Proverbs 26:1-12

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him.

Proverbs 26:12

Most of the proverbs in today’s reading disparage fools in one way or another. It is easy to nod our heads in agreement. We can all point to examples of people who have acted foolishly, and we can see how these proverbs fit all those fools.

But then we come to verse 12. If you are anything like me, your first inclination is to keep nodding in agreement. “Yep,” we say, “that’s right.” And all the while we are, of course, thinking of ourselves as wise — at the very least, wiser than all those fools — and so we are in danger of being this one that is worse than a fool.

Frankly, this strikes me as a bit of a Catch-22. If you are wise, then you naturally recognize wisdom in yourself, but any attempt to deny your own wisdom (i.e., to not be wise in your own eyes) would be foolish, so you must recognize your own wisdom, but that is bad, so… Gotcha!

Clearly, that “Catch-22” interpretation of this verse is off-target. By the “Catch-22” logic, the author would even be condemning himself, because he clearly considers himself to be wise as he dispenses these proverbs. We are consistently called to be wise and to exercise wisdom. And part of wisdom is to recognize wisdom wherever one finds it, even in oneself. So simply recognizing wisdom within oneself cannot be what the author means by “wise in his own eyes”.

So what does he mean? This verse is a stern warning against pride, against thinking too highly of ourselves and our own judgment and not highly enough of others. That does not mean that we should always favor someone else’s opinion over our own, but we must lay aside our own biases and search for truth. In the end, we must always understand that the ultimate source of wisdom is God Himself, and we must surrender to Him.

Proverbs 25:15-28

If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
for you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.

Proverbs 25:21-22

I once encountered some teaching that tried to explain away the “burning coals” part of this proverb by saying that it was really a nice blessing and not serious injury. The teaching was that in ancient days starting a fire was difficult, so rather than rubbing sticks together each day, folks would maintain a fire and carry coals around — often in a pot on their heads. And so, heaping burning coals on his head, would be doing the guy a big favor by saving him a lot of labor, something just as nice as giving him food and water. Hogwash! It means what you thought it meant the first time you read it; it means roasting your enemy’s head under a pile of hot burning coals!

This proverb has always intrigued me for two reasons. The first reason is that the first half sounds like the kindly “love your enemies” (Mt. 5:24; Lk 6:26,35) message that we say we want to hear from Jesus, but the second half seems a bit Machiavellian — that the ultimate goal is to really stick it to the enemy after all. And that makes us uncomfortable, partly because we don’t really want to hear “love your enemies” (because that is hard and goes against our nature), and partly because we really do want to stick it to our enemies (in keeping with our nature), but that seems contrary to what we think we understand about “love your enemies”. And so we try to make excuses for the verse (and for God), like what we started with above. In the end, I must conclude that there is still a lot that I don’t understand, and so I must simply trust and obey — and let the Lord work things out.

The second reason this proverb intrigues me is that Paul quotes it in Romans 12:20. So let’s hear what the Apostle has to say:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:14-21

So maybe that notion of letting the Lord work things out isn’t so far off after all.

That said, the next time you think I am being nice to you, beware! 🙂

Proverbs 25:1-14

Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence
or stand in the place of the great,
for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”
than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.

Proverbs 25:6-7

That sounds an awful lot like what Jesus says in Luke 14:7-11, which Ben just preached on last week. We are told repeatedly in Scripture that humility is a good thing, and that pride and self promotion will ultimately fail. Yet we seem to continually miss the point. Our culture is filled with people always jockeying for position, grasping for recognition and social status. But it is a futile effort. Instead, we need to walk in humility, which Ben defines as “proper self-awareness before the Lord.” Since I can’t say it any better than Ben, you might want to watch his sermon yourself.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 14:11)

Proverbs 24:23-34

Partiality in judging is not good.
Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,”
will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,
but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,
and a good blessing will come upon them.

Proverbs 24:23b-25

As I have said before, I believe we all have an innate sense of justice, and we look for justice to be done. We watch movies and cheer for the “good guys” and expect the “bad guys” to get their just deserts. But in the real world our own sinfulness corrupts that sense of justice, and we allow our own desires or fears to bias our judgments. So we often see the rich and powerful getting preferential treatment, with serious charges magically dropped or otherwise minimized in exceptionally sweet plea deals. Or to go the other way, we end up with misguided policies like “no-cash bail” in places like New York and California, where serious criminals are released right after arrest, only to see them commit further crimes. Such misjudgments (or “disjudgments”, to coin a term) create new problems and new resentments. In the end no one is satisfied when the wicked are simply let off the hook.

So what about God’s dealings with us? We know that He is a God of justice, yet we receive His mercy. We, who are certainly not righteous in ourselves, are forgiven. So is God to be similarly held in contempt for a perversion of justice? No! God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness are not a simple “get out of jail free pass”, and if we think they are, then we have missed the Gospel entirely. God never says to the wicked, “You are in the right.” Instead, He fully accounts for wickedness and nails it to the Cross, where we are called to come and die with Christ.

Proverbs 24:13-22

Fret not yourself because of evildoers,
and be not envious of the wicked,
for the evil man has no future;
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

Proverbs 24:19-20

Does that mean that we should sit idly by in the presence of evil? Do we just let evil triumph? No. We know from the rest of Scripture that we should actively work for justice and to correct the evils around us. But when it looks like our efforts are failing and evil is getting the upper hand, we do not need to panic. The Lord is still in control, and He will set all things right.

Having written that paragraph, it occurs to me that I said much the same thing before — only better 🙂 — when commenting on Psalm 37.

Fret not yourself…

Proverbs 24:1-12

If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?

Proverbs 24:10-12

Since Roe v. Wade was first decided in 1972, over 63 million babies have been taken away to death. I am confident that very few of those mothers made their decision lightly, at least not those who were anywhere close to fully informed. And I very much sympathize with the painful circumstances that may have led those mothers to face that horrific “choice”. But very few of those circumstances could possibly truly warrant the death of the child. I am also quite confident that the vast majority of those mothers regret their actions deep down, even if they won’t admit it to anyone, including themselves.

With the recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the abortion landscape has changed radically in this country. Whereas Roe previously took authority away from the states, Dobbs has thrown it back to the states. So now the real battle begins…

I’m not here to tell anyone how to vote. That’s between you and God. But I think it all deserves full consideration. Where will you stand? Will you hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter? Or will you say, “Behold, we did not know this”?

Proverbs 23:22-35

“They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt;
they beat me, but I did not feel it.
When shall I awake?
I must have another drink.”

Proverbs 23:35

What a tragic scene! One that has played out countless times down through the ages — the grip of addiction. It is clear from this passage that the author understood something of the nature of addiction/alcoholism. The author recognizes the alluring nature of addiction (and temptation in general), how deceptively pleasant it appears at the beginning, but that the end result is not so pretty. (Pr. 23:31-32) The author also recognizes that the addict — once hooked — is powerless to deliver himself. Though it is clear that his life is a mess, the alcoholic’s only interest is to have another drink.

And so it is for all of us. We are all born already addicted — to sin. And we are utterly powerless to deliver ourselves from its grip. That doesn’t mean we don’t try. There are books galore offering self-help advice, seminars promising a better life if you just do X, and whole systems of religion to help us “ascend”. But the truth is that there is no deliverance apart from Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, most Christians (myself included) live as if the deliverance we have in Jesus is simply one of deliverance from the consequences of sin, rather than from sin itself. And so we accept a certain level of ever-present sin as normal or even inevitable and end up being somewhat nonchalant in the battle against sin, just looking forward to the point of death when we will finally really begin to experience freedom. But I am sure that is not the Gospel. That would be like telling the alcoholic to go ahead and have another drink because it is unavoidable anyway.

Christ calls us to something better, to true deliverance. We should not be content with an undercurrent of ongoing sin. We must put to death our old self and put on the new, living by the Spirit of Christ. (See Eph. 4:17-24, Col. 2:20-3:17, and Romans 8.)

So, what will it be? True deliverance in Jesus? Or I must have another drink?

Proverbs 23:12-21

Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.

Proverbs 23:12

Today’s reading returns to a common theme from the early chapters of Proverbs: seeking — and passing on — wisdom. The author urges the reader (again, “my son“) to gain instruction and words of knowledge (v. 12), to have a wise heart (v. 15), to speak what is right (v. 16), and to continue in the fear of the LORD (v. 17). As we have noted before, gaining wisdom is supremely important and requires diligence, as a search for treasure.

Hear, my son, and be wise,
and direct your heart in the way.

Proverbs 23:19

Good advice, but sorely lacking in our world today.

Proverbs 23:1-11

Many thanks to Fred for his commentary on the Psalms over the last few weeks. Now it is September, and that puts us back into Proverbs for a while, which means you are stuck with me again. (Sorry about that…)

When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.

Proverbs 23:1-2

A knife to your throat? Indeed. If a warning like that does not get our attention, I don’t know what would. So heads up! But what is the author talking about?

Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.

Proverbs 23:3-4

Ah! There it is: bribery — dangling “goodies” in front of us to get us to support the ruler’s schemes. But such delicacies are deceptive, and we should not be taken in by them. They are also fleeting (Pr. 23:5) and ultimately sickening (Pr. 23:8).

Bribes come in all shapes and sizes and at any level of society. Parents bribe their children — and children their parents. Coaches bribe athletes. Criminals bribe law enforcement. Lobbyists bribe politicians, and politicians bribe voters. So be on your guard!

Although it is sometimes difficult to discern the difference between a legitimate incentive (e.g., wages paid for a job well done) and a bribe (e.g., a bonus paid to bend the rules), deep down, we know the difference. So guard against being taken in by the attractiveness of short-term “easy” gains and set your mind on doing what is right.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
   “‘You shall worship the Lord your God
   and him only shall you serve.’”

Matthew 4:8-10