Review of Lessons 14 & 15

These are the last two lessons in our study guide, and in fact, Lesson 15 is a review that we each should do independently, so this will be the last post for the guide portion.  There will be one additional post for Proverbs, Chapters 28-31.

Lesson 14 - Life & Death

Well you can't get much more serious than that, can  you?  Life and death...it is what everything comes down to.  And what does wise King Solomon have to say?

Again, for me, many of the statements made I read in light of the resurrection and the promise we now have of eternal life through our Savior, Jesus Christ.  As the guide points out on p. 136, "Until after Jesus' resurrection, God didn't give His people a very clear idea of what 'no death' might look like."  So when we read of God suddenly destroying the wicked, I believe that now that quick destruction comes upon any death of someone who has rejected Christ and finds themselves condemned to separation from God for eternity.

But...do we find that foolishness leads to untimely death?  Sickness?  We can certainly look at people who behaved in ways that, in retrospect, were not smart and which led to either accidents or illness, can't we?  But we can also look to people who exhibited great godly wisdom and were taken early in life.  And then we come down to the argument between God's sovereignty and our free will...do we each have a determined day when, no matter what we're doing, God will take us off planet earth to our eternity?

It is the age old question of where God's sovereignty ends and our free will begins.  And, I believe, there is no line...they overlap, they intermingle, they work together.  God's eternal plan will prevail...no matter what our free will determines, we cannot undermine or thwart what God has set out to do.

The other age old question is does God's omniscience (His all knowing power) mean that He is also dictating our every move?  That notion does do away with free will and is one which I cannot accept.  Just because God knows that I'm going to make a choice does not mean that He is forcing that choice upon me...He just knows.  And because He knows which choice I will make, He can use His foreknowledge in whatever way He determines is best.

So, what I am left with is that I have come to know a good, good Father God, and I have placed my life in His hands.  Now I can trust Him to do whatever it is that He needs to do with my life and to leave me here on earth to live in a way that honors Him, or if He chooses, to take me home.  But along the way, I still have choices to make every day that are wise or foolish.  Wise choices (good diet, good exercise, watching what I'm doing, not partaking of anything that would harm my body such as tobacco, over indulgence in alcohol, or use of drugs) will make my days healthier and probably prevent an accident that could bring me harm.  Foolish choices could bring disease that is part of this broken world, and which God did not design for His children, but which He allows due to our choices.  Foolish choices could bring accidents that could put me in peril, and at which point I do believe my life is then in God's hands...does He leave me here with a damaged body for His purposes to be carried out in my altered life, or does He take me home for other purposes to be accomplished? And then, again, not all disease or accidents are caused by our foolish choices ---living in a broken world brings with it the chance of diseases produced through the ages, or we can catch the shrapnel of the whirlwinds produced by others' sins which may cause harm to us or our families. Then we must make a choice as to how we will handle the situation in which we find ourselves.  Do we still praise God and seek to honor Him in all things?

So the way of the wise or the way of the foolish?  It all comes down to this, doesn't it, in this book of Proverbs?  We are all the fool at times in our lives.  But God is calling us to live wisely, to hear His voice showing us the way of wisdom.  When we do, we will live lives here on earth that honor Him and that bring joy to our bones; when we don't, we make mistakes that can cost us dearly, both now, and ultimately eternally if we refuse to turn our hearts to Him.  For the ultimate fool is the one who says in his heart, "There is no God."  (Psalm 14:1)

   

Review of Chapter 26

Chapter 26 ~
The old saying goes, "There's  no fool like an old fool!"  Well, I'm afraid I've been an old fool more than once---and it's not a role I want to repeat!  Chapter 26 starts off with a lot of descriptions of a fool:

• Not deserving of honor
• Needing hard discipline
• No one you want to argue with - they'll bring you down to their level
• Not trustworthy to convey a message
• Doesn't apply wisdom (proverbs), they are like "lame legs that hang limp" in his life
• Misuses proverbs by applying them wrongly and recklessly
• Don't hire one!! You'll be hurting everyone else on your team!
• And lastly, and this is the one that is the most convicting, a fool is so foolish that he repeats his foolishness...he just doesn't learn, "like a dog that returns to its vomit"

But then, after all of those harsh descriptions of a fool, Solomon tells us that a "man who is wise in his own eyes", well there is more hope for a fool than for him.  Wow!  That tells us just how stupid it is to think that we ever have truly attained wisdom to any degree.  Humility keeps us from being worse off than a fool.  If you ever feel yourself start to believe that you've just about got life all figured out and have the answers for all around you, beware!  You've become wise in your own eyes and God will show you, in one way or another, that you're really not all that!

Then Solomon moves on to the "Slacker".  Slackers make excuses ("there's a lion in the road" - modern day translation, "traffic's too bad!"); they lazy around in comfort rather than getting up and doing something necessary.  Again Solomon uses the phrase, "In his own eyes" --- do you get the impression that Solomon is warning against how we view ourselves?  Most often, our inward eyes do not have 20/20 vision!  In his own eyes, a slacker is wise!  They've got all the answers and they've figured out how to get through this life without working very hard at all, which means they are taking advantage of someone!  But in reality, they are not sensible.  And more often than not, you will see a slacker do well for a while, and then his "wise" plans fall apart.  And maybe that's God's way of saying, "Now, get to work!"

Some of the other words of instruction in this chapter that I noted:

"Without wood, fire goes out; without a gossip, conflict dies down."  v.20

"A hateful person disguises himself with his speech and harbors deceit within.  When he speaks, don't believe him....though his hatred is concealed by deception, his evil will be revealed in the assembly."  v. 24-26

"The one who digs a pit will fall in it." v. 27

Where are you today?  Lord, let me not be wise in my own eyes!  Let me humble myself before You, acknowledging that You alone have all wisdom, and that others on this earth are wiser than I am.  Let me be discerning of those who claim wisdom to make sure that their wisdom aligns with Yours.  Let me see through deception and flattery, to the heart that may be full of hatred.  Lord, thank You for allowing Solomon to share these words of wisdom with us today, in this world of 2016, and let us apply them to our lives so that they reflect Your wisdom living through us!  You are so good, You are so wise...let us glorify You by obeying and trusting in You!

Review of Chapter 25

Chapter 25 ~
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to investigate a matter." Proverbs 25:2
I found this verse intriguing...do you?  Right after being told that these are proverbs of Solomon, King of Israel, he chooses to share with us this statement.  After reading a couple different commentaries, the verses make such good sense to me now.  God, in His omniscience and sovereignty, has all knowledge of all things, and He is not constrained to share with man everything He knows.  He is God - we are not - and He knows that we do not have the capability to understand His reasoning or His purpose with everything that happens, or will happen, to us.  He will conceal some things, to His glory. And we, as those who love and fear Him, will trust in His goodness even when we can't understand.

But as for earthly kings, their glory comes when they don't make decisions without good information. A good king, one to be honored, doesn't state a determination on a matter without fully investigating. A good king knows what he is talking about before he starts talking.  I think Solomon, in all his wisdom, knew that he was not all wise.  He could not know things, as God does, without delving into the matter at hand.  Let us remember that true wisdom does not bring with it instant knowledge.  We must study to come to true understanding of the matters that life brings to us.  How many times I've decided how I feel about something without ever giving it much, if any, investigation!  That's not a "glorious" attribute!

Going through the chapter, I note three "don'ts" in succession:

• Don't brag about yourself
• Don't stand in the place of the great
• Don't take a matter to court hastily

DO speak a word at the right time and it is like a golden apple on a silver tray.  A word spoken at the wrong time does not present itself in the same "gifted"way...pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance for the right word at the right time!

Verse 21 has always bothered me a bit, and as it is repeated by Paul in Romans 12.  It seems as though we're instructed to be nice to our enemies just to make them feel bad and for us to gain God's reward.  I know that can't be the true meaning, but isn't that what it sounds like?  Of course that' not what it means!  Think about the verse that tells us to overcome evil with good.  This is the parallel. When we show kindness to those who are our known enemies, it has to change their view of us.  As one commentator stated, "As metals are melted by heaping coals upon them, so is the heart softened by kindness."  With a softer heart, the Holy Spirit can continue His process of bringing this person to true repentance and acceptance of Christ.  There is our reward!  Working with God in bringing someone else to the knowledge of His saving grace!!

Every once in a while, Solomon has to throw in another verse about a nagging wife!  I just hate that, don't you?  :)  But what a wise admonition to married women---I can see the look on Robert's face when my "reminders" have turned into nagging!  There's no point in it---you're not going to gain any ground, in fact you're probably moving your husband in the opposite direction of where your "advice" meant for him to head!  In this chapter living on the corner of a roof is stated as better than sharing an entire house with a nagging wife!  I just kind of think that one of Solomon's many wives was a nagger!

We're going to be wrapping this book up by the end of the week (about time, huh?)...let me know if you have any questions/comments!