Blogging the Bible

The scripture often “speaks” to where we are. The things that apply most clearly to our lives “stand out” for us when we read. So, again today, the proverbs speak to me about the poor. Verse 13 says that if we do not hear the cry of the poor, then when we cry, we will not be heard. This also is a common theme of scripture. The principle is an obvious one. God will not do for us, what we will not do for others. The bible teaches that to be forgiven, we must forgive. It is not that God is incapable of forgiving us if we are not forgiving others. It is because we are not really asking for forgiveness–repenting. If we are unable to forgive others, it reveals a heart of pride and selfishness and arrogance. These are not the characteristics of a repentant person. And because we have not repented, we cannot be forgiven. The bible says that we cannot love God who we cannot see if we do not love our brother or neighbor who we can see. AGain, the problem is not that God is incapable of loving us, but that when we cannot love people around us, it means our character is such that we would not be able to love God, either.

So, proverbs makes it pretty clear. If our ears are incapable of hearing the cries of the poor–meaning we do nothing to help them–then our lips (and hearts!) are incapable of crying out to God so that we can be helped when we need it. We do not see the needs of others and we are unaware of our own REAL needs. If we turn a deaf ear to the poor, God will be “as if” deaf to us.

Might we hear the cry of the poor and act to help them!

Todays Proverbs has one of those “good news bad news” elements. Proverbs 20:29 brings me good news and bad news. The good news is that gray hair means splendor. I like splendor! Splendor is something great and wonderful excessively so! I have lots of gray hair so that means I have lots of splendor. I like that! But there is bad news. I can’t just take the parts of the verse I like (splendor) and ignore the rest of the verse. So here comes the bad news. Gray hair is a splendor TO THE OLD. I am old! I may have splendor like gray hair but if so, I am old. I meet very few people who are eager to say they are old. I remember a dear women in my family’s church when I was still single. Her name was Virginia and she was a prayer warrior. She prayed for my sister for 15 years! When someone suggested that she consider moving from her house to a nursing home and that she could minister to the people there through her prayer, she protested…loudly! She said, “Why would I want to go live with all those oldpeople?! Now understand that Virginia was about 78 years old at the time. But she did not think of herself as old.

When I was student teaching in senior high school, my students thought I was old. They were 17 and 18 and I was 26 (I dropped out of college a couple of years while my husband finished graduate school and then I returned to finish my undergraduate degree.). To them, I was old! Oh to be that old again!

I hear my children (who are now all in their 20’s) often talking about old or older people. When I inevitably inquire about HOW old the person is they are speaking of, they him and haw, because they are caught. They realize that they are talking about someone about my age and that by implication, they are calling me old!

Alas, my body concurs. Aching feet, uncooperative memory, pains in places I never knew I had before, thinning hair in some places, new hair in other places I never had before, trifocals, and lots of gray (and very wirey) hair. If I want the splendor I must embrace the old that goes with it. Good news is that folks are living a lot longer so there are more and more people all the time that really are old compared to me.

So today, I got my gray, wirey hair trimmed and had some of it “removed.” I am so gray I cannot do highlights. I am old and have to do lowlights. It took so long I needed help out of the chair when she was through with me. After all that time (and money) then I did the bible reading for the next day and realize there is good news and bad news. Good news–there is splendor with old age. Bad news–I let my hairdresser remove some of it today. =)

Yesterday I walked past a homeless woman sitting by the post office. I walked by her twice–once going in and another time coming out. I walked to my car. I could not get in. I walked back and asked the woman what her name was. It was Vicki. I asked her if she could walk. She said she could. So I gave her one of my business cards and told her to go to Downey Ave. and to Mambo Grill and the owner would give her something to eat. I know the owner and he knows me and he knows I will pay him for this meal. Actually, the owner and our church are partners. We pay him half of what the menu value is and he absorbs the other half. This does not solve all of Vicki’s problems, but it does respond to one of her immediate needs–food. Our church is in the process of trying to help a homelss family. Not just feeding them for a day, but helping them get out of the cycle of poverty they are in. This is hard discerning work because we want to be good stewards of the resources we have been given while we help.

Today he proverbs hit me hard. I don’t ever remember reading this one before. 19:17 says, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full!! Wow! When we are kind to the poor we are “lending to the Lord.” So we are literally giving to the Lord when we help these people! And, the Lord really knows how to maximize profits! So when I lend to the Lord, the return is incredible! Oh, that God would give us the courage and compassion to lend to him more often. Next time you see a homeless person, lend to the Lord!

The invitation of this chapter is to use our words wisely. Our wisdom will be demonstrated by the way we speak, hear and respond to others.

We can see  the power of our words by the result that they bring. The writer says: “A fool’s lips bring strife, and a fool mouth invites a flogging. The mouth of a fool are their ruin, and their lips a snare to themselves’ (18: 6-7)

Intead the author invites us to come to God and learn other way to uses our words, he also says: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe”(18:10) some people don’t understand this dynamic,but it is very important to learn how to use our words. This chapter also tell us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (18: 21)

Jesus Christ himself said: “I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12: 36-37)

We really have to be careful and wise with our words, believe it or not they are also important for the eternity.

Sometimes it seems that the author of proverbs is inviting us to use common sense only.The reality is that he always remind us that even when using common sense you need to be aware of God’s presence.He says: “the crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the Lord test the heart” (17:3) In other words, in this present situation what is the Lord trying to do in your life?

The other thing the writer is telling us is  that in everyday life there is a  clear place for peoples actions. Whatever you do will make you a fool or a wise person, a wicked and evil or good and righteous person. The key to all this is to be careful on everything you do and say.

He actually says:”One who justifies the wicked and one who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord” (17:15) Again he implies that a good, wise and righteous person will do whatever they can to please the Lord.

It is really a challenge to live wisely, but there is not a better choice . In this passage the key is always to find a way to bring God into our decisions and conversations.

This chapter is a wonderful reminder that God really influences human affairs. Many people live thinking that they are here by their own judgement or luck. The reality is that God really has the final word in peoples lives.

The writer says: “The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord” (16:1) in other  words is our duty to plan our lives, but is God prerogative to decide what happen to our plans. That is why he advices us ”commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (16:3)

It does not matter if you are a regular person or a king, your duty is to do everything with God’s wisdom and blessing. We tend to be very independent people, we like to do things on our own way or style, but the reality is that we need God’s favor to be successful.

God is so involved in our everyday life, that even very little things are called his work or his business in this chapter. The writer also says: “Honest balances and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work” (16:11) Even casting a lot in Israel’s time was viewed as God’s business.(16:33)

I believe this chapter is an invitation to everyone of us to put God in the center of everything we do. Remember even small thing are his business!! 

Only sixteen days left in our reading through the bible. The year has gone by so quickly! What a wonderful experience it has been to read all the way through the bible. I hope and pray many of you have been encouraged by this and will continue to read the scripture daily.

The mouth and our words show up again in chapter 15. But there is another theme here that is repeated throughout the proverbs and bears considering carefully. The proverbs have a great deal to say about receiving instruction, correction, and rebuke. Clearly the message is that the wise person receives instruction, and even rebuke, gracefully and benefits from it. Being “proverbs,” of course the opposite is also highlighted–the person who does NOT recieve instruction, take heed to correction, or accept rebuke is a fool and will perish. The contrast is very strong. Despising a parent’s instruction, hating rebuke, ignoring instruction all bring destruction and death. The proverbs say that the person who has this attitude “despises themselves” (vs. 32). On the contrary, heeding instruction, heeding admonition, seeking understanding, all lead to joy and wisdom.

This chapter also talks about the soft answer as opposed to the hot-headed reaction. Verses 1, 18, and 23 all speak about the person who has control over their tongue and as a result can turn away wrath or calm contention. But the person with a temper–the one who is unable to control their tongue–stirs up more anger and strife. Verse 23 says it with exclamation–a word well spoken, how good it is! When we are confronted with angry, hot-headed people, with the help of the Spirit we can turn away the anger and be a calming influence with our soft answer and our being “slow to anger.”

Many years ago my husband Drew worked for the American Red Cross. He would often get very troubled and angry people on the phone. Drew would just listen and not say a word. No matter how viscious and irrational the complaints, he would just listen. After awhile the ranting person would stop and say, “Are you there?” They were totally taken off guard by his NOT answering their angry tirades. And often they would apologize and then Drew would be able to help them or they would hang up in exasperation that they could not get a rise out of him. A soft answer, or no answer at all is often the best response to angry and hot-headed people. In a day and age where road rage can bring death, it is no small matter that we learn to control our reactions to the insults and rudeness of others. Jesus himself did not answer those reviling him, even on the cross. In the midst of their taunting and accusations he whispered to the Father, “forgive the, for they do not know what they are doing.” Whew! Now there’s self-control!

Sometimes these proverbs can really skewer you! They are often called “pithy” sayings. I think that means that when we hear them/read them it is hard to forget them. They kind of stick in our minds and are hard to get rid of. They cause us to think deeper and make us more self-scrutinizing than we are normally comfortable with. 14:30 is one of those pithy sayings.

“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” What a contrast! A heart at peace or an envious heart? Lifegiving or rotting? Once again, it is not hard to identify the part we would LIKE to be. But this proverbs deals with deep character issues. The person whose heart is full of peace, who has deeply rooted reasons for being peaceful and feeling content, that person will be healthy and full of life. But the person whose heart is full of envy, who has deeply rooted greed and is never satisfied with what they have, that person will be sick and their life will be empty. When we are envious we often direct our envy at others. We dislike or even hate others because they have what we want. We despise them for all sorts of reasons, but the underlying one is envy and greed. The problem is our envy does not hurt them at all! It hurts us! Our sinful discontent actually harms us physically. There are studies that bear this out. Contentedness is difficult for us. No matter how much we have we always think we would be happier–more at peace–if we had just a little more. So it begs the question, “How much is enough?” Judging by Western-American standards enough is never enough. There is no such thing as enough. So we must work hard and by God’s Spirit and by God’s truth retrain our character to be content with whatever we have–at peace–because we believe that God will take care of us and help us to fill our lives with good things that are not dependent on how much we have. Peaceful or rotten? Not much of a choice!

Another very dominant theme in the proverbs is related to the power of our words–what we speak–for good or evil. Get a load of some of the wise sayings related to the use of our words! Words used for evil can cause bloodshed, trap us, tell lies, pierce like a sword, are detested by the Lord, bring violence, and ruin. Lord, deliver us from the words of our mouths!

On the other hand, words used for good can rescue, help usescape trouble, fill our lives with good things, bring honesty, endure forever, bring God delight, and guard your life! These are the things we all want in life. They come as a result of being people that use their words for truth and for goodness.

One proverb in this section that is particularly convicting is 12:16. “A fool shows his (or her) annoyance at once, but a prudent man (or woman) overlooks an insult.” Wow! Now there is a hard task! Overlook an insult?! You have got to be kidding! But that is exactly what a wise person does. Only a fool reacts at once to an insult. The prudent or wise person–the person who uses thier words wisely or refrains from using them–overlooks an insult. This is something I am going to have to work on. It is not the natural instinct, for sure! But if I fear God (the beginning of wisdom) and want to be wise (and not a fool!) I need to learn to overlook insults. Enough work for me for this day!

Why is it that the father gets the gladness and the mother the grief (10:1)? Kinda sounds like families where the father gets to do all the fun things with the children and the mother has to do the hard stuff! I am glad I am in a marriage where we both share the grief and the gladness!

Another very prominant theme in the proverbs is the fool. No surpise. Foolishness is the opposite of wisdom and since proverbs often make statements that are opposites or antithetical to one another as a method of teaching, it should be expected that the proverbs will deal with foolishness as much as wisdom.

The foolish child brings grief (10:1), a babbling fool will come to ruin (10:8, and 14), a fool utters slander (10:18), fools die for lack of sense (10:21), doing wrong is a sport for the fool (10:23). Grief, ruin, babbling, slander, lacking sense, and enjoying wrong-doing are all characteristics of the fool. Lord save me from foolishness!!

Righteousness and wickedness are two other opposites highlighted in the proverbs and chapter 11 has a treasure chest full of these sayings. The proverbs make it very clear that no matter what the appearance, the wicked will be punished and come to ruin. The righteous will be delivered and rewarded.

The righteous are delivered from death, keep their ways straight, are saved, delivered from trouble, make cities rejoice, are truly rewarded, live, escape, their desires end in good, they flourish, are repaid on earth. The wicked are destroyed, fall, taken captive, their hope perishes, they get into trouble, are celebrated when they are destroyed, earn no real gain, die, are an abomination to the Lord, punished, their expectations end in wrath, are life-takers, and also “repaid” on earth!

Reading these lists, who would ever choose to be a fool or wicked? Why would not every person choose wisdom and righteousness? The scriptures say we choose foolishness and wickedness because our hearts are rebellious against God and self-deluded. Apart from the Spirit of God revealing our wickedness and changing our hearts we would all be caught in our foolish and wicked ways. But thanks to the love and grace of God, he reveals our sin to us and gives us the opportunity to repent and be filled with his Spirit. With the Spirit of God working in us we can become wise and learn to walk in righteousness.