September 19 / Proverbs 30:21-33

Proverbs 30:21-33

Under three things the earth trembles;
under four it cannot bear up:
a slave when he becomes king,
and a fool when he is filled with food;
an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

Proverbs 30:21-23

What?

What is it about these four scenarios that is so earth shattering? Today we often root for the underdog. We like a good rags-to-riches story, so what is wrong with a slave becoming king? And we like a good romance, so what is wrong with an unloved woman finally finding a husband?

The problem isn’t so much that there is anything wrong in the immediate situation, but in the aftermath. That is, what tends to happen within people who suddenly find themselves in positions of privilege or authority? Sad to say, they do not tend to exercise such newfound authority well. They tend to lord it over all around them. A slave who becomes king turns into a tyrant; a maidservant that becomes the mistress looks down on all the other servants. Think of the nouveau riche who flaunt their wealth with newly acquired snobbery.

All of that should serve as a strong caution for us as Christians. None of us deserves the grace we have been given. Each of us represents the ultimate rags-to-riches story. But in our sainthood, we often start looking down on all those sinners “out there”, forgetting that we ourselves are no better. We say that we can’t work our way to heaven, yet we treat the decision to follow Jesus as just such a work. We see our wise exercise of free will as evidence that we are better or smarter than everybody else. Let’s stop patting ourselves on the back and remember the lavish grace of God: “There but for the grace of God, go I…”