Do you love knowledge?
As I stepped out onto the deck this morning and saw some young deer foraging through the trees, I was once again struck by the beauty of God’s creation. At times I am so in awe of this world we have been given that I, a writer, cannot find the words that adequately express my feelings.
Do you ever find that when you are in prayer the same thing happens? You know what you want to say but you just can’t find the words. At times like those I rely on the Holy Spirit to carry my prayer to God for even when we cannot find the words we are assured that God hears our heart. We can have the blessed assurance that God hears our prayers even when we cannot articulate them because Romans 8:26-27 tells us, In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Today we are reading and exploring Proverbs 12. Do you love knowledge? Then the Bible says you also love discipline. It is right there in verse 1. Whoa! Who loves discipline? Who loves being told they are wrong? Our problem could be in our perception of discipline. Discipline is good when a wrong attitude or action is corrected. If we can just remember God disciplines those He loves, and His discipline is never designed to tear us down, but instead to turn us toward Him.
There is much in Proverbs about wisdom vs. folly V15 says fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to advice. Have you ever tried to convince someone of the folly of their ways? When someone is engaged in destructive behavior, it is almost impossible to convince that person of his error. Proverbs 12 has much encouragement for us to speak with wisdom, speak in truth, and to consider our words before we speak at all. V25 says anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. Let us be quick to offer a good word to someone today–we may never know the anxiety weighing upon his or her heart, but we can be assured a good word will bring healing.
Weights and balances
As I wade through Proverbs 11, I think back to a story my father told me many years ago. My father was an uneducated man, working in the cotton fields at the age of 7 or 8 when he should have been in school. But he was a good man. At one point, he worked at a grocery store. A woman came in and asked for some collard greens. She clearly was lacking in funds. Daddy put the greens on the scales and when weighing them gave her more than she had asked for but only charged for the amount she had requested. The woman, suspicious of his motives, went to the store manager and reported that Daddy had given her too many greens. The manager scolded Daddy in front of the woman, then took him off to the side and told him to weigh the greens again, but “the way he had been taught.” The way he had been taught was to place his thumb on the scale so that that the shopper would get less produce than they were paying for. I guess this story goes under the heading of “no good deed goes unpunished.”
Prov 11:1 says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate scale is his delight. These proverbs continue in the vein of God loves good behavior, but abhors evil doing. Prov 11:5 says “the righteousness of the blameless keeps their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.” Why is this? Because, again, our righteousness does not spring from our own nature, and therefore it is God, not ourselves, who keeps our paths straight, but the wicked fall under their own weight because they are not depending on God.
God, deliver us from ever depending upon our own resources, and let us always depend only upon You.
There will always be good and evil–Choose good
Proverbs 10 begins by giving us a list of antithetical statements and that theme of do this and suffer wrath or do this and receive reward continues throughout the chapter. Giving us comparisons to choosing good vs. evil is a very effective method of teaching. We are told again about wisdom vs. folly, work vs. laziness and hatred vs. love. V12 is one of my favorites: Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
It is easy to see how hatred can stir up strife, but how in the world does love cover all offenses? 
Think for a moment of the cross of Jesus. Now think of sunlight shining upon that cross and the shadow painted on the earth by the passing sun. Now think about all of the sins of the world being on the ground beneath that cross and as the shadow lengthens they are covered by the love of Jesus. There is no good in hate and no matter what reason you think you have for holding hate in your heart toward anyone, it will not stand up in the light of the cross. If Jesus, while suffering upon the cross, could ask God to forgive both those who nailed Him to the cross as well as all of us who would at some point turn our backs upon Him, then can we not forgive any abuse we have received?
People wonder how and why Israel has remained a viable nation for 60 years when that small strip of land is in the middle of much more powerful nations who seek to kill her. Prov 10:29-30 says: the way of the Lord is a stronghold for the upright, but destruction for evildoers. The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not remain in the land. You might wonder how God can consider Israel upright when she has disappointed Him so often. I believe it is because our uprightness and our righteousness has never depended upon us, because, as Isaiah told us, our righteousness is as filthy rags. Our right standing with God comes only through our relationship with God. For Gentiles, it is our relationship with Jesus Christ. For Israel, it is the covenant relationship with God that still is valid after 5000 years, and will ultimately end with the Jewish nation looking upon the one whom they pierced and recognizing that Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah. (Zech 12:10)
There will always be good and there will always be evil–as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:9 there is nothing new under the sun. Choose good, choose life, choose God.
Wisdom and Folly issue invitations–whose call will you heed?
I am a mocker. Bad news for someone attempting to entrench herself in Proverbs.
I mock Larry when he trips over his own feet; I mock politicians with whom I disagree; I even mock myself when I try to speak with both feet in my mouth. But I am also a seeker of wisdom. I seek wisdom through prayer, through reading the Scriptures, through reading books by spiritual leaders. My enjoyment of mockery has its place in my life, as does my search for wisdom. While the book of Proverbs considers both qualities as mutually exclusive, I see them as occupying two distinct arenas in my life.
Mockery provides an opportunity for fun whereby I use just a little bit of sarcasm and teasing to lighten the atmosphere of those around me. Wisdom is a solitary path for me, for I seek to increase my learning, expand my knowledge and thereby allow God to continue to mold me into His image. Prov 9:8 warns against rebuking a mocker for the result will be he will hate you. But for me, if I go too far in my mockery I want to be rebuked so that I can climb to the pathway of knowledge and be renewed and enlightened. May I always bend my will to yours, Oh God, and may I seek discipline whenever I go astray.
The fog settles in…
October is my favorite month. Perhaps it is the bright, blue autumn skies, or the crisp fall air, or maybe it is because my twin and I will celebrate another year on this earth. Today as I look out my window, the blue skies, if there, are far outside my field of vision because all I see is a deep fog that has settled in. But that is all right, because I know that eventually the sun will shine again.
Today we are looking at Proverbs 8 and we see that wisdom and understanding cry out to us to be heard. Is anyone listening? When I look at the state of our country I think of the folk song by Pete Seeger from the ’60’s, “Where have all the flowers gone,” but I substitute the word wisdom and hear these strains: Where has all the wisdom gone, long time passing, where has all the wisdom gone, long time ago, where has all the wisdom gone, gone to graveyards everyone, when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn?
Here I am again, talking about the two most taboo subjects (don’t ever bring up politics or religion in a group) and both in the same topic. For those of you who know me well, politics and religion are interrelated for me. My political beliefs are a direct extension of my religious beliefs, and therefore they are not easily separated. I have a question that pertains directly to wisdom. How did we, as a nation, stray so far from the wisdom of our forefathers? Why do our judges and courts and legislators and president fail to understand that the separation of church and state was not to protect the state from the church, but to protect the people from being told by the state who, and how, and where to worship? How did we move from a people who are independent and strong to a people who can’t get a job because then they would lose their “benefits” (Medicaid). How do we help those who truly cannot help themselves without aiding those who just don’t want to work? How do we help those who are slaves to alcohol or drugs gain their freedom, escape their lives on the streets, and become acclimated to mainstream America? Or am I still living in the 1960’s and there is no more mainstream America?
Each believing American citizen should get down on their knees and pray like they have never prayed before for wisdom from on high. Proverbs 8:11 says wisdom is more precious than rubies. V15 says by wisdom rulers make laws that are just. Do you see any justice in America? This land that I have loved since my youth is quickly becoming a land I no longer recognize as home. How do we stop the erosion of our freedoms, of our way of life? Again, I say, drop to your knees. Plead for mercy on behalf of this great country, plead for wisdom, not just for yourself but for the entire population that we would have the courage to replace our current leaders with those who are God-fearing, God-following men and women who want only the best for our country.
Prov. 8:22 says wisdom was the first of God’s works. Do you see how important that is? Love was not the first, grace was not the first, mercy was not the first–no, wisdom was the first of God’s works, from the beginning, before the world began. Prov. 8:32 says, “blessed are those who keep my ways.” God, our father, I pray that we turn from our wicked ways, away from abortion, away from greed, away from pride, and that we humble ourselves before you and seek out wisdom. May we find wisdom and life and receive favor from You once again. 
Seeking Holiness 