"To Him be glory forever": wisdom

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

True Wisdom

The Bible reading plan I currently use has me read the entire New Testament and Psalms twice a year, and the remainder of the Old Testament once a year. In order to do that it always has me in four parts of the Bible at the same time. Right now I am reading from Leviticus, Psalms, Proverbs and 1 Thessalonians.

Proverbs are considered wisdom literature, and it's easy to see why. Much of the book is made up of short sayings that could just about stand on their own as guidance for how a person should, or shouldn’t, live. I'll admit that there are many times I read from Proverbs and that while I can see the idea of wisdom in them, at the same time I have a harder time connecting those wise sayings with the greater story line of the Bible. Many times, but not all of the time.

Proverbs 23:15-16 says:

"My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.
My inmost being will exult
when your lips speak what is right."

Here is some running commentary on those two verses. There is someone dear to the author of Proverbs, and the author will be glad should this someone's heart become wise. Going farther the author speaks of the joy that he will feel when this someone speaks what is right.

This is all well and good, so much so that our basic response could be "duh!" I'm in the process of raising sons again right now and I can easily see how some wisdom in their hearts would bring gladness to my own. But pushing the meaning of the proverb a bit farther, it would need to be a particular kind of wisdom.

In Romans 10:9 Paul writes:

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Living hundreds of years before Jesus, and not even knowing the name, I believe that he is who the author of Proverbs is ultimately pointing towards. What would be the truest form of wisdom in the human heart? It would be faith in God through the person and work of Jesus. It would be loving Jesus as both Savior and Lord.

It is a great blessing for Robin and I to raise the three children we still have living with us in a Christian home. We treasure the time we spend with them each day as a family in reading the Bible and praying together. And in the separate prayer time that Robin and I spend together each day perhaps our deepest desires are for the life-saving work of God to take place in the hearts of our children.

May this be the wisdom that penetrates, and lives, in your heart, and in the hearts of those whom you dearly love. Amen.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Pondering Proverbs

I have been doing some reading in Proverbs. While filled with wisdom, it is not an easy book of the Bible to read. Some parts of it are easy to grasp but many parts take much more than a quick reading to begin to appreciate. They need to be read, and pondered, before the (proverbial!) light switch goes off. And I'll admit that it is easy to reach a point where one just decides to move on and hope that God shines His light the next time through.

That said, I want to share what happened when reading earlier this week. I read Proverbs 6:16-19, which says:

"There are six things that the Lord hates,
    seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
    and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
    feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
    and one who sows discord among brothers."

When I read the first verse I thought, "Does God hate six things or seven? What's up with that?" But then I grasped the other aspect of the verse, that there are things "the Lord hates" that are an "abomination."

Hate is a pretty strong word, and abomination is even more intense. There are some things that God, who is infinitely patient, has no time for. Then the list:

1. Haughty eyes

2. A lying tongue

3. Hands that shed innocent blood

4. A heart that devises wicked plans

5. Feet that make haste to run to evil

6. A false witness who breathes out lies

7. One who sows discord among brothers

Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that not a one of those things is any good. Humanly speaking, if any of those are our habits we will have a hard time getting along with anyone. And on top of that the Bible has taught us that God hates them.

But if these are things God hates, then perhaps the opposite things are ones he finds favorable. Examples of these would be:

1. A humble heart

2. A truthful tongue

3. Hands that bring healing

4. A heart that devises Godly plans

5. Feet that make haste to run from evil

6. A person who lives and breathes the truth

7. One who heals relationships

Again, from a human perspective this is a list that makes sense. These are the kinds of things that strengthen relationships and that most people would say are good qualities for one to cultivate in their character. But, as the TV ads so often said, that's not all.

In the person of Jesus Christ we see each item on the second list lived to perfection. While we might want to do each of the things on the second list each day, every day, we can't. In spite of our best efforts we fall short. But when we look to Christ we see someone who understood perfectly what God hates, and what God loves.

We want to follow God's path but we so easily wander off in this direction, or that. But in Christ we see a life lived with unfailing obedience, not even leaning towards one side or the other of the Father's path.

Yesterday I preached a funeral sermon from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, which says this in the closing verse:

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

My reading from Proverbs made it easy to see what God hates. A little pondering pointed to what God loves. And then God turned on the light to point from Proverbs to Christ. And it is only in Christ, whose life was one of perfect obedience, that anyone can possibly find righteousness before God. This is true wisdom, and by faith in Christ may it be yours.