PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2023-2024

So verse 13 doesn’t quite have my benediction covered, in fact, it is probably the opposite.  Every Sunday I charge the congregation to return no one evil for evil.  Vs. 13 tells us “evil will not depart from the house of one who returns evil for good.”  That is a logical sensible statement.  But a less sensible statement we find in Matthew 5:44 where our Savior, you know Jesus, states the following:  “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  That is very different, especially since we are told that those who are evil, we should pray for them.  Another less sensible statement we find in Romans 12:17 where we read that we are not to return anyone evil for evil.

So all that we are reading in Proverbs is just incredibly sensible.  There are no ultra radical thoughts, but rather it just reflects the common sense of that day and the common sense of today.  But what we often find is that what we consider to be common sense, is not at all common to the Lord.  The common sense at times is our own thinking, when the Lord demands, at times, that we take risks which would be frowned upon by society, and probably by Solomon as well.  If you love your enemies and pray for them, aren’t you also enabling someone to do the wrong thing?  

I’ll never forget the crisis we had in our food bank in Florida when a police officer caught one of our food clients selling the food that they got from our church in order to get crack/cocaine.  We almost shut down the program because we did not want to enable anyone in their drug addiction.  But then we realized for every one person who was an addict and used our food to help their problem, we had 20 who were using this food as a supplement to their already stretched budget.  We kept it up and running.  We are told to love our enemies whether it enables them or not.

I guess we can focus on vs.18 here.  The verse is where we get the statement: pride comes before the fall.  But it doesn’t limit itself just to that.  It actually states: “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”   Yes, it is the same thing, but there is a double understanding that is important for us to recognize.  Pride is that within us, which we mentioned the last chapter, which makes us think that we can handle things on our own.  At times it goes beyond that.  At times we think we are invincible and nothing that we do can be stopped.  Pride is that within us which makes us believe that we are the creators and we are the ultimate arbiters in all things in our life.  

At a certain point in our life we ought to come to the realization that there is so much more beyond our control than we could ever imagine.  Just that realization alone ought to be humbling, but not debilitating.  Humility is not an excuse for inaction.  Humility is not synonymous with submission.  Humility is not the same as cowardice.  Humility is what Jesus exhibited.  Fear is the opposite of humility.  It takes strength to be humble, it is not weakness.  I could go on and on, but I am not sure I know of any other identifying feature of my Savior which is more inspirational than His  humility, except maybe His love.

Let’s start with the end, the end of this chapter that is: “humility goes before honor.”  True humility is a sign of someone who has understood the perspective that we are the clay and God is the potter.   What happens to us is beyond our control, but once it happens, then we better be the best vessel there is in carrying out God’s work.  When we think that we can start dictating or controlling how the potter is going to shape or maneuver our future and our life, it is then that things start to go down the wrong path.

A couple things gave me pause here.  One line is interesting in vs.6: “But trouble befalls the income of the wicked.”  It doesn’t say that the wicked will not gain income, because they will and they do, but that it is fraught with trouble both while it is gained and after it is gained.  What a great verse.  

Not sure about the verses which states (vs.20): “A wise child makes a glad father, but the foolish despise their mothers.”  I’ll never forget when it was that I started to appreciate my parents.  It took my second year out of high school with my parents in a foreign country to recognize that most of what they taught me, or tried to teach me, was actually pretty wise.  It took some time for that to sink in for me.  You know the saying that absence makes the heart grow fond.  That was certain the case for me.  I did not despise my parents, but I’m not really sure I respected them as I should have.  That changed once I was in college.

There is a real contrast in these verses between good and evil especially in the way that people act in certain places and at certain times.   The foolishness of the evil one is contrasted with the wisdom of the good person.  But there are a couple places where the fear of the Lord is described as something after which we ought to strive.  The fear of the Lord.

So how do we describe the fear of the Lord.  We already saw in Proverbs 9:10 that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  That is a great start.  We read in the New Testament in II Timothy 1:7 Paul states that we did not receive a Spirit of timidity, or of fear, but rather one of power, love, and self-control.  We are to fear the Lord in a way that we fear our parents.   We absolutely love our parents, but we do not want to disappoint them.  We do not regard them as people to be feared to be with alone in a room.  We do not regard them as people of which we are afraid.   But we respect them and we consider that which they are able to do for us is beyond what we can do for ourselves.  I love this scene from Narnia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn2n3wdAQi4

We find some controversy in this chapter.  Go ahead and skip right to vs.24 where we find the classic: “spare the rod and spoil the child.”  There is so much controversy around the way in which children are disciplined.  My take is that every family must find and settle upon what is the best way for them.  In my premarital counseling classes I encourage couples to talk about what it would look like to them to discipline their children.  The question centers around whether discipline should include some corporeal punishment, or not.

Just in a sense of full disclosure, I was spanked by a spoon and a belt and a hand.  Not in any particular order, but that was the process that I needed, more than any of the other brothers, in order to understand what the rules and the regulations were.  With my children a hand was used for two daughters and one simply didn’t need it.  As you can guess from these statements that I am in favor of this type of punishment as long as it is administered in a specific way.

This type of punishment cannot be administered impulsively and without planning.  The child needs to know what is going to happen, why it is happening, and how to avoid this from happening again.  It is not a lashing out in anger or a display of force in order to drive fear in the hearts of the child.  That is not what spanking is about.  But I also understand parents who could not imagine spanking their child.  There are so many other ways in which to discipline a child.  I get it.  This chapter has created a lot of discussion for a lot of people and I am sure that it will not end today.

That first verse is a bit harsh.  Whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge,  but those who hate to be rebuked are stupid.  Ouch, but true that, still ouch.  If you do not mind,  and in fact are encouraged, after you are told how to do things correctly, then you actually want to learn and understand how to do things better.  If you are someone who is mortified by a correction and would never speak to that person again who corrected you, well, according to Proverbs, you are stupid.  That is a bit harsh, but it is also a bit true.

We find the ying and yang again in this chapter but this time it is between wisdom and folly.  Earlier in the chapter we read about the distinctions between righteousness and wickedness, but then the contest does point to the adversaries being wisdom and folly.  Fools show their anger at once, but the prudent (read wise) ignore an insult.  This is just great stuff.  If you look at vss. 15-20 you find the section that I prefer most in this chapter.

The primary theme of this chapter is that people basically get what they give back.  People get what they deserve is what we hear.  Now as we looked at Job we realized that this Job’s primary point was exactly the opposite, that people do not get what they deserve, but rather we serve a God who doesn’t let us in on His plans, and that His plans don’t normally line up with what we would expect.  The rain does fall on the evil and on the good.  But this chapter in Proverbs encourages the reader to do good, to be righteous, to be generous.  The motivation for this action is that you will be repaid on this earth for all of those actions and for that way of life.  Look at some of the particulars as the author also uses the opposite as true.  Not only do the good get good, but the bad get bad.

We hear that righteousness saves and wickedness leads to trouble.  There are all of these ying and yang statements that when they are read on face value the person reading it has to say: yeah, that makes sense.  But as much as it makes sense, it doesn’t describe the reality in which we live, a reality that Job knew only too well. The wicked do not receive death as a reward on this earth.  Do I need to remind you of where we learn this lesson?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERWREcPIoPA

I know, Billy Joel isn’t Scripture, but we do know that justice is not always seen on this earth, but Proverbs encourages us to live a certain way because we are able to see the opposite which leads to wickedness.  I am not encouraging people to not be “good”, but I am trying to display a dose of reality where good or bad does not dictate longevity or blessing in this life.

Let me point back to something that ought to be our guiding light.  We live our lives not to receive a reward, we live our lives as a testament of gratitude to the one who created and redeemed us.  That has to be our motivation.  If our motivation is to receive all those good things that the author of Proverbs states, then we will be sorely disappointed and find ourselves questioning why God does certain things.  We are the potter and He is the clay, we ought to leave it at that and live our lives in complete thanksgiving for anything that we have.

Here is a classic Proverbs line…: “Like vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so are the lazy to their employers.”  He really doesn’t hold many punches, especially since we know that he as king probably hired a lot of people.  Once again we see this logic and this appeal for wisdom as right living: righteousness, is contrasted with wrong living: lying lips.  Listen to this line:  Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, but the one who rebukes boldly makes peace.  Now that is counter intuitive.   

We live in a place where silence is part of the culture so if something is wrong or if something should not be so we are trained to keep silent because the person will figure it out or someone else will let them know  that it needs to be corrected.  But often no one does anything about it and the culture of silence wins out again and a wrong goes unaddressed.  This proverb tells us again to make sure that we are aware of what is wrong and what is right and to stick to that which is right.  It is moralizing, no getting around that, but it is a moralizing that we find in Scripture which allows us to recognize that God is calling us to a higher standard as His children.

We find the classic memory verse for Proverbs in this chapter and specifically at vs.10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  As you read through this chapter you are able to pick out verse after verse which just has some really good, well, wisdom in it.  For example, if you try to give constructive criticism to a fool, they will not appreciate it.  They will, in fact, make you an enemy.  If you give constructive criticism to a person who is mature and wise (vs.6) then they will be a better person for life.

You have had those experiences where you were trying to help someone and you realize that in helping they in turn have become bitter against you?  Now, there is a limit.  If you are the one who is always trying to help others in a not so helpful way, and then when someone tries to correct you  you snap off their head, well, that is not exactly what I am talking about.  In that case maybe you are the fool.  This chapter is pretty cut and dried and if we read through it I think we will be able to gain some great insight.

We see a very clear delineation between Proverbs 7 and 8.  In 7 we read about the one who leads others astray.  In 8 we read about wisdom who is the exact opposite of the one that we read about in chapter 7.  The key to wisdom is found in vs. 35 where we read her say: “Whoever finds me find life.”  

Throughout this chapter we read how wisdom was always close to the creator God who was in control then and will be in control forever.  Wisdom also describes herself in very flattering terms as we read: “For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.”   The author makes it clear that if you have to choose between the person described in chapter 7 or the one described in chapter 8, there really isn’t much of a choice.  Wisdom is the clear favorite.