As we look at chapters 16-31 of Proverbs this week, our author says that while Christians have long associated Wisdom with the Logos, the Word made flesh in Christ, Jewish scholars have understood Wisdom to mean teaching or instruction as embodied in Torah. He suggests we read this week with an eye toward matching the proverbs with the Ten Commandments.

I thought I'd give that a try today with the 1st Commandment, "I am the LORD your God... Worship no god but me." (Deut. 5:6-7, TEV)

The LORD alone is God, the Sovereign, the Almighty One, the Captain of the ship we sail called life. The consequences of this fact are many, according to Proverbs. We may put lots of effort and energy into making our plans – nothing wrong with that – but God, as the Sovereign, always has the last word (16:1, 9, 33). But if we will commit whatever we do to the LORD, He will see to it that our plans succeed (16:3). Most of us usually do what seems right to us at the time, but God – who alone is Almighty – is the One who judges the real motives of our hearts (16:2, 17:3). God, as Sovereign, works things out to achieve HIS goals, not ours. Even the wicked will eventually get theirs (16:4). When we trust in the LORD and live a life that is pleasing to Him, God blesses us and even makes our enemies live at peace with us (16:7, 20).

Has this been your experience?

Still in Proverbs, today we look at chaps 13-15. I see more proverbs extolling the virtues and warning of the vices from yesterday's list, but some additional ones are added:

Respect for the Word/Despising the Word

Hanging out with the wise/Hanging out with the foolish

Disciplining one's children/Sparing the rod

Action/Talk

Truthful witness/Lying witness

Being slow to anger/Having a quick temper

Glad in heart/Sorrowful heart

Yesterday I confessed to being bothered by 12:21. It just seems to be not true in my experience. There is a similar thought expressed in 13:21: "Misfortune pursues the sinner, but prosperity is the reward of the righteous" (NIV). I've seen many a sinner who, for a time at least, prospers. The writer of Psalm 73 was quite troubled by the same observation: "For I was envious of the arrogant: I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pain; their bodies are sound and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not plagued like other people." (Psalm 73:3-5, NRSV)

Proverbs assumes some connection between our character or behavior and the outcomes we experience in life. And in the long haul, my experience would agree. But it doesn't always work out so neatly in the short term. Sometimes the wicked/foolish DO prosper for a season, and the righteous/wise suffer. Biblical faith has always maintained, however, that in the LONG TERM, there is justice (i.e., the Last Judgment).

What do you think?

Today we look at Proverbs chapters 10-12. This begins a new section, for now we're not looking at Wisdom speaking like a parent to a child, but from 10:1-15:33 is a collection called "the Proverbs of Solomon." These are two-line ditties which contrast the way of Wisdom with the way of Foolishness. These can be hard to read in large chunks because there is no narrative story line or even connection between them.

Here's my summary of what values are lifted up as coming from Wisdom, and which are put down as coming from Foolishness:

WISDOM'S WAYS/FOOLISHNESS' WAYS
Careful speech/Loose tongue (including gossip, lying, chattering too much)
Hard work/Laziness
Righteousness/Wickedness

Integrity/Crookedness

Honesty/Falsehood

Aggression/Timidity (11:16; this is surprising!)

Kindness/Cruelty (especially to animals)

Generosity/Stinginess

Trust in God/Trust in riches

Love of discipline/Hatred of discipline

Listening to advice/Spurning advice

I have to say I am puzzled by 12:21 -- "No harm befalls the righteous, but the wicked have their fill of trouble." This is the theology/philosophy espoused by Job's 3 friends, but which is so clearly repudiated in that book. In my Oct 28 post, I said that Proverbs presents life as essentially "fair." But it is not, at least in my experience. Bad things DO happen to good people. "Why?" is a whole 'nother blog!

Be that as it may, to what extent have you found the left side of the above ledger to bring life to your world, and the right side to rob life from it?

In Proverbs, today's reading being chapters 7-9, Wisdom is obviously a good thing to have. In her is life. Without her is Sheol (death). But how does one obtain Wisdom?

Proverbs depicts Wisdom as both actively calling to us ... and as something which we seek out.

CALLING: "Does not Wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: 'To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.'" (Prov. 8:1-4)

TO BE SOUGHT: "I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me." (Prov. 8:17) The New Testament Book of James would seem to agree ... "If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you." (James 1:5)

What has been your experience? When you have a decision to make, does Wisdom "call out" to you? Or do you have to diligently seek the wise choice? Or is it a little of both? I suspect that we don't often see the wise choice until we're looking back, and by then, the wise choice seems obvious. "How could I have missed that!" we moan.