Proverbs 20

Drinking, cheating, gossip, and boasting; it's all in here and more. A beat down chapter in Proverbs I might say: lots of imagery of an angry king who will dole out the smack-down to those who anger him. But what I take out is a central theme of work ethics, of how we are expected as children of God to behave in the market place:

• Work hard and appropriately within the given season (Proverbs 20:4 and 20:13)
  
• A man of understanding (a fruit of wisdom which is gained through a righteous fear of the Lord) will be able to plumb the hearts and motives of his clients/partners/colleagues/... (Proverbs 20:5)
  
• Do not cheat in business (Proverbs 20:10 and 20:23)
• No amount of marketing can compete with word of mouth and we will be known by our actions (Proverbs 20:11)
• Seak out those whith knowledge and constantly seek education (Proverbs 20:15)
• Do not guarantee the loan of a stranger (Proverbs 2016) You think that some of the traders, bankers on wall street should have read this proverb a few years back before they bought up all those subprime loans?
• Fraud will never be beneficial in the long run (Proverbs 20:17)
• Be sure that your partners can work in confidence (Proverbs 20:18)
• No need to seek revenge for wrongs done to you in business, the Lord will see to their just reward (Proverbs 20:22)

This is a handy laundry list of how best to handle ourselves in the market place. I believe that such behavior will be both beneficial to the business at hand as well as to the business of the kingdom.

Peace
Dustin

Proverbs 19

While reading proverbs, I sometimes feel like I am reading off of a sheet of fortunes before they are clipped and baked into a Chinese fortune cookie. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the structure; the proverbs are not grouped into any kind of like minded categories, but instead proverbs concerning different topics are sprinkled liberally throughout the book and each individual chapter. For example, the 29 verses in chapter 19 address 12 very different themes:

• Righteousness
• Patience
• Money
• Justice
• Power
• Characteristics of wisdom
• Family
• Laziness
• Poverty
• Anger
• The Lord's providence
• Benefits of education

Solomon's all over the place here! Even so, he essentially repeats the same proverb twice within the span of 4 verses:

A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who pours out lies will not go free. (Proverbs 19:5)

A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who pours out lies will perish. (Proverbs 19:9)

What I want to know, is how did someone sit down and decide that these 29 versus should make up a chapter and these other 33 versus should make up another chapter, and so on. Why isn't Proverbs simply one long run-on chapter?

I realize that today's blog is nothing more than a sophomoric rant and is a clear demonstration of my lack of wisdom :) But it's Friday and I am loosing my focus.

Peace.

Proverbs 18

OK, one last comment on the whole bribery thing and then I'm done. There are 2 standard definitions for bribery from Merriam-Webster:

1. money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust
2. something that serves to induce or influence

The first definition of a bribe would fall under the umbrella of subverting justice: it is not your argument to logic and reason that sway the opinion of the person in trust. However, the second definition of a bribe is a little less devious in nature. When I tip the cocktail waitress a dollar for a two dollar well drink it is no longer a tip for services rendered, but a gift to encourage quality service in the future: "treat me right and there will be more in it for you". This is simply greasing the wheels of the machine. When I bring in flowers for the secretaries in the office, this is a gift for their services on one level, but on another level I expect the gift to encourage cooperation and assistance in the future. A retailer provides discounts on their merchandise in order to influence your spending habits and encourage your future patronage of their establishment. All three of these examples of "bribes" are akin to what Solomon is talking about in Proverbs 18:16

A gift opens the way for the giver
and ushers him into the presence of the great.

And again, as with Proverbs 17:8, there is no condemnation of the action, simply a description of causation.

So we come back to the thoughts I was entertaining the other day regarding bribery and how it stands outside of a legalistic framework (at least that's what I was thinking about; if this came through in my writing is suspect:). I say that a gift with a hidden agenda (or even an acknowledged second agenda) is a bribe. Does such behavior jive with Christ's behavior? Does gifting with the hopes of influence (i.e., the second definition of a bribe) demonstrate loving our neighbor as our self?

Such gifting is a form of manipulation. Does Jesus manipulate to obtain his goals? Is manipulation a demonstration of our love? My first response to either question would be 'no'. But then I quickly backpedal: when I give presents to my son, it is to bring him joy and to make him happy. But that's manipulation! I am giving in order to manipulate his emotional state. This influence over his emotions may be motivated by love but is manipulation none the less. So what does that mean. Should all of our actions with the world be both altruistic and ambivalent? I would be hard pressed to get out of bed if I lived my life under such a structure.

So that leaves us no better off than where we started. In fact I might have lost some wisdom through that thought process :)

Proverbs 17

I've never been real good at keeping up with a journal and it seems I'm no better with a blog. It's been 2 to 3 weeks since I last posted, but I have been called back again to diligently put my musings out into the cyberverse. I might be more inclined to blog if I wasn't become so bored with Proverbs and continual listings of how to distinguish between the good and the wicked. I know that that statement is a bit flippant and clearly places me in the company of the unwise, but I must acknowledge my foibles in order to strengthen my character, no?

Two related verses on bribery piqued my interest:

8. A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it;
wherever he turns, he succeeds.

23. A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret
to pervert the course of justice.

It would seem that these two versus are at odds. However, the verse 8 is describing the benefits that will befall the man who does the bribing and verse 23 describes the wickedness of the man receiving the bribe. This reminds me of the double standards my friends in high-school and I held toward sexual promiscuity: kudos to the guy who could get some tail but any girl who saw a little action was a slut. Is this same kind of double standard at work here in Solomon's proverbs? That doesn't sit well with me, so I dug a little deeper. There is an interesting transcript of a commentary from the radio show "Stand to Reason," with Gregory Koukl in which Mr. Koukl expounds on these two verses and the ethics of bribery (http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5670). In short, Mr. Koukl explains that bribery in and of itself is not evil or sinful, but that when bribery is used to pervert justice, then wrong has been committed. You see it is justice that must be maintained; when bribery is simply used to grease the wheels, so to speak, then there is no harm done. Of course, this is a fairly legalistic interpretation of bribery and we should be looking to Christ for an example. Unfortunately I don't know of any example where Jesus employed or condemed bribery. However, Mr. Koukl's argumnet of using bribery in order to obtain a higher good sits well with my model of Jesus: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Mathew 5:17

Proverbs 16

This chapter begins and ends with a discussion about free will with an extra comment thrown in for good measure in the middle:

• To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue. (Proverbs 16:1)
• In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)
• The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. (Proverbs 16:33)
  

We are explicitly told three times that God is in control. But, then why is it such a mess down here? Verse 4 says that God works everything for his own ends, even when it appears otherwise (i.e., the wicked will get their due justice in the end). So is that it? For some things God just hasn't gotten a "round to it"? I don't know if that is quite fair; I have no concept of the complexity of the score that God is orchestrating. It is frustrating none the less.

We are told "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." (Proverbs 16:3) This seems straight forward enough, but there is a spiritual catch: even though the sentence is written as a conditional statement (e.g., if A then B) it is actually a logistic tautology (i.e., a statement that is always true). Why do I say this? Well, by committing what you do to the Lord, you are committing yourself to his will. Once 100% committed to his will, you will not devise plans that go against his will. And finally, we're back at verse 4 with God's will always being served in the end.

So it's easy right: if we simply align our will with God's will our plans will always be successful. But I don't always know God's will! I am often bumbling around in the dark. And when God's will is filled with pain and suffering on my part (or even worse my family and friend's part), how easy is it for me to align myself with his will. That's the rub right? It sounds so nice and peaceful: "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". But God's will is rough! Look at what he asked of his son. Or of what He asked of Paul, of Peter, of John, of all those who loved him dearly; they all knew the "fellowship of sharing in his[Christ's] sufferings" (Philippians 3:10).

So we must take comfort in knowing that God's will will be served in the end and that his will is good for all (including me). We take this on faith. But, when "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1) we will often find ourselves standing in a sea of tangible evidence to the contrary!

So where am I going with all of this? I don't really know :) I guess that I am wrestling with some of my oldest spiritual difficulties (and maybe man's in general). I know that I have free will; however, I and the universe in general will be better served if I align my will with that of God's. But, how am I certain of God's will when his path is often strewn with pain and suffering that appears contrary to what I might even trust as God's will.

Proverbs 15

Our tongue is such a powerful muscle. It can turn away wrath or stir up anger (Proverbs 15:1); It can disseminate wisdom or contribute to the confusion (Proverbs 15:2); It can bring healing and comfort or strip someone's spirit bare (Proverbs 15:4); It can spread knowledge or ignorance (Proverbs 15:7).

At times I feel as if my tongue is a muscle of its own accord, and at these times it is the betrayer of my heart. It will abuse those I love without my consent and speak lies while I desire to speak the truth. I pray for wisdom to control my tongue. I want to be its master at all times and never be bound by the deceit that it may spread. I am much less a victim to the wag of my tongue as compared to my youth, and I assume this is a sign of wisdom. All too often, however, I wish for more wisdom and a tongue that is a servant of the light.

Proverbs 14

The friends we surround ourselves with are a reflection of who we are or of whom we will become.

I don't know if the above is an actual quote, but I think that it sits well within the proverbs Solomon has presented in the 14th chapter.

Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips. (Proverbs 14:7)

But who are the fools? We can recognize them by their outward appearances and actions:

1. They will be the demise of their own home (Proverbs 14:1)
2. They will find themselves in trouble with authority (Proverbs 14:3)
3. They practice in deception (Proverbs 14:8)
4. They will not make amends for their wrongs (Proverbs 14:9)
5. They are hot headed and quick to anger (Proverbs 14:16)

And this list is only from chapter 14. Though we are not all fools, we all display the characteristics listed above on occasion. So then what really makes a fool a fool: They lack the fear of the Lord. But of course we already knew that! (see the first post in this series if you need your memory jogged)

Peace be with you

Proverbs 13

Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice (Proverbs 13:10).

Solomon spends a great deal of energy pointing out the folly of pride:

One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing; another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth (Proverbs 13:7).

He who scorns instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command is rewarded (Proverbs 13:13).

He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored (Proverbs 13:18).

My wife has probably been the best teacher of this lesson: pride is the mask of the ignorant, of the fool who turns his back on understanding. She is one of the most intelligent people I know, but she does not wear her intellect as a cloak of pride. Instead, she is always the first person to admit that she does not understand something and to diligently ask questions of those around her until she understands or has enough information to put it all together at a later date.

This is so different from my own natural instincts in which I follow the mantra "better to be thought the fool than to open your mouth and dispel all doubt". Often in my prideful way, I will assume that if I don't understand something, then I can figure it out later on my own. But, if I don't figure it out, then I continue to live in ignorance while if I had employed my wife's approach I would be the wiser.

And this is no different with my walk with God, though my pride is so much more humorous when in the company of our Creator. Still I find myself behaving as if I've got it all figured out or if I don't then I will surely work it out on my own in good time. But this is fool-hardy: our spiritual character and relationship with our Heavenly Father has been something we as a collective whole have wrestled with for generations upon generations. Who am I to think that I can work this stuff all out. And so I work on my pride. I take conscious effort to open myself up and admit that I struggle with my relationship with God, with my understanding of how I should behave during my waking hours, of what it means to live within the Kingdom, to be alive in life and be saved from death. I admit to being ignorant of the whole story. I am allowing myself to be vulnerable so that I may grow in the Kingdom from the words of the wise around me. I pray for a soft heart and the mouth of wise men.

Peace

Proverbs 12

Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food (Proverbs 12:9).

Why do we spend so much time behind our masks of insecurity? Who told us that we are not of worth? I am a child of God. Created by my Father of perfection. My God loves me for who I am and not what I want Him to think I am. With that so, why do I worry so much about what the world may think of me. But I do! I spend immeasurable amounts of energy spent on my earthly façade while I spend a relatively small amount of energy on my eternal relationship with God.

It is truly better to have the service of Christ and admit that we are not worthy of the treasures of heaven than to behave in arrogance and inherit our just compensation, i.e., nothing.

Peace

Proverbs 11

Justice: The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law (American Heritage).

There is no need to cheat, and those who do will receive their just reward. That about sums up the entire chapter, no? We are talking about honesty here and behaving in a just manner. From my interactions with people over the last 30-odd years, I am quite certain that most folks are truly seeking honesty from those around them. Why is it then that "honesty", as Billie Joel so eloquently put it, "is such a lonely word"? We've known since before the time of Solomon that the long-run payoff for the unjust is a negative return. But, our short-sightedness keeps our eyes on the immediate, and so we cut corners and behave dishonestly.

So how can we improve our long-term vision? Faith? Faith that even though we are presented evidence to the contrary, the just will prevail. And I again am not talking about heaven in the sky, singing with the angels kind of reward because even the unjust and dishonest have a chance to play in that big gig in the sky. I am talking about rewards here on earth in our lifetime. In business relations we always have the choice to either reap the immediate rewards today or to nurture long-term business relations that may produce smaller return up front but the long-term return greatly outweighs any up-front loss.

A quick story here. My wife took our car in to be inspected yesterday and the mechanic told her that the oxygen sensor was faulty and for $300 he would replace it and get the car legal. So she leaves the car with him, goes to work, and comes back later to pick up the car. She gets the bill and it's for $335. According to the mechanic, after installing the sensor, the car needed to be driven around in order for the new reading to be registered by the car's computer and the extra $35 was to pay for his joy ride. My wife tried to explained, to no avail, that she could have driven the car around for free and that he didn't obtain her permission. So she walks away from the mechanic who will never receive our service again. Why? Because he didn't behave justly and was only focused on being payed the $35 dollars he felt he deserved. But that money is all the money he will ever see from us.

And why do you think that Jesus explains how it is just and righteous to love your enemy? to turn the other cheek? Because the payoff in terms of kingdom currency is immeasurable. Our physical reaction to those who attack us is to attack right back. And of course we gain the immediate satisfaction of having our anger satisfied. But we are told that "a man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue." (Proverbs 11:12) Why? Because you have now made an investment of love (of agape) which has the potential to return infinitely. And we see this idea throughout this chapter:

A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself. (Proverbs 11:17)

One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty (Proverbs 11:24).

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed (Proverbs 11:25).

People curse the man who hoards grain, but blessing crowns him who is willing to sell (Proverbs 11:26).

Peace, be just, and find both in others.

Proverbs 10

The fear of the Lord, this will be my pillar of wisdom for today. As such, my aim is to act in complete respect of God and to behave in all ways so as not to offend. The fear of the Lord is a fear of the known and will fill me with strength and confidence for I have been provided boundaries within to act. This is not the fear of the unknown which has the power to debilitate, but in fact provides me with the power to act. (For more discourse on this topic, see my earlier post on Proverbs 1)

When I truly live in fear of the Lord, when I behave with awe and reverence for our creator, then I will truly walk in a right relationship with God; I will be able to count myself among the righteous. And we see clearly here in chapter 10 of Proverbs the benefits of being counted among the righteous. Those who are righteous (or wise) will

• Bring joy and life into the world
• Be cared for and blessed
• Be secure in their dealings with the world
• Provide for their neighbor

The righteous are

• Honest
• Diligent
• Receptive
• Loving
• Educated
• Disciplined

Many of the above traits are given mouth service by our generation as being positive aspects of a man's character. However, when I turn to our leaders, whether in business, politics, or community, the opposite of these characteristics are at the forefront of their behavior.  We must truly take note of God's promise here. Proverbs 10 clearly outlines the benefits bestowed upon the righteous and the detriments awarded to the immoral. Though we may find numerous examples to the contrary, dishonest men making fortunes hand over fist, the sloth who is served on hand and foot, the fool who runs a country (oops, are my political feathers showing), though we are bombarded day and night by stories of unscrupulous people succeeding in the world we must stand firm that in the limit God's promise is right and true. I don't mean this in some far off heaven explanation of God's promise. I mean that we will reap the benefits of right living here in our lifetime, but don't be surprised if the glory looks very different from what you envisioned - God has an awesome way of providing us with exactly what we need :)

Peace and may the fear of the Lord be your pillar of wisdom.

Proverbs 9

I am a numbers man. So when this chapter opens up with Wisdom building her house from 7 pillars, my very first question was, "what are these 7 pillars?" So being the Google junky I am, I simply put it in as a search and found that the seven pillars are related somehow to the life of Lawrence of Arabia (see Wikipedia). 

Visting another site I found someone connecting the pillars of wisdom to the beatitudes. He had a some difficulty squishing the 9 beatitudes into 7, but his argument can be accepted. Two months ago, I might have even been able to go along with his connection; however, after working through Dallas Willard's "The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God", in particular the 5th chapter, I have come to a very different understanding of the beatitudes:  the beatitudes is not a comprehensive list of those for whom God is pleased and will bless, but actually it is an extremely small subset of those for whom God has blessed, because EVERYONE IS WORTHY OF GOD'S BLESSING since there is nothing we can do to ever earn his blessing. (If you are questioning this interpretation of the beatituds I strongly reccomend that you spend some time with Willard's discourse on the subject because he has mapped it out quite elegently and it is a freeing journey from the shackling power of other interpretations.) So even after some beatitude squishing (i.e., from 9 to 7), Jesus's sermon on the mount can not be accepted as the defining fource behind Solomon's seven pillars.

Another cyber-author (Knight of Faith) digs into both the current and previous chapter to excavate the possible 7 pillars. Quoting directly from his site, we have from chapter 9:

1. Acceptance... (Proverbs 9:4)

2. Hospitality... (Proverbs 9:5) 

3. forsaking the foolish (i.e., establishing serenity)...(Proverbs 9:6)

4. restraint and good manners (serene comportment)... (Proverbs 9:7-8)

5. understanding... (Proverbs 9:8-9)

6. teaching, and... Proverbs 9:9)

7. fear of the Lord (awe, reverence, surrender, and mystical transcendence)

...(Proverbs 9:10)

or from chapter 8:

1. prudence...(Proverbs 8:12)

2. counsel (transmitted & shared wisdom & understanding) ... (8:14)

3. strength (8:14)

4. justice (8:15)

5. love (8:17,21)

6. prosperity (8:18-19,21)

7. righteousness (8:20) 

With some creative word associations we could probably line up some of the characteristics between the two groups, but clearly the two lists are not identical (e.g., prosperity is not discussed in Proverbs 9). So we again are with more than 7 characteristics! Maybe we should wake up every morning and assign seven characteristics to wisdom and approach the day in that mentality. How would that look? I think it would be awesome because I don't think that I start the day with even a single characteristic for Wisdom clearly emblazoned in my mind. If I were to start the day conciously visualizing seven characteristics of Wisdom, then I would likely not only see God's infinite wisdom all around me, but would more likely act in those areas of wisdom because I would be working with a tangible definition of wisdom as opposed to an abstract concept. Shoot, I could even start out small and simply begin with a single concrete description of Wisdom and have my world completely rocked. I like it! I am going to start my blogs from here on out with a characteristic of Wisdom and keep it as my mantra for the day. For today I will beging with "acceptance"; Wisdom is the acceptance of others without judgement or condemnation but with love and compassion and an understanding that they too are reflections of our maker. 

I know that I got stuck on the first line, so I leave the rest open for discussion if anyone wishes to pick up the cause. However, I am quite sure that we will pick up the themes laid out in this chapter later in subsequent sections of Proverbs. 

In closing, I will add another blogger's list of Wisdom's pillars pulled from a poem by Rumi:

In generosity and helping others be like a river.

In compassion and grace be like the sun.

In concealing others' faults be like the night.

In anger and fury be like the dead.

In modesty and humility be like earth.

In tolerance be like the sea.

Either appear as you are or be as you look. 

That is, Wisdom is: generous, compassionate, forgiving, peaceful, modest, tolerant,  and honest.

Please add to the list. What characteristics do you see Wisdom embrace? What makes up God's foundation for his house?

Peace

Proverbs 8

I love the poetry of this chapter. And within the poetry I see the reflection of Jesus. As Paul writes in I Cor 1:30 "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption". So we know Christ to be the channel through which God shares his wisdom with us. When comparing "The LORD possessed me (wisdom) at the beginning of his work" (Prov 8:22) and "He (the Word) was with God in the beginning"(John 1:2) we see a similarity that suggests that the Word (i.e., Jesus) and Wisdom are one and the same. We can also compare:

"You who are simple, gain prudence;  you who are foolish, gain understanding."(Prov 8:5) 

and 

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."(I Cor 1:26-27)

"Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her." (Prov 8:10-11)

and

"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."(Heb 11:24-26)

 

"By me kings reign" (Prov 8:15)

and

""I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Luke 22:29-30)

"Whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord" (Prov 8:35)

and

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." (Romans 8:11)

Of course, this chapter may simply be pretty poetry on the part of Solomon which is reflected in the poetry of the Gospels and Paul's letters.

Proverbs 7

Do we really need to be beaten over the head again with this adultery theme?!! I think that we get it by now: The frosting is sweet, but the cake is poison. 

The irony of all of this is the fact that Solomon had over 700 wives and 300 hundred concubines (I Kings 11:3). So in fact, the area of wisdom that Solomon harped on for so long was also his downfall. Granted, he did not commit adulter according to the letter of the law, but he surely committed it according to the spirit of the law. 

So once again we should pay close attention to the spirit! And then by default we will follow the letter.

Proverbs 6

1-5: It is better to be the banker and not the debtor's security! If you find yourself in debt, get out of it by all means: humble yourself to your neighbor (the friend you are securing) and encourage him to make right his debt.

This warning extends beyond the ideas of money. What if we vouch for our brother's character? We should again approach him in love and humbleness, begging that he correct his ways. It is also an implicit warning to be careful when we vouch for our neighbor. We have no control over his or her actions, but by securing his debt or his character, we somehow accept responsibility for his or her actions. We are incapable of any such control. We may be able to manipulate, bully, or force our neighbors hand, but this is not an action one would take within the agape of God and is also not true control. In fact, Solomon clearly paints the picture of how we should behave: in complete humbleness on our knees admitting that we do not control the situation and that our neighbor's debt is in his hands and that we have no power over it.

If our friend is behaving out of character we are not to approach him as a bully strutting our superiority and informing him how he should correct his ways. Nor should we be passive aggressive in our dealings. But instead we must approach him with love and humility and understand that we must first remove the plank from our eyes before we may ever hope to help him with the speck in his.

Proverbs 5

It has been some time since I last posted to this site. In the interim, I moved from my home of three years in Pickerington OH to my new home in Rockwall TX. It has been quite an upheaval and we are slowly getting abreast of our lives. I plan on being more diligent in the maintenance of posts to this site for anyone whom might be following my wondering mind as I weave through the Word. Before I spend any time directly throwing out my thoughts on Proverbs 5, I want to spend a little time discussing what God has been working in my life.

We have been made in His image. This is to say that we were created in a form that directly interacted with the creator of the universe. We were not made separate from God but in God; "in the image of God he created them". It was through sin that we have become deceived that we are separate from our creator; the illusion that God is outside our sphere of interaction came into shape at the fall of man. This was the consequence of our disobedience. Jesus Christ came as the eternal sacrifice to remove this separation, the death of our true nature, we have inherited from Adam and Eve Romans 5:12. Therefore, our mandate through the shedding of Christ's blood is to work to renew the holy connection we have with our Father. It is my belief that God never actually separated himself from us after the fall, but through the Adam and Eve's disobedience, an illusion of separation was erected. As such, it is simply an illusion, the only tool of the deceiver, that separates us from a complete relationship with God. And so we must wrestle with concepts and precepts outside of our flesh in order to align ourselves with the Father of Heaven. But we have been told that we are not able to take on this task alone. In fact, it is only by relying solely on our creator to bridge this divide that we actually place our footing on the path of salvation.

I see these ideas reflected in the 5th chapter of Proverbs in that we are reminded again to stay away from the adulteress; we are to recognize that she may be enticing at first glance, "the lips of an adulteress drip with honey, and her speech is smoother than oil", but in the end she is death, "she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword". And here we are in the words of Solomon dealing with illusion. At first glance, we take the reality of the flesh to be all that it is "reality". But nothing can be further from the truth! Reality is the infinite connection and relationship with the author of all creation. Reality is interacting with our brothers and sisters at the sincere level of the soul as opposed to the superficial level of the flesh.

When we fall in line with the adulteress, we answer the call of our flesh. Now, Solomon is not suggesting that we should not engage in activities that are pleasing to our physical senses: "may your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love". The wife of our youth is the woman we have loved at the level of the soul, for the lust of the flesh will only last a fortnight within the confines of matrimony and an enduring marriage requires the desires of the spirit, of the soul.

Adultery in this setting is an image for the greater illusions of fleshly desires. Our eyes hunger for the things of the world. In our present civilization, we are required to focus all of our endeavors toward the unattainable goal of physical satisfaction. Our economy is completely based on the rat wheel of never ending consumption (see The Story of Stuff). We are reminded time and time again throughout the bible that God does not reside with the pursuits of earthy desires but is outside this sphere of influence (though he does surround it completely and will engage and educate us through this inefficient medium). Therefore, as we rejoice in the wife of our youth, of our innocence, of our purity, of our soul, just as we conduct this soulish activity, we also should approach our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Proverbs 4

To be completely honest with you, I am getting a little bored with this continuing theme of holding onto wisdom, to be seeking it out always, and to steer clear of the ways of wicked people. Don't get me wrong, I think that the advice/guidance is dead-on and we should heed Solomon's advice. It's simply that it's getting a little repetitive. And I guess that this is simply a sign of vast wealth of patience :) What is Solomon and God stressing here?

Moral benefit from Wisdom (Proverbs 2)

• We will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:5)
• We will understand what is right and just and fair (Proverbs 2:9)
• Wisdom will save us from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse (Proverbs 2:12)
• Wisdom will save us also from the adulteress (Proverbs 2:16)

Other benefits from Wisdom (Proverbs 3)

• Wisdom will prolong our life many years and bring us prosperity (Proverbs 3:2)
• Wisdom will bring health to our body and nourishment to our bones (Proverbs 3:8)
• The wise inherit honor, while fools He holds up to shame. (Proverbs 3:35)

Wisdom is supreme (Proverbs 4)

• Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, ^[a] get understanding (Proverbs 4:7)

So now we know where we have been. And I suppose we also have a sense of where we are going: we will be discovering knowledge by wrestling with the riddles and sayings of the wise. So I am biting at the bit here. Let's get a move along the road of wisdom. I want to get it.

Lord I pray for your heavenly patience. I ask for your divine guidance along my walk. I pray that you will continue to place wise friends in my path and provide me with the ability to recognize their wisdom. In all ways, let me seek out the soulish substance of my reality so that your presence can come through in all things. Help me focus my sights on your goals and lead me to your pastures.

Peace,
Dustin

Proverbs 3

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

If I trust the Lord with all my heart, then there is no more room for me to trust anyone or anything else. If in all my ways I acknowledge God's hand, then I can never be distracted from His all-invading presence. And there's the rub. In my own paradigm, I so often walk around as if God were not there or at least as if he were in another room. I don't think that I am alone here. How do we visualize God? I think that Michael Angelo's famous fresco from the Sistine Chapel captures our idea of God's presence quite succinctly: God seems to be coming from some far off place, maybe up above the clouds somewhere; and here we are earthbound with the slightest chance that we might actually reach out and be able to touch God. In fact, I often get my child-like impressions of Santa Clause mixed up with my impressions of God; both ideas are far removed from my daily life. But what does this proverb suggest: in all your ways acknowledge the Lord. Why? because God is intimately involved in all things! God's presence is everywhere. You can't tie Him down to some backwoods location in the heavens. And the rest of the passage continues in support of this idea: provided we seek out wisdom (i.e., God's will) our lives will be blessed, God will intimately interact in our lives for our betterment. Of course, if we turn our backs on God's will (which we can because of our own free-will) then God may choose to reduce His interactions with us; however, He is never far away, we can not ever banish God from his own house!

I pray for the wisdom of the Lord. I pray that I will rely on His wisdom as apposed to my own understanding. Lord grant me your favor; allow me to come to You without schemes and means but with a child-like heart open to Your knowledge and wisdom. Allow me to retain Your teachings and to discern Your wisdom from earthly understanding. God, I ask that I can see You more clearly, that I can come to a further understanding of Your nature. I ask for Your blessings in these things for no other reason than that I can find myself in the bosom of our creator; so that I can walk in the righteous flow of Your presence and power; that I may live in peace with Your will.

Peace
Dustin

Proverbs 2:12-22

And so begins the benefits of wisdom. We see again that with wisdom we can be shielded from those who do wicked deeds. This is a logical conclusion, since we must first find wisdom by fearing the Lord, which in turn should lead us to a right walk with God. If we are in a right walk with God, then it will not be possible to fall-in with evilness. So wisdom is a natural hedge against those who seek to do harm or act against God's will.

Let me provide a bit of a testimonial here. If you are a date checker, then you might notice that I consistently entered a posting every day last week, but then was silent for 5 days straight. Now, I don't plan on posting regularly on the weekend, and Monday I was out camping. But Tuesday and Wednesday I simply chose not to post which meant I also did not seek God's wisdom those days by reading and meditating on his word. So there I am, purposefully being disobedient and consciously turning my back on wisdom and guess what happens next. Well, Tuesday morning I receive an anonymous email inviting me to view Nichole Kidman's breasts. Now I have struggled my entire life with pornography and have only recently, through God's help and the strength of friends, been able to step away from its trappings. But, for whatever reasons, I decided to follow the link instead of immediately deleting the email: I chose to "leave the straight path and walk in dark ways". Why? because I had consciously chosen to turn my back on wisdom and hence the safety she provides was lifted. Now on Tuesday I felt ashamed that I had fallen into an old trap and sought out God's forgiveness which was provided immediately, thank you Jesus. But come Wednesday, do you think I was back to the grindstone seeking out God's wisdom? No. In fact I was back seeking out more pornography! Without my soul focused on God, without the security of wisdom, I was like a leaf in the wind blown around by my own physical desires and the ways of wicked men. I thank God that he woke me this morning with the infinite love and patience he has and reminded me of my commitment to study his word and to seek out his wisdom.

As I said, I don't think that the temptations nor my lapse of resolve was a punishment for being disobedient, but instead it was a natural consequence of being out of tune with the ways of wisdom. I was distracted from the straight path and quickly fell in with the crooked. There is truth in God's word and we live it every day. God is being honest with us when he says that He will save us from evil ways, that He will be our shield and our protector. But due to our free will we have to turn to him to allow for his protection.

Peace
Dustin

Proverbs 2:1-11

Fourth of July weekend. U.S. day of independence. What a great country to be alive in. Looking around at the rest of the world and watching how many countries have struggled with self-government, I am amazed at the wisdom our forefathers had in setting up the foundation of our government. It is clear from the language of our constitution that our foundational charter was written in the fear of the Lord and hence with wisdom. But these men did not attain wisdom by simply praying all day and going to church whenever it convened; they were well educated men, philosophers and scholars; their wisdom began with true reverence to God, and was constantly supported by their faith, but was obtained by being citizens of the the world.

Solomon says that if we turn our ear to wisdom, apply our heart to understanding, cry aloud for understanding, and search for understanding, then we will find the knowledge of God. I find this to be a beautiful circle. So often we try to remove God from our daily realm of activities: I might see God at church, but when I re-enter the workforce on Monday, God is no longer a member of my activities. It is so easy to build up divisions between where God resides and is useful and where he is antiquated and a hindrance. But in this circular verse, we are told that if we begin the road of acquiring wisdom (which begins with a solemn relationship with God) then we find that we end again within God's knowledge. And the illusion is that in the circle of acquiring wisdom, of seeking understanding, we ever left God.

I continue my prayer for understanding. I cry out to God, let me tap into your wealth of knowledge and insight. Help me to tear down the barriers I established that separate me from the infinite. I hear your promise in Solomon's poem: For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. It is only within and through you that I can obtain the wisdom and knowledge necessary to successfully relate to the world I live in. I pray that I can be a conduit to my neighbors of your awesome gifts; that you will allow me to be a witness of your vast wisdom in communication, business, spirituality, relationships, stewardship; in all activities of our daily lives. Let me be a full member of your house as well as man's house. Let me truly see that there is no separation; that man's house is your house: your kingdom is here not elsewhere.

Peace

Proverbs 1:20-33

You made your bed, now sleep in it. That seems to me to be about the crux of Proverbs 1:20-33. Wisdom is there, all around us, waiting for us to grab hold of her hand and let her lead the way. But, we so often ignore her and trudge through relying on our own merits or on the advise from those around us and then don't understand when it all explodes in our face.

Now, if we recall, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, or in more contemporary terms, with devotion, faith, and reverence for our Father. At the end of this verse we are told that if we listen to wisdom (to God) "we will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm". What an awesome place to be! I want to be there. Now it doesn't say that we will not meet harm, but that we will live without fear of it. God's way might be easy (Mathew 11:30), but that doesn't mean we won't get bumper around, scratched and bruised, or even killed (no one gets out of here alive :). So if we have fear for the lord (i.e., due respect for our creator) then we will be without fear of the unknown because we know that we are tapped into God's infinite wisdom and are thus armed with all we need to deal with all that comes our way.

Let's focus some more on this fear of the Lord idea. I know that I spent a good deal of time thinking about what it is and made some headway. But what does it look like. Do we show fear of the Lord by: bending down on our knees in prayer, in singing songs of worship to him, in devotedly reading the bible, in contemplating his word, in discussing who and what Jesus is, by loving our neighbors, by following the other commandments, by evangelizing about the saving grace of God through the death and resurrection of his son? I suppose that the answer could be yes to all of the above. But as with all things spiritual, there is not a fixed formula for honestly demonstrating your reverence to God. When the action becomes old and mechanical, it surely is without devotion and emotion.

I am reading this book called the "Divine Conspiracy" by Dallas Willard. Now I am only a hundred pages or so in (it's a dense read), but the premise is very clear: the Christian world has applied Christ as a kind of get out of jail free card and expelled him from our daily lives - we only need Jesus to get into the gates of heaven. As Willard argues eloquently, this gospel of sin management robs us and God of the intimate daily relationship we both (God and me) desire. And it is this daily devoted relationship that is at the center of our fear of God, which in turn produces the wisdom that will set us free of fear: We will walk in the safety of our shepherd (Psalm 23).

Peace
Dustin

Brain Storming

So I am only three days into this blog and I am going to buck the trend already. I will continue to lay down my thoughts on the verses I am reading, but today I want to focus on the church that I am currently attending. For the majority of my adult years, I have been an anti-establishment man and that included church. It helped that I was also non-christian for most of that time, but even when I began my journey back into a relationship with Christ, I was wary of organized religion. So it wasn't until 3 years ago that I let my guard down and allowed myself to become a member of EVC a truly organized church with its bi-laws, and politics, and organization. And it has been an awesome experience. God has been faithful in demonstrating the spiritual needs that can be met by a church. He has also shown me that despite of of her faults (mainly being run by humans :) a church can play a powerful role in both the community as well as in an individual's heart.

Now it's 3 years later, I am getting ready to head off to Dallas, and I am watching all this human shit going down in my church home. And it hurts. Without going into details, human politics is rearing its head generating division and strife because folks are aligning behind one person's idea(s) or another. I can understand the passion a little bit, but I don't understand the amount it is pushing people. At least 2 of the topics are biblical in base: tithing and the expectation of our leaders, and missionary work and how to best support our missionaries. The third topic is more relevant to our times, but less biblical or spiritual in nature: should the church as a body align itself with a political/social stance or should it be neutral.

Folks are being hurt by this strife. People are leaving the church and some are even leaving Christ (or at least heading in that direction). And I bring this up here for two reasons. The first is posterity; I look forward to the future when the church has worked through these issues and this entry will be my only reminder of the strife within the church. I want to be able to look back and see what has come from this struggle. I hope and pray that God will use this time build the church up so that as a united body, she can truly be God's presence here in our community. Secondly, I add this entry as a written prayer. I know it is not of the poetic form we find in the Old Testament, but it is my petition to the creator: I don't know what is going on (as usual) but I don't like what I see, so God I ask that you will bring healing to your house, that the division and strife be removed instead of amplified.

Peace
Dustin

Proverbs 1:8-19

We see that Solomon's first piece of wisdom is to be careful regarding your friends. These are people who "lie in wait for someone's blood", who will fill their "house with plunder". On the face, this should be a fairly simple piece of advice to follow. I have made it through my young rebellious stage and behaving in a way so out of whack with social standards is no longer even slightly appealing.

But what if we read this passage more poetically. What is someone's blood? It is their life force. It caries nutrients throughout the body. With the loss of blood, the victim will become weak and lethargic. Solomon is saying that we need turn our backs on practices that victimize others, that might take from them resources they may need for their survival. This seems to fit well with the rest of the verse in which the miscreants sing of the plunder they will accumulate in their nasty behavior.

But it is more than possessions that we need for our survival. What of our personal integrity. When we slander an individual, we can cut them to the quick (which in itself is an analogy of bleeding). Gossip can turn the opinion of the community and potentially "waylay the harmless soul".

There is also the literal accumulation of another's wealth through underhanded means. We can steal via physical might. But, we can also plunder another man's possessions through mental trickery and deception. In our transactions with others, our tongue must be honest and forthright. Now we are getting into areas that are more difficult to control in our culture. To be successful in business, we might think that it is better to conceal some truths in a transaction. But this is a reaction out of FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real). We delude ourselves by thinking that if the individual knew the truth they would not be interested in the deal (this could be the selling of real estate, dissemination of scientific results, representation of one's political platform, etc.) As Solomon asks later in the verse: "How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds!" You might catch one finch with your deception, but all the rest will see your scheme and you will be out of business. When we behave in a deceptive manner with our fellow men, we "waylay only ourselves".

This is the wisdom of Solomon: The easy rode to wealth and power via ill begotten means will only lead to our own destruction. But we say to this, what of all those people who have cheated their way to wealth, power, and fame (or infamy). Briefly I ask, do you know their state of mind? Are they happy? Or, do they lay in fear for someone to come and waylay them? I'm not saying that if you are always honest and open with your daily transaction, then you will not be attacked and waylaid by those who are not, see Job. Solomon doesn't say that either. We must diligently be on our guard for highway robbers and thieves in the night. But we can be sure, if we choose join ranks with those who deceive and steal, then our actions will bight us in the ass.

Peace

Proverbs 1:1-7

A week ago, Adam Babcock (the YP@EVC) gave a message on wisdom and encouraged the congregation to read a chapter of Proverbs every day. In keeping with this idea I begin today's blog with my thoughts on wisdom which I have gleamed from my week of reading Proverbs.

The explicit purpose of Proverb, as the book initially details, is for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young (Proverbs 1:2-4). But what is wisdom? Proverbs 1:7 states that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (or knowledge). Which doesn't quite answer the question and raises another issue: what does it mean to fear the Lord? My initial idea of fear is related to dread and insecurity in my surroundings. This is a physical fear that I inherited from my animal nature. It is the fear that is fed by adrenaline - fight or flight. I believe that if God in all his glory were to step into my room right now I would experience this exact sense of fear - I would be terrified, petrified; however, I don't think that this is the idea of fear that Solomon was talking about.

So if knowledge begins with fear of the Lord, we need to understand this biblical meaning of fear. according to Robert B. Strimple, the kind of fear referred to hear is akin to reverence: honor or respect felt or shown: deference; especially profound adoring awed respect. But it is more than that. We have Moses telling the people of Israel: "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." (Exodus 20:20) so fear of the Lord will deter us from sinning, from disobeying the will of God. But how do we stay in-line with God's will, we must have our eyes, our hearts, our minds, our ears forever on him. Is this then part of fear, part of reverence for God: to keep our souls in communion with our Father? I think it gets us close: The fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom is the devotion and reverence (i.e., piety) that the creator of the universe deserves. It makes quite a bit of logical sense too. If we were to be constantly devoted to the creator of all things, then we would be forever in tune with the knower of all knowledge, the seer of all things obvious and hidden, the master of time and space. How could we not be wise with that kind of resource.

But we have only begun on the road of wisdom; as Solomon declares: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". According to Answer.com wisdom is 1. The ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight. 2. Common sense; good judgment. This brings me to a struggle I have with the idea of Godly reverence and following his will. Am I expected to walk around all day singing hymns and reading psalms to the exaltation and glory of God? This doesn't paint the picture of a wise person in my mind. Wisdom seems to be a trait that is useful to us here on earth while the heavenly reverence described in the previous sentence removes us from earthly experiences. With wisdom, we can judge what is true or right. So does that mean that I need to take every question in my daily life to the Lord? No, not if I have developed the wisdom that comes from a fear of the Lord.

Are we at a paradox: to obtain wisdom we must be in reverence of God, but with wisdom we can make sound judgement without explicitly taking it to God? No. It is only a paradox if we actualy think that we are seperated from God and this is not possible due to the work of Christ on the cross (and I think was even true before then, but that's an entire other discussion). If we have worked on our wisdom through diligent study of the word and through Godly reverence, then all our choices will implicitly follow through the will of God. If we see that wisdom comes from a fear of the Lord, then we can see that wisdom does not come from us, but from God. Thus, when we move in wisdom, we are moving within the flow of God, within his divine plan, within his will. Does that mean that we are hobbled in our daily activities by constantly having to turn to God to get his permission to act? No, again if we have spent time focussing on who and what God is, we will be in line, and his hand, through our learning, will guide us in the decision process. What a burden to be lifted! I don't need to be constantly turning over my sholder looking for my Father's permission provided I have done due dillegence through reading of the scripture, discussing the spirit with a likeminded community, and having time in my day dedicated to the Father. As we can see, there is action necessary on my part: I need to strive for wisdom, but with wisdom I am free of the debilitating kind of fear that can inhibit me from action.

Peace