge, and people that know and don’t do are hypocrites.  This is a GREAT verse.  Further, it is a great series (I am 3 messages in now...finishing it while riding the bike this morning).

Take a listen and enjoy!

There are 3 sections in the reading this morning, and they each have their titles and thoughts.  To me though, all of them read as if they are built on section one.  Section one re-addressed this idea that death is coming to us all, and that we can’t escape it.  We’ve seen that idea before from the teacher.  In the second section, the teacher tells us that we might as well enjoy life because it is fleeting, and because it will pass.  Then, in the last section, he talks about how even wisdom doesn’t save us from death.

Taking this presentation, these 3 concepts, and taking them in this order as a line of reasoning, let’s think about this for a minute.   Yes, death comes to us all...we all start out and end the same, dust to dust in a sense.  But with the message of Jesus we are taught that it doesn’t really have to end there.  That’s a hopeful idea for sure.  And with the second concept, under the guise that ‘death is coming to us all’,  the author essentially puts forward this notion that you might as well enjoy life.  I think that’s a great take away...yeah, we should.  Now, should we over-indulge?  No.  But, should we construct life in a way as to try to enjoy it?  Absolutely.  There is healthy enjoyment and unhealthy enjoyment, and we must keep our ‘appetites’ in check, but that is a reasonable conclusion.  And then the third point, the third building block...if life is short and we are all going to eventually die, and it we should enjoy life while we are living, then the teacher asserts that we should live in wisdom.  Now, the teacher cynically points out that not even living in wisdom can get us around the fact that you are going to die, but living in wisdom does have impact.  The teacher tells a little story, like a little parable, that I think can be read in two ways, with two different tones.  It is only 3 verses, so let’s look at it:

13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

So here is my thing - the teacher’s tone is one of cynicism, that this poor man saved a town and that he has long-been forgotten, and the conclusion is that ‘even wisdom can’t save us from death’.  I will grant that...even wisdom can’t save us from death.  But the entire tone of this section is written with the assumption that a person would want to overcome death.  So, I have to ask, is that really what we want?  I don’t think it is...

I know I am going to die eventually.  Personally, my goal is to get to 85, 90, or really to get to 100 and to be able to sit in contentment and think to myself, “Man, this body of mine is tired, I have given life all I have, and I am ready for what’s next whenever God brings me home”.  To me, that’s a better vision that overcoming death.  Jesus promises that we already HAVE overcome death actually (of course, this teacher didn’t have the benefit of living post-resurrection and of knowing this).

So, since I don’t see overcoming death as the goal, looking at this passage, I see something else...I see the idea put forward that living in wisdom can create a profound impact that isn’t only for our own good, but for the good of everyone around us as well.  And while we don’t know this guy’s name, we amazingly still know his story.  In fact, arguably the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon, who is reasonably assumed to be the ‘teacher’ in this story, knew about this man’s story.

In today’s reading we see an age-old idea come into the conversation - the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. Fortunately, the teacher doesn’t try to answer the question so much as he aims to make the statement that this is true, and that it is silly to live without recognition that it is true.  Said, another way, bad things happen to good people, good things happen to bad people, and that’s just part of the way life is.

For our purposes though, for the sake of wisdom, two things I think that are important to draw from this are as follows.

First is just to accept this truth, that no amount of living wisely can insulate us from the chaos of this world.  Look, the world is cursed and sin is in the world and sin has repercussions.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people because even good people have done bad things and sometimes it takes a while for bad choices to materialize as consequences.  Sometimes the sin of others ripples into the lives of the ones they love, or people they don’t even know; but, either way, it happens.  It isn’t God taking out his anger, it is the ripple effect of sin.  Sin has consequence...and it isn’t always localized to the person committing it.  That’s reality.  That’s life.  And that isn’t always fair, but as our mamas taught us, “life isn’t fair”.  I think we forget that as adults.

Second is the idea that while bad things happen to good people, and while good things sometimes happen to bad people, there is a natural order in which the world works.  Wisdom is leaning into that order.  Bad things happen to good people far less often than we like to pretend.  In reality, most of the people we know still do plenty of bad things...including us.  So, while it is true, it is still my belief that it is the exception to the rule.  Therefore, the only reasonable choice is to live in wisdom and assume that more times than not it will deliver us to the best results.  It is true that people win the lottery and get rich, but only a fool makes his plan for financial success based on winning the lottery.  Only a fool would shirk his responsibility like that...in fact, I think what happens more often than not is that we use the ‘bad things happen to good people’ idea of help in justifying our foolishness.  That’s an issue for another day.

Great reminders today though...great reading this morning!

There is definitely a theme in scripture of being loyal to your leaders...not passively loyal to a fault, but loyal and honoring for sure.  And we see the teacher commanding that here - that we be loyal to the king.  In a sense though, it gets me thinking about this hierarchy and it makes me think about God.  Think about this - if you have children, you understand some things about God that would be hard to understand otherwise.  There emotions, there are physical actions, and there are circumstances in life that can only be understand or undertaken when you actually parent a child.  I think that is a realization that many people have had once they become parents, or many Christians at least.  Likewise, and I hadn’t thought about this really, until this morning, are there some emotions and circumstances that you really can’t understand about God unless you have experienced a position of leadership, as well as the position of a follower?

Starting with the latter, it is easy as a follower to shirk responsibility, ultimate responsibility, and it is easy to point fingers and to say “I would do this differently” or “I can’t believe he/she leader did that”, etc...in other words it is very easy to do the ‘arm-chair’ quarterbacking thing.  But look at how Jesus followed when He came to the earth.  God led from Heaven for a couple thousand years, then Jesus led from the back when He came to earth.  Jesus created a new leadership paradigm in a sense...leading from the pack, leading from the position of a follower; He led by example, by humility, and He did it beautifully.  And He never leveraged authority for His own benefit.  In a similar fashion, the teacher here in today’s reading it is describing how we should follow, and he goes on to describe how the burden the king, the leader, experiences.

Which leads us to the second experience we can use in life to understand God, which is a position of leadership.  For me, one easy way to think about leadership is with the word ‘burden’.  When I am in a position of leadership, I feel the weight of responsibility, the weight of expectations, the weight of the ultimate results.  That’s can be a heavy burden.  Here, the teacher is telling us that leaders also experience first hand the disappointment of being accountable for the results and yet unable to ultimately control the outcome.  That is a unique burden of leadership.

For me, today’s 9 verses remind me to think about God and to experience God through the lens of leading and following - ultimately asking this question, “How can I experience and understand God better, or Jesus better, through my experience in this situation as a leader or as a follower?”

Interesting idea.