GRIP ON WISDOM

(Proverbs 4)
(Vs 1-18, 18, 20-27)  Proverbs four is re-emphasizing the need to take hold on wisdom and understanding.  “How many times can I say this?”  “Let me say this again.”  It is so important to keep an open mind, a listening ear and an observant eye.  We must “take fast hold on instruction for she is thy life”.  If we are not learning, we are not growing, we are not living (V18).  “. . . the path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”.

Instruction is our life:  observing God’s sayings as he speaks through the Scriptures, through our spirits - through other men. 

I wonder if older people who are sharp are those that say, “now what am I going to learn from this?”  We must always be active in listening, reading, hearing, learning from God.

SELF-CONTROL

Proverbs 30:9  “Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”  Consider the phrases:  “Lest I be full . . . and deny; lest I be poor . . . and steal”  Both of these conditions allow a man to overlook and go around God’s control in their life.  The rich man does not have to wait on God because he can get what he wants now.  The poor does not want to wait because he is under pressure and jumps to feed his belly rather than waiting for God.  The rich, by his actions, says, “Who is God?  I can do this for myself.  I can make this come out my way.”  The poor says, “God will not act for me.  I must act.”  Both are imposing their control on the situation.  Neither waits for God.

(Verse 8)  "Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me . . ."  By having the blessing of verse 8, truth and convenient provision, we can appropriate the opportunity of exercising self-control.  I pray, “God, put me in situations where I will not fail at self-control.  Fill me with your Spirit, one of the fruits of which is self-control.”
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WHEN IT’S WRONG TO REJOICE

"When righteous men do rejoice there is great glory, but when the wicked rise a man is hidden."  There is much openness and freedom when the righteous rejoice.  There is no fear of anyone retaliating at them for celebrating, there are no double meanings in the air.  Everyone is happy together. 

When the wicked are empowered there is no openness or freedom.  There is fear of reprisal if there is a perception of “unacceptable” (read “politically incorrect”) thoughts or actions during celebration.  Indeed, the truly wrong thing, such as abortion, may be the thing celebrated.  Who knows what the wicked really mean?  Only the wicked are happy.  One might say,  "I will hide because I will not celebrate this thing.  The wrong people are in power they may be seeking to hurt the righteous."

Psalm 28:5 "because they regard not the works of the lord nor the operation of his hands  .  .  ."

This is an indictment of our land today.  Many do not think the Lord exists or that what happens around them might be the work of his hands. 

A person must continually adjust his thinking throughout life so that he thinks, "I am of the Lord, this has happened because of the Lord, I will do this as unto the Lord."  Religion needs to be a consuming thing not a casual thing, a comfort thing, an intellectual thing or a safety tool, like a car jack. 

THE POWERFUL VOICE

(Psalm 29) .  The voice of the lord is upon many waters.  I’ve wondered if the waters equal the general world population.  The voice of the lord is upon them.  He thunders, his voice is loud and booming. 

The voice of the lord breaks the cedars.  If trees represent the structure of a national government: trunk and branches.  The voice of the lord breaks them.  The force for keeping the tree (government) from being broken does not come from within the tree.  The power to keep all things entire comes from God. 

The voice of the lord divides the fire.  His communication is so clear that even ethereal changing subjects, like fire, can be expressed by him, and understood so that he can even separate, package, one tongue of fire from another. 

(V8) The voice of the lord shakes the wilderness.  No matter where anyone is, the voice of the lord shakes the remotest places. 

(V9) The voice of the lord makes cows to give birth. His power and control is directly over even things we do not think of, like the conception, birth and preservation of cows. 

The voice of the Lord gives glory, strength, worship; it is powerful, it has majesty; it breaks, skips, divides, shakes, births.  He has all power forever.  With all these things god gives strength to his people and controls his enemies.

A BAD SCALE

"A false balance is abomination to the Lord".  This shows that items in this life of flesh offend the Lord.  Imagine he were walking in a market and saw a scale that was made to show false weights, weights heavier than actual.  You and I would not know the scales read false, but the Lord would know.  This very scale, and the one who uses it, is abomination to him.  I would not like to stand next to that scale in a lightning storm.  With every false ounce shown it thrusts the one using it further from God.  The lying scale here will make the sin of adultery over there easy to do.  The scale cheats money.  The adultery will end the marriage, destroy the family, and scatter the possessions the false scale was meant to acquire. 

The Lord finds the scale offensive.  It was rude and inconsiderate to have it before him (not to mention degrading and dangerous.) 

The wise the just scale is the Lord’s delight, it gives him pleasure.  He is pleased when he walks by and sees it.  It’s easy to please the Lord.  Don’t stand close to a bad scale.

SHE LIES

Proverbs 7:19,20 .  When the strange woman says, “The good man is gone a long journey and will not be back until the appointed time.” she is lying.  He is in the house watching right then.  God is never departed from us; his Holy Spirit is ever with us.  We are compassed by a cloud of witnesses.  When we do something sinful we are being watched.  Our sin nature may like to think the "good man"  has departed, but it is the deceitful flesh (the foolish woman) lying to us.  When she says it is OK to watch the TV program with pornography in it, we must realize God is in the room watching us watch it.  This is the battleground of the flesh.  We must overcome our flesh that so easily deceives us.  We naturally want to sin; it is hard to resist sin, to do wholesome things.  The struggle is now, at this time. 

We must realize the battle is not so hard to win.  “Hearken unto me now, LET NOT thine heart DECLINE to her ways, go not astray in her paths.”  "Decline" is a good word to describe the process. 

Proverbs 5:8 says "remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house" .  “Remove” is the important word.  Once we are near the door of her house (the foolish or whorish woman’s  house) we are closer to it and are more tempted to go in than if we had never entered her neighborhood.  Keep away from the neighborhood and you will not be near the door.  It’s far easier to choose the right path at the beginning of the journey than to change it once embarked.

UP THE MOUNTAIN

Psalm 121:  "I will lift up mine eyes unto the Hills from whence cometh my help . . ." 

When we look up the mountainside, we know our destination will require work to get there.  We will have to climb up the hill, we will have to follow a path, there will be boulders in the way.  It will take time.   But remember, our help comes from the destination we want to get closer to.  The source of all our help is coming from that place. 

He is helping us on the way along the path.  He will not suffer our foot to be moved:  so one can push us away from the path, although we could willfully step in a different direction.  It says the Lord is our shade from the sun, and maybe God will control the outward circumstances and events along the path.

Yet it is still for us to climb the trail, to sweat, to persist against difficulty

CONTRASTING VIEWS

RIGHTEOUSNESS VS WICKEDNESS
PROVERBS 11

RIGHTEOUSNESS (R) as opposed to WICKEDNESS (W)
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(R) Leads to Integrity and is a guide
  (W) Leads to perverseness and destroys
(R) Leads to health
  (W) Riches prophet not
(R) Directs way
  (W) Leads to a fall
(R) Gives deliverance
  (W) Taken in naughtiness
(R) Delivered out of trouble
  (W) Delivered into trouble
(R) Has a sure reward
  (W) Works deceitful work
(R) Tends to life
  (W) Pursues evil to own death
(R) Delivered
  (W) Will not be unpunished
(R) Desires good
  (W) Expects wrath
(R) Procures favor
  (W) Seeks mischief
(R) Flourish as a branch
  (W) His trusted riches fall
(R) Recompensed and earth
  (W) Recompensed in earth more

When the wicked parish, as in the Mafia is killing each other, the city shouts because of the confusion, danger, and lawlessness.

When it goes well with the righteous, there is peace and prosperity so there can be times of rejoicing. When the upright bless the city, it is exalted. The upright with his mouth is making a proclamation of good.

But the works of the wicked can overthrow the city.

In other words, words are very powerful.

DELIGHTING

God delights in the prayer of the upright (Prov 15:8); he loves to hear it.  Does this also mean he loves to answer it?  The Lord hears the prayer of the righteous.  Some prayers, however, he will not hear.  For example, he is far from the wicked so he will not respond to their prayers.  He will not answer some prayers right away because it is best answered at another time.  Some prayers of the righteous are about good things, but these things may not be suitable for the person asking them.  Maybe the prayers are for or about things that are reserved for other people.  Maybe the person is asking for something they do not realize is not good for them. 

We often put God in our shoes, we assume God is driven by the same emotions we have.  We delight in something that is pleasant.  Perhaps we push away some pleasant thing because some other thing is even more pleasant.  Delighting is something we want to do.  Does the Lord also want to delight?  Does he long for it as we might?  Does he stop some other things so that he can “take some time out” to delight?  Does God get so crowded with pending tasks that delighting would mean that some other important thing would not get done?

“I love you Lord,
and I lift my voice
to worship you:
oh, my soul, rejoice! 
Take joy, my king,
in what you hear. 
Let it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.” 

We sing this song, but what do we mean by it?  Are we wishing for God to  have a pleasant time, or are we just asking for his attention?  Is what we want is more important than what he wants?  Is this a wish from us for his well-being, or is it a request for our own sakes so that he will have favor on us?

STANDARDS

The Bible says Justice and judgment are more acceptable than sacrifice.  But you cannot  have them without standards.  For anyone to be able to do justice or judgment they must know the standards.  There is no justice if there is no one correct standard because any way is as good as another.  If no one thing is correct (right, truth) then all things are of relative value.  When one way is the right way, the others are not right, or at least not as good as the right way. 

The one who does justice makes sure the right way is done.  There is no judgment if there is no one correct way to decide.  Judgment chooses between two ways.  The one who does justice and judgment knows God's ways and selects them. 

We do not sacrifice animals today as they used to because Jesus is our sacrifice.  The things we view as sacrifice these days are offerings or dedications or prayers.  The one who is offering the sacrifices maybe doing the right outward thing with money or promises or prayers, but his heart may not know, or may not choose, the proper standards.  The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination:  because he is bringing it with a deceived or a wicked mind.  His sacrifice is a payoff, or show, it is not a genuine offering.  He is seeking a way around the standard.

The only way to know the standards I know of is to read the Bible.

HASTY STRIVING

“Go not fourth hastily to strive last thou no not what to do in the end thereoff when thy neighbor has put thee to shame.”  (Prov 25:8)

Here is an example of where it is not good to strive, at least not without giving some thought before you do it.  This must apply also to not letting the imagination rehearse angry confrontations that have not happened (such as a fist fight with the person driving the car in front of you, or imagining being sued in court for being wrongly jailed, or any other thing that is not likely to happen). 

If you are fuming about something there is strife in your mind.  It’s real strife and it’s really in your mind, raising your blood pressure and wasting your time.  Is the object of this strife really worth the ill feelings?  Is this a real battle to be fought?  Is this a real war to die in?  Are you being brave and noble?

I do this way too much.  I wonder how much is a habit, or how much is suggestion and attack from the enemy.  “Take away dross from the silver . . .” (Prov 25:4)  Surely such thinking is dross in your mind.  Best to keep the silver and toss the dross.

MEDITATION

I do some yoga-like poses for exercises in the morning.  I do them only for the exercise, not for the “spiritual” or meditation part.  I understand “proper” yoga requires you to meditate and possibly say a sound (I’m not sure what they call it)  like “OOOOOOM’ or something.  Some say I’m supposed to meditate on “nothing”.

I have no idea what they mean by "meditate".  I have no idea why saying any sound helps.  maybe it’s supposed to help you do the exercises by taking your mind off how hard they are.  Little skinny girls can hold the poses longer and better than I can.  If they can do it I just think to myself "Man-up and get through with the thing!" 

What does “meditate“ mean anyway?  Is this supposed to be some prescribed thought that I’m to be thinking?  Is it supposed to be some sort of pattern or way of thinking that I’m supposed to do?  I don’t like the idea of taking on and eastern religion; I don’t want to empty my mind and think of “nothing” or “become one” with the universe.  God made me unique; I am part of the universe among many other parts.

When I think of meditate, I rely on the English definition of the word:  “think about carefully and at length”.  To me it is thinking deeply and analyzing something to a deeper extent than I had previously thought about it; or in a way that is different from the way I had been thinking about it before.  Perhaps to think of a contrasting way to give me perspective.  Another word for it is “contemplation”.

What I need most to meditate about is the Bible.  What does God say?  Sometimes other man’s thoughts are helpful and should be considered, but the Bible is the preeminent source of wisdom and direction.  I am a Christian and I will think like a Christian and hopefully act like a Christian.

CORRECTION

Proverbs 15 verse 10:  “Correction is grievous to him that forsaketh the way .  .  .”  This can mean more than:  the man does not feel comfortable with the correction.  The man has gone outside of “the way”.  He is either resolute about it and determined to precede in the wrong way, or he is repentant that he has gone wrong. 

The resolute one resents the correction and resists it.  It is irritating to him and he fights against the correction as one more element of struggle in his life.  He does not consider, or does not care, that he has gone against God’s wishes.  It is inconvenient, he does not want it, and he fights it.

The repentant one is sorry for his wrong way.  He knows he has done wrong and accepts it.  The trial is grievous for him because he caused it.  It not only renders him hardship, but he knows it is also troubling to the Lord. 

Or he may view the correction as a justified trial.  It may be a sort of "pop quiz", an occasion to test his character or resolve.  It is an opportunity to discover his weaknesses so he can see the need of improvement and attempt to modify his thinking or behavior.

For both correction is an unpleasant task to manage.

NOT TOO BAD

Someone said to me, “Not too bad . . .” when he was responding to the question, “How are you?”.  To say, “Not too bad” presupposes the whole idea of sin, sin being that which is not measuring up to the standard of “good”.  For there to be “bad” there has to be “sin”.  For something to be “bad” it is not being done “right”; it is not measuring up to the standard of “good”.  Therefore, by definition, bad has to do with sin.  When someone is saying, “not too bad” he is saying he is doing a degree of “bad”, but not a sufficient degree to matter to much - - it is not “altogether bad” or “very bad” or “somewhat more bad than I should be doing” - - just, “not too bad”.

A person ought to say, “not too good”.  Then he means that, “I am not doing altogether good” or “Of all the good I could do, I am not doing all of it.”  He is recognizing his sinfulness.  He is saying, “I am a sinner and have done sin (not doing the right thing), therefore everything I have done is not ‘too good’, or, every bit of it has not been ‘entirely good’.”

The “too” is understood in both of the above (‘too bad”, ‘too good”) to mean “too much”.  But if any sin is cause for separation from God, is the sin that causes this separation too much?  If the result is separation from God, it is too much.

On the other hand, how can someone do “too much good”?  If he has done the right, and not the wrong, he has done what he was supposed to do.  It can not be “too much” - - but it is impossible.  Hence the degree of correction in saying, “not too good”.

If I don’t stop now I’ll get myself into a position where I can not say anything.  If I don’t say anything then I can not say anything "bad" ; however, not saying anything prevents me from saying "good" .  If I should say good, and I do not, then I am being bad.

ADVANTAGED BELIEVERS

One great advantage the believers have over non-believers is the law - -  the written set of standards - -  the unchangeable counsel of God.  Without the standard, according to Proverbs 13, here is what the wicked get: 

o Can’t hear correction (1)
o Contention (10)
o Destroyed, death (14)
o Hard way (15)
o Open folly (16)
o Mischief (17)
o Poverty and shame (18)
o Destroyed {20)
o Pursued by evil(21)
o Loss of inheritance (22)
o Hunger (25)

“Much food is in the tillage of the poor, but there is that is destroyed for want of judgement.”  I’ve thought of this as meaning that the poor do not have judgement, so they destroy their own wealth.  But someone else explained it as a second party not having judgement which results in making the poor unproductive, such as the government promoting big time agri-business over family farms.  It happened also when the government set laws that prevented Fathers living in households that were collecting certain types of welfare.  The intention was to keep truly indolent men from taking advantage of a "free ride", but it forced some truly well-intentioned men from caring for their families and made for many single parent households.

I prayed:  "Lord, please foil all attempts to destroy the family.  Family is your idea and I think you want them strong.  Fill fathers and mothers and sons and daughters with your Spirit so they will see and avoid the snares of the enemy.  Let the very things that were intended for harm prosper and strengthen families.  Let the wicked devices fall back upon the heads of those that formed them." 

IS THE RIGHT LIFE WORTH IT?

We are often tempted to think, as we choose a Godly way over an ungodly way (not fornicating, for example), “Will this really pay out in the end?  Is what God says true?  Will I get to the end of life and never have had enough sex, money, power, fame?”  Life seems to be a process of making that kind of decision over and over.  All we can do is have faith that doing what God says will benefit us. 

We also see those who have had the sex, money, etc., and who do not live following God’s word.  They choose their own way and do not perceive themselves to be missing anything and do not think that they are in trouble in any way. 

When we all get to the end of our physical life it will be up to God to show himself faithful.  He will be faithful to his word.  What his word says means something entirely different for us than for them. 

But he shows himself faithful the godly in this life.  My wife and I have enough to eat, we do not have the burden of broken relationships (caused by ourselves, at least), we have a measure of contentment.

Should the country fall to pieces we know that riches profit not in the day of wrath.  God says righteousness delivers from death.  We must believe what God says and trust he will give us the grace to be righteous (Christ is our righteousness) and to deliver us at that time.  We know that riches would not help if we had them in the day of wrath.  We may not have physical comfort, but we must have faithfulness, we must do the work of the Lord.  God will be faithful.

CONTRASTING THE RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED

In Proverbs 11 many verses contrast the outcome of a righteous life compared to a wicked one:

Verse   RIGHTEOUS             WICKED
4         Delivered from death  Riches profit not
5         Way directed               Fall by wickedness
6         Deliverance                Taken
8         Out of trouble             Into trouble
10       Exultation                   Overthrown
18       Sure reward                Deceitful work
19       Tends to life                Pursues death
21       Deliverance                Punishment
23       Good desire                Expects wrath
27       Gets favor                  Gets mischief
28       Flourish                      Fall (failing)
30       Tree of life                      - -
31      Reward in earth          Reward in earth

BAD SEED

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the parable of an enemy planting bad seed.  He said:  “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares [bad seed] among the wheat, and went his way.” (24, 25)  When asked about this the landowner said, “An enemy hath done this.” 

The person that sows discord among brethren is repugnant to the Lord.  The sowing may not result in an instant discord, but it is the very start of the discord.  There is no stem of strife or root of bitterness until the seed of discord has been planted.  We must be very careful never to sow this way:  to intend to persuade the opinion of one brother against another.  Why would we do this, to get ourselves allies as we oppose the one against whom we are talking? 

We get ourselves allies, but we caused two relationships to be destroyed: 
1) The one between ourselves and the one we talked against and
2) The one between the brother and brother.

How could this have been an advantage?  The results are mistrust, bad feelings and strife where were none before.  Is this an accomplishment of which to be proud?  How can it be good to be an aggravator and destroyer?  Better to choose to be a person of health and healing, a builder, not a destroyer.

LIGHT FOR THE PATH

Psalm 119:105  "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

What is a "Lamp", and what is a "Light"?  A lamp is a portable or localized light source for seeing your way as you travel, or when you are reading a book.  A light is the source of a lamp’s light, it is that which emanates from a flashlight or a table lamp.  We could reason that a commandment is a lamp while the Law is the foundation for any commandment.  A commandment is more focused and specific while the Law is all of God’s instructions for conduct, moral and otherwise, taken together.  Commandments are components of the law, as in the Ten Commandments.

A lamp, or flashlight, illuminates s specific area for us, so does a commandment.  One commandment shows “Thou shalt not kill”, , another shows “Thou shalt not seal”, another shows “Thou shalt have no other gods beside me”.  As we walk the path of life, we need to remember and follow the commandments as the need arises.

As a light in a room shows all that is in the room, so the law is all of God’s desire for how we should conduct ourselves.  In the Room of Life the light of Law shows us we must not kill and have no other god, etc. 

The commandments help us to choose the path we should follow, the Law shows general condition of our present position

QUESTIONING HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

Proverbs 25:2  "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."  Why is it a glory to God to conceal a thing?  What is it that he conceals?  Does not God show us all things? 

Well, no.  In the book of Revelation God sealed up what the 12 thunders said until after the judgement.  No man knows the hour of the last day but the Father in heaven. (Mark 13:32)  Even as we consider that God conceals some things, we know that what is to God’s advantage is also to our advantage.

Because God seals a thing up from one person does not mean he does not reveal it to any.  While  hiding a thing from one person he may reveal that thing to another.  This is a reason the saved can understand the Bible but the unsaved cannot.  Also, as a proficient teacher, God may keep a thing from a person who may be confused by that thing at an early point in his spiritual development to reveal it to him when he becomes ready for it.  It shows his power  . . .  that mankind just can not know everything there is to know.  It shows God’s involvement and concern with men.  God keeps his precious things from the godless and controls who gets what

We ourselves do not reveal all.  We conceal to hide something because the one seeking it should not have it.  We conceal to control the timing of the revelation to the seeker, or to exercise the seeker.  You don’t want him to find it, or you want him to have it at some later time, or you want him to exercise some character in the search for it.

Godless reasons to hide knowledge would be:  you want what belongs to someone else but can’t have it yourself, so you hide it from the rightful owner.  You hate the true owner and want to do them harm.  It is to your advantage to delay the receipt of the thing.  You don’t like the other and don’t want to be involved with him.