Author: Chris Marshall

Proverbs 25 starts by letting us know these proverbs were recorded by King Hezekiah. They were still proverbs of King Solomon, and they read as his proverbs.  He continued to cover the gamut of topics, although the chapter has several references to the king. Let’s look at one of those: ¹⁵With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone. Proverbs 25:15 (ESV) Patience plays such a powerful role in our lives when we see the big picture and the long term, instead of living for only the here and now. A ruler, or anyone else for that matter, may be persuaded over time, to come to our point of view.  But if we think only of the moment, and practice impatience, we are far less likely to see any change.  King Solomon used an image from everyday life to underline his point: a soft tongue will break a bone.  Again, this is true if we are patient.  Without patience the bone withstands the effort to break it, but over time the tongue will do its work.

Proverbs 26 focuses more than the typical chapter on fools and the outcomes of their actions, and ultimately of their lives. It is helpful to remember as we read each of these proverbs that the words we’re reading, if followed will turn into actions. Those actions, if repeated, will become habits.  The habits will ultimately forge our destinies.  That is why it is so important not to let foolish words, or thoughts enter our minds in the first place.  When we do, we must remember not to repeat the action.  Otherwise it becomes a habit and that leads us down a slippery slope.

As we return to Luke 20, the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders is intensifying. They ask Jesus question after question, starting with a challenge to His authority to say and do the things He has been saying and doing. It seems a reasonable question, but Jesus doesn’t fall for the trap.  He uses His common response of answering a question with a question.  He asks them whether John the Baptist’s authority was from heaven or man?  The questions was lose-lose for the religious leaders, because if they answered heaven, Jesus would ask them why they didn’t listen to him, but if they answered from man, the crowds would go after them, because they considered John a prophet.  The religious leaders said they didn’t know, so Jesus responded He would not tell them the answer to their question either.  Jesus then told a parable about a vineyard owner whose tenants were evil, and ultimately killed the vineyard owner’s son.  The religious leaders realized the parable was about them. They wanted to arrest Jesus, but the crowds were on Jesus’ side.  As the chapter continues, Jesus responded to what seemed like unanswerable questions, but Jesus had no difficulty answering them.  When the religious leaders asked their seemingly lose-lose question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus asked for a coin, and when they gave it to Him, He asked whose inscription and likeness were on it? When they said it was Caesar’s, Jesus told them to render to Caesar the things that were Caesar’s and to God the things that were God’s. When the Sadducees attempted to trick Jesus with a question about the resurrection, Jesus basically said, “You need to go home and read your Scriptures, because you don’t know what they say.”  After these interactions, Jesus went on the offensive.  He knew the religious leaders were going to arrest Him, and He was going to be crucified, so He took the straight at them approach.  While we are never called to be arrogant when dealing with those who stand against us as we stand for Jesus, we need to be sure we don’t back down from speaking the truth in love.  It must be truth in love, but we can offer nothing less!

An interesting point about Proverbs 22 is in the middle of the chapter we’re told we are being offered “Thirty sayings of the wise.”  We don’t get thirty sayings before the end of the chapter, which is because the verse and chapter notations were added centuries after the proverbs were written.  Any time we read a book of the Bible, or a chapter or portion of a chapter from it, we need to remember the chapter breaks were assigned by folks who thought they made sense.  Many of them do, but we find some strange ones as we read through the Bible from cover to cover.  (Probably the strangest chapter break of all is found between Acts 21 and Acts 22.  Most of the modern English Translations have changed it, but the phrase “in Aramaic” was originally separated from the end of Acts 21, and was the beginning of Acts 22.)  One of the best-known verses in Proverbs is found in this chapter: ⁶Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)  The verse encourages us as we parent to teach our children the ways of the LORD, because they will live them when they grow up, or at least when they are “old.” We need to make an important distinction here: Proverbs 22:6 is a principle not a promise.  A principle is generally true, while a promise is assured to all who receive it based on the integrity of the one who promises. If we train up our children in the way they should go, generally speaking they won’t depart from it. The opposite is also true: if we train our children to be deceptive, or dishonest, generally speaking, they will continue that pattern into adulthood.  But, and this is an important but: this is a principle not a promise.  Because our children have the freedom to choose the direction of their lives, they might choose not to follow their upbringing, which would be good if it was bad, and bad if it was good! 

While Proverbs 23 starts out much as the previous dozen chapters, it ends with a focus on the ills of drunkenness. King Solomon devotes the final seven verses to telling and illustrating what it is like when a person walks down the road of drunkenness.  He doesn’t use the world alcoholism, but we can imply Solomon was talking about a habitual pattern of drunkenness.  He calls us to avoid it, because it is a path that leads to destruction.  As Jesus’ followers, we know Jesus didn’t condemn the consumption of alcohol, and the Apostle Paul commended Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach, or for medicinal purposes.  Both Jesus and Paul stood with Solomon, though, when it comes to drunkenness: it is destructive.  I have long abstained from the consumption of alcohol, because we live in a culture that talks about social drinking, but means drunkenness.  I have worked with so many folks who have suffered through the impact of alcoholism, and for them sobriety, not drinking is the only solution.  When I have asked them, “How many people did you know growing up who didn’t drink alcohol?” The answer was always, “None.”  I raise my hand, and say, “Now, you know one.”  I don’t do that to pat myself on the back.  I do that to show them it is possible to live without alcohol, that life can be enjoyable without it.  Each of us needs to come to our own understanding of how our consumption of alcohol might impact those around us, particularly those whom the Apostle Paul referred to as “weaker brothers.”  Solomon’s admonition is clear: drunkenness destroys lives.

Proverbs 24 is filled with wisdom we could consider here, but let’s pause where King Solomon did at the end of the chapter: sloth. Sloth, of course, is resting taken to an extreme.  Rest is good.  We’re called by God to live in rhythms of work and rest.  But when rest becomes laziness, when it becomes an unwillingness to work, it ruins our lives. Just as drunkenness leads to destruction, so does sloth.  We live in a culture that is often driven.  The tendency seems to be to over do it, rather than not doing it, but in every era there are those who would rather sit back and watch than to engage in life. Solomon reminds us, the end result of that approach is poverty. He was meaning financial poverty. The poverty that comes from sloth carries over throughout our lives, and impacts every area of it.

As we return to Luke 19, Jesus has set His face toward Jerusalem.  We are moving to the last week of His life.  Jesus tells the parable of the minas, which is a reminder to us all that everything we have is entrusted to us by God, and we are to use it to His glory.  He also tells us of the impending suffering that will take place in Jerusalem not long after He dies, rises again and returns to heaven.  He makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and cleanses the Temple of the moneychangers there.  All this incites the anger of the religious leaders, because they see Jesus’ direct defiance of everything traditional.  Jesus takes credit they see belonging only to the Messiah, and they have rejected Him as the Messiah.  The religious leaders have determined to end Jesus’ life, and the only question for them is, “When?”  The crowds were so enthralled with Jesus, the religious leaders were afraid of reprisals from them, if they attempted to arrest Jesus during Passover week.

Proverbs 19 continues the theme of pithy sayings about the wise, the foolish, and the wicked.  We also find sayings about the wealthy and the poor.  One of the statements that alludes to wealth reminds us of the LORD’s hand in one of life’s most pivotal relationships: marriage.  Here’s what we read: ¹⁴House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.  Proverbs 19:14 (ESV)  We can assume a prudent husband is from the LORD as well, although in King Solomon’s time, women were not considered equal with men.  In some cultures, they were considered little more than property, although in the culture of Israel women were esteemed somewhat more highly, and the Law of Moses granted them protections not found in other cultures.  In any case, the point of the proverb is the LORD’s hand is in providing a prudent wife.  That has certainly been the case in my life.  Nancy has been such a great blessing in every area of my life, but her prudence, which means “wise in practical matters,” has been so vital.  I’m a “big picture” person, a visionary, what some would call a dreamer.  While Nancy also sees the big picture, she has always been able to see the practical implications of the big picture or vision.  She has provided much needed stability to me and our family over the years.  King Solomon told us such a blessing comes from the LORD.  

Proverbs 20 continues to offer us correction, admonition, and encouragement.  One detail about the chapter is it condemns the use of false weights and measures not once, but twice.  Any time we emphasize something twice, it is important.  Why the focus on condemning false weights and measures?  First, the practice is dishonest.  It involves both lying and stealing.  In an Old Covenant world, breaking at least two of the Ten Commandments with one action is a condemnable action.  (We could say it also breaks at least two more of the “big ten,” because it is an affront to God, and puts an idol before Him – money, because the outcome of using false weights is to put money before relationship.)  Second, the ones who would be most impacted by the false weights would be those who were poor or less financially stable.  While cheating anyone is sinful and worthy of condemnation, cheating those who have little in the first place is even more so.

Proverbs 21 offers the same approach we have been experiencing, so let’s look at one verse once again: ³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.  Proverbs 21:3 (ESV) I chose this verse, because King Solomon recognized the heart of the LORD emphasizes righteousness-right relationship with Him and others over the rituals of the Law.  While the sacrificial system was important in the Old Covenant world, even then, the LORD was most interested in righteousness and justice.  The LORD never needed our sacrifices.  He is self-sufficient. We needed to offer them, because of our sin, but we always needed to live in relationship with Him and with each other in ways based on doing what was best for the other, whether the LORD or our neighbor.  In this brief summary, King Solomon reminded us to put the matters of right relationship before religion or ritual.

As we return to Luke 18, we find it brimming with action and instruction.  Jesus taught the disciples about persistence in prayer.  He taught them about the importance of humility in prayer.  He taught them the Kingdom of God belongs to the childlike, not the “mature.”  He taught them that worldly wealth, far from being an automatic blessing from God–which all of them would have assumed it was–can be the very thing that keeps us from God. Jesus healed a blind man, because of the man’s faith, which shows us sometimes our faith prompts the LORD’s healing in our lives.  Sometimes He heals on the basis of other people’s faith.  Sometimes He heals on His own initiative, and sometimes He doesn’t heal in the way we ask.  Throughout the chapter, we see Jesus as the one who is in charge, as the one who sees the bigger picture, who understands at the deepest level what it means to be godly.  He also reminds the disciples the religious leaders are not learning these lessons.  Indeed, they are going to put Him to death, because He came to usher in a new movement, a new covenant, and would eventually offer a new commandment that would sum up all of them: Love one another as I have first loved you.  Jesus amazes us with His unswerving commitment to completing His mission on the earth, even when He knew it would lead to His death.

Proverbs 16 offers us numerous admonitions to honor the LORD, and to remember while we make our plans, it is the LORD who determines the outcome, or who orders our steps.  Most of the chapter focuses on the positive, but toward the end we read a few admonitions against wickedness and foolishness.

Proverbs 17 offers more admonitions against wickedness and foolishness, along with encouragement to live wisely.  Nestled in the middle of the chapter is this jewel: ²²A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22 (ESV) As we go about our daily lives, the supernatural presence of joy makes all the difference.  Not only does it show others the LORD is in control of our hearts, but it also provides a medicinal impact.  While the statement was written several thousand years, ago, modern medicine has shown us the benefits of living with joy. Some would call it a positive attitude, but a positive attitude, and happiness are natural, while joy comes from the Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 18 continues the formula of speaking about the difference between wise, foolish and evil people.  Let’s look at two proverbs that don’t focus on that so much as they help us understand relationships. The first is:  ¹⁷The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.  Proverbs 18:17 (ESV) It’s so important when we are in relationship with people, and there is a conflict to hear not just “both” sides of the story, but to listen through the Holy Spirit within us. Having been a pastor for more than three decades, I have had so many situations where a person has come and told me his or her side of a situation, and I thought, “Wow!  He (or she) is being treated so unfairly.”  Then comes the “offender,” and I hear his or her side of the story and think, “Wow! He (or she) is being treated so unfairly.”  Then the question comes: How do I know who is right?  It can be a matter of one telling the truth and the other lying, but it is rarely that.  It can also be a matter of perspective, or each having only part of the information.  Many years ago, a church secretary told me, “She’s going to tell you her husband is totally at fault, but remember: every board has two sides.”  Over the years, I’ve found her statement to be so true, and I’ve also learned every board not only has two sides.  It also has two edges!  The second proverb reminds us how important it is to have a truly close friend in our lives: ²⁴A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24 (ESV)  In this Facebook age in which we live, many people have hundreds of “friends,” but no one who sticks closer than a brother.  King Solomon made it clear, each of us needs someone who will be there for us–period.  I have been blessed to have one or more such friends all my life.  The good thing in such situations, is the friend also has someone who is there for him or her–you.  As we live our lives, we must always remember: Life is a team sport!

As we return to Luke 17, let’s focus on Jesus reminder to forgive our brother (or sister) repeatedly.  He says to forgive seven times a day, but the implication is no limit exists on our need to forgive those who sin against us.  Jesus told us over-and-over again to forgive, because we have been forgiven.  One of the clearest signs we are redeemed by Jesus’ blood is we demonstrate forgiveness to others.  To be clear, forgiveness does not mean we endorse the other person’s sin.  It means we let go of our right to hold the sin against the person.  We don’t have to become close friends with those who sin against us repeatedly.  We don’t even have to be friends with them.  We do need to forgive them and release them to God.

[Before we start our reflection on Proverbs and Luke today, let’s pause and thank the LORD, for giving us the opportunity to live in a land where we may worship Him freely.  Pray for God’s blessings on America, and that we return our focus to the LORD!]

Proverbs 13 shows us once again the differences between the wise and righteous, and the wicked and foolish. King Solomon also offers us a pointed instruction regarding the company we keep.  He wrote: ²⁰Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.  Proverbs 13:20 (ESV) We’ve all heard this instruction at some point, whether from this very proverb or from our moms when we were growing up.  While we are called to share the good news of Jesus with everyone: wise, righteous, foolish and wicked, the company we keep regularly influences us dramatically.  Charlie “Tremendous” Jones put it this way: You will be the same person five years from now that you are today, except for the company you keep and the books you read.”  Jones understood what we put into our minds and hearts influences who we become. If our friends are following Jesus, we will find it much easier to follow Him, too. If we are reading books (or listening to podcasts, watching videos, etc…) that feed our minds and hearts in the ways of wisdom and righteousness, we will become more like that.  The opposite, when it comes to friends, and the information we put into our minds and hearts is also true. We get to choose who we become, by choosing the company we keep and the information we receive.

Once again in Proverbs 14 we read the benefits of wisdom and righteousness, and the consequences of folly and evil.  King Solomon mentions the consequences of anger specifically, and because this is an area so many of us share as a struggle, let’s look at it a bit more intently:²⁹Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.  Proverbs 14:29 (ESV) Notice, those who are slow to anger have “great understanding.”  Remember, the man who wrote these words was the wisest man who ever lived before Jesus, and he was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  The opposite of being slow to anger is the one with a “hasty temper.”  This one exalts folly or foolishness.  How much I can affirm that truth from personal experience.  A volatile temper is not a blessing.  The quicker we blow up, the more often we will find ourselves needing to apologize (if we are seeking the LORD and His righteousness) or to rationalize or justify our behavior.  It is easy when we blow up to blame someone else for “causing” us to blow up.  The truth is no one can cause us to do anything.  We are accountable for our own actions.  We must learn, and in some cases, have supernatural resources to live as those who are slow to anger.

Proverbs 15 includes a couple more admonitions against inappropriate anger, and continues to show us the difference between wise and righteous living, and foolish and wicked living.  The chapter closes out with this statement: ³³The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. Proverbs 15:33 (ESV) Here Solomon ties fear of the LORD and humility together.  The tandem demonstrate wisdom and produce honor.  We live in a fast-paced culture that doesn’t often lift up wisdom and humility, but the LORD has always done so.  If we want our “path” to lead to the LORD, fearing the LORD and living in humility are vital.

As we return to Luke 16, Jesus offers some penetrating teaching, teaching that isn’t intuitively obvious to us, and would not have been to those who listened to it in His day. The first parable about a steward who cheated his master in order to buddy up to his masters’ debtors, so he would have a place to work after he was fired, doesn’t make sense at first.  That’s especially true when we find the man’s master commended him for his shrewdness. But the “punchline” or explanation Jesus offers tells us something we might not have come to naturally in following Him: We can use the worldly “mammon” or money, which Jesus tells us will be the chief rival god in our lives, to bring glory to God, and to make friends of the Kingdom.  The practical living out of that will come in many ways, but as we use the money we have earned, (hopefully from more honest means than the shrewd manager) let’s always remember we are stewards or managers of it, and as we use it in ways that advance Jesus’ Kingdom more people will come to follow Him!

As we turn to Proverbs 10, we find the “true” format of the Book: a wise saying is offered in one verse, followed by another wise saying in the next verse.  The two are typically not related. There is a commonality about all these proverbs, though.  They lay out four types of people: 1) Wise; 2) Righteous; 3) Foolish; and 4) Wicked.  We could combine the wise and the righteous, because we’re told righteousness brings wisdom, and we could assume the wise are righteous in the way they live, but King Solomon uses these two categories as he offers us his wise sayings.  We want to be found in the categories of the wise and the righteous as we read the proverbs and live them out in in Jesus’ name.  The third and fourth type of people are separate, but they can also be found together.  A fool, or foolish person, is not necessarily evil.  He or she might not mean to do others harm, but they live in such ways as to do harm to themselves and others. Foolishness causes us to do unwise things, and the consequences are typically negative. While the wise and righteous learn from instruction and change as a result, the fools don’t learn from instruction, and they continue in their patterns of foolishness.  The only way to change a fool’s behavior is to give a tangible consequence.  While the fool might not learn from the consequence, his behavior will change, at least for the duration of the consequence.  The wicked are selfish and plot to do others harm.  They care only about themselves and live for their own benefit. Wise people and righteous people avoid the wicked, because they understand the wicked don’t change, short of direct intervention from God.  We have an obligation to tell the wicked about Jesus, but we don’t have an obligation to let them hurt us in the process.  As we read the proverbs and other sections of Scripture, as we go about daily life, it is wise for us to ask ourselves: Am I learning from the lessons the LORD is putting before me in His word, in His world, and through His people?  If the answer is “Yes,” then praise the LORD!  Keep it up. If the answer is, “No,” then it’s time to call on Him to move us from our foolish or wicked ways and back to Him.

Proverbs 11 moves back and forth between telling us what happens to those who pursue righteousness and the foolish and wicked.  The contrasts are broad and the implications clear: the LORD rewards the righteous, and punishes the foolish and wicked.  As we read these words, we see they are absolutely true.  The wise and righteous will read them, learn from them, and live more fully in the LORD’s ways.  At the same time, those of us who have trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord, must always remember living with the Holy Spirit in control takes away the need for us to live according to the Law, to the ways of the Old Covenant.  That doesn’t mean we ought to ignore the Old Testament, but as we read it, we read it through the lens of God’s grace demonstrated in Jesus, and His power extended to us through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit helps to bring truth and wisdom to our minds when we need it, as we live in Him and call on His name.

Proverbs 12 moves us once again back and forth between the way a righteous person acts and how the wicked acts the opposite.  We don’t see so much about the wise and the foolish in this chapter, but we continue to see King Solomon push us toward righteous and virtuous lives instead of wickedness.  The final verse of the chapter shows us the ultimate “destination” for the wise and the righteous: ²⁸In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death. Proverbs 12:28 (ESV) 

As we return to Luke 15, we read again the parables of the three “lost” possessions: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.  The context of the parables is so important: Jesus was speaking to a group of tax collectors and other “sinners,” along with a group of religious leaders.  These two groups represented the opposite ends of Jewish society. The religious leader thought of themselves as the wise and righteous ones we read about in Proverbs 10-12. The tax collectors not so much.  Jesus made it clear to the tax collectors and sinners that God was looking for them.  He is represented by the shepherd, the woman who lost the coin, and the father of the two sons.  He was also making it clear to the religious leaders that God is gracious.  Righteousness isn’t only about following the rules.  Righteousness is also right relationship with God and others. This is seen most clearly in how the father in the final story goes out to the “good” son, and tells him how important it is to celebrate with his younger and prodigal brother, who has come home.  We can’t live in self-righteousness, or as rule followers and understand the true righteousness of God.  As Andy Stanley put it in his book Irresistible:  Jesus liked people who were nothing like Him, and people who were nothing like Him liked Jesus.  As we go about our days, we must seek to live in wisdom and righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we do, we must also let the power of the Holy Spirit move us to compassion for those who are still lost and who need us to be participants in welcoming them home.

Proverbs 7 is a detailed call from King Solomon for his son not to fall into the trap of the adulteress.  He lays out how the adulteress operates, and the ultimate end for those who turn to her: death.  The statement seems dramatic in our anything goes American culture of the 21st century.  Yet, Solomon was right then, and he is right today.  A thousand years after Solomon wrote these words, Jesus would remind us adultery starts in the heart, and the Apostle Paul would tell us sexual sin is a sin against the “temple” of God, because the Holy Spirit resides within us.  Thus, we are the “temple” of God.  As we seek to live holy lives, lives that bring glory to God, one of the chief areas for purity to reside is in our thoughts, hearts, and actions when it comes to sexuality.

Proverbs 8 “personifies” wisdom.  Wisdom speaks to us as if we could shake hands when we meet.  The benefits of wisdom are the eradication of foolishness, material prosperity, and favor from the LORD.  While these benefits are typical of Old Covenant promises: If you do this, then the LORD will do that… the truth is wisdom carries over to Jesus’ teaching, and in his book, James, the brother of Jesus, spoke of its importance as well.  Wisdom will not save our eternal souls, only Jesus can do that, but wisdom does point us to Jesus, and offers us clear guidance for daily living.

Proverbs 9 contrasts wisdom and folly.  When we read the descriptions, we wonder why anyone would want to follow after folly and become a fool. Yet, folly is popular.  She is accompanied by myriads of people, and each of us accompanies her at times.  As we read the chapter we see how important it is to avoid folly and to pursue wisdom.  The life we long for is found in the “house” of wisdom, not the house of folly!

As we return to Luke 14, we find Jesus once again turning the religious leaders’ world upside down.  He heals on the Sabbath.  He tells them to invite the poor, the lame, and those who can’t repay them to their banquets.  He tells them they must hate their families and loved once, if they are going to love Him.  (That last one would have caught even His own disciples by surprise!)  As we read Jesus’ words, and attempt to hear them as those who heard them the first time, it is hard to imagine how radical the words would have seemed.  Many of us have read them before.  Some of us have read them many times.  They have lost their shock value for us, if they ever had any.  We did not grow up steeped in the Law of Moses.  Jesus’ words make sense to us.  Who wouldn’t heal a man on Sunday? (The Sabbath)  But how many of us invite strangers to our dinner parties?  How many of us “hate” our families so we can love Jesus.  That last point was undoubtedly hyperbole, but Jesus must be first in our lives if we are going to serve Him as LORD.  If He is not first in our lives, we haven’t trusted Him as Savior. Jesus will hold only one position in our lives, the position reserved for God–first!

Proverbs 4 is an integrated whole, in which King Solomon tells his “son” that wisdom is supreme and he must gain it at any cost.  Remember, King Solomon was the richest man who had ever lived to that point in history, or at least the richest man in the history of Israel.  Yet he said the most valuable “commodity,” the one to be “bought” at any “price” is wisdom.  He offers a key truth about wisdom once we have gained it in verse 23: ²³Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)  “Above all else.”  Nothing is more important than guarding our hearts.  As we know from so many passages in Scripture our hearts are the source of our lives, or the “wellspring.”  If our hearts are filled with God’s wisdom, we will live that out in our lives.  If we allow them to become “polluted,” the result will be lives that fail to honor God, and fail to be lived to God’s best for us.

Proverbs 5 is devoted to another warning against adultery.  We are told it leads to death.  It destroys our lives.  At the end of the chapter Solomon reminds his son, that every person’s ways are in full view of the LORD. This is such a vital reminder for us.  I always recommend people have an accountability partner, because they can help us to develop and grow in our walk with the LORD.  Yet, at the deepest level the LORD is each of our accountability partner.  We are ultimately accountable to Him, and He sees everything we do.  I might be able to hide something from my accountability partner, but the LORD knows my thoughts before I think them.  That’s a helpful reminder to me, and to all of us, when we consider stepping outside of God’s plan for our lives, whether toward sexual immorality or any other sin.

The first fifteen verses of Proverbs 6 warn us against sloth or laziness.  The end of such behavior is poverty and death. In verses 16-19, Solomon warns us of six matters the LORD despises.  Obviously, we want to stay away from them!  Then Solomon offers another warning against adultery.  (Are you seeing a pattern?) While every sin breaks our relationship with the LORD, the Apostle Paul would one day remind us that sexual sin is a sin against “the temple” of the LORD, because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Solomon understood this a thousand years before Paul came on the scene, and reminded his son of the importance of maintaining purity before the LORD.

As we return to Luke 13, Jesus is moving toward Jerusalem where He will be crucified.  We aren’t told that directly, but His interactions with the religious leaders show us.  They warn Him that Herod is after Him.  Jesus’ response is to note that a prophet can’t die outside of Jerusalem.  That would seem an odd response, if we didn’t live on the resurrection side of Easter.  Why would Jesus, who was so popular, who was amazing everyone with His teaching, His miracles and His power to cast out demons, say anything about dying?  It seemed Jesus was “on the rise.”  Jesus knew otherwise.  He had come to die, and the ministry He carried out was leading Him in that direction.  Thank God for that reality! If Jesus had followed the easy path of riding His popularity to fame and fortune, we would never have had the opportunity to know God personally, to receive salvation from sin and death, nor to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.  All Jesus did points to His Lordship in our lives, but nothing more than His intentionality about moving toward His death on our behalf instead of away from it.

Today, we turn to the Book of Proverbs. Most of these “pithy” sayings are attributed to King Solomon. We can’t summarize chapters in Proverbs as we have done to this point, because for the most part the proverbs aren’t written in narrative form, nor are they poems intended to be set to music.  At times one verse has no apparent connection to the next, while at other times a portion of the chapter does relate to the rest of it.  The approach we will take is to see the overarching theme of the chapter if there is one, and when there isn’t, we will focus on one, two, or a few of the verses and their points of wisdom.  I often recommend new believers read a chapter of Proverbs each day, along with a chapter of the Gospel of Mark, because as we do so, we read through Proverbs once each month (it contains 31 chapters), and Mark twice each month (with a bit of extra reading on the last day of each month).  This approach gives us the opportunity to anchor ourselves in Jesus’ life and teaching, as well as to learn the wisdom of one of the wisest men who ever lived in King Solomon.

The first seven verses of Proverbs 1, tell us it was written to give us wisdom and understanding.  It also tells us the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  What a vital truth!  We live in a culture that often diminishes the power and majesty of God, if it acknowledges His existence at all. He is the almighty Creator of all that exists.  A healthy fear, awe, and reverence are the appropriate attitudes and approaches to Him. Verses 8-19 warn the reader to listen to the wisdom of parents, and not to get entangled with evil friends.  I hear my mother’s voice in these verses telling me I would turn out like the friends I kept.  The remainder of the chapter offers a simple truth: wisdom is rewarded with good, and foolishness leads us to destruction.  We might respond, “Duh!”  But the simple truth is we don’t always listen to simple truth. God’s word always leads us to wholeness, healing, and victory over sin, but the sinful natures with which we were born are bent toward sin.  Heeding wisdom is simple, but not easy. In truth, without the leading of the Holy Spirit we won’t succeed for long at walking the straight and narrow path that leads to life.

Proverbs 2 summarizes the moral benefits of living lives of wisdom.  King Solomon raises a theme at the end of the chapter he will return to repeatedly: He calls men to avoid adulterous women.  Why would that be a repeated focus? We could turn to Solomon’s own life.  He was a man who had 700 wives and 300 concubines!  He ended his life worshiping the false gods of the women he married rather than the true God.  Personal experience might well have been Solomon’s guide.  He was also being guided by the Holy Spirit as he wrote, so he was guided to this theme.  In every era, sexual immorality has been a stumbling block to living holy lives, so Solomon warns against it repeatedly.

Proverbs 3 offers additional benefits of wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 are two of the most quoted verses in the Bible, and we will examine them here: ⁵Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) Notice, King Solomon tells us to trust in the LORD will all our hearts.  He also tells us not to lean on our own understanding.  This can mean many things, but let’s consider this one meaning: At times, it won’t make sense to trust the LORD.  What He calls us to say or do won’t go along with conventional wisdom, or with the will of the majority.  In those times, it will be easy to go along with the crowd, but especially in such times, we must trust in the LORD, in His wisdom, in His ways.  You have probably heard the saying, “What is popular is not always right, and what is right is not always popular.”  Proverbs 3:5-6 will lead us to some of those right, but not popular, moments as we trust the LORD and let Him make our paths straight.  The longer I live, the clearer I become on how important it is to look to the LORD for wisdom rather than to the internet or the latest opinion poll.

As we return to Luke 12, we find Jesus offers much guidance that goes against the world’s understanding.  For example, when a man came and asked Jesus to  help him divide the inheritance between him and his brother, Jesus instead offered a parable about a rich man, whose crops were so bountiful he had to tear down his barns and build new ones.  Everyone listening to the parable would have been thinking, “What a blessed man!  This is the kind of life I want to live.”  But Jesus’ punchline was, “But that night (the night the new barns were completed), the LORD told the man, ‘You fool!  This very night your soul is required of you.’”  Then Jesus said the same will happen to anyone who is rich in the world’s ways, but not rich toward God.  Jesus turned the conventional wisdom on its head.  God doesn’t bless us in material ways so we can hoard our wealth.  He blesses us so we can steward those blessings well, and use them to “store up treasure in heaven.”  When we trust in the LORD, we will use our resources so differently than when we trust in ourselves, or in the world’s ways.  As we go about the day, let’s remember to focus on trusting the LORD and His way of living, rather than gaining deeper understanding from our own stores of “wisdom”!

We could call Psalm 148 “Praise the LORD!”  Over and over the psalmist proclaims, “Praise the LORD!” and then gives us one reason after another for why we ought to praise Him.  He also tells us the creatures of the earth praise the LORD, the creation praises the LORD, every animate and inanimate object praises the LORD!  This truth must not get by us in those times when we don’t feel like praising the LORD.  In our darkest moments, in our deepest pain, the LORD is worthy of our praise.  Thanks to this unnamed psalmist for reminding us of this timeless truth!

Psalm 149 starts out quite similarly to Psalm 148 with a proclamation to praise the LORD!  It continues in that vein, but adds a twist: Let those who worship and praise the LORD slay those who don’t.  Okay.  That’s not something we’d expect to hear in a contemporary praise song, but it is something we’d expect to hear in King David’s time, and in the immediate future after his time.  The people of Israel were surrounded by idol worshiping nations.  Those nations still claimed the land the Israelites had taken from them.  The worship of the one, true, and living God was not carried out without struggle.  In our day, we also live in a society rampant with idolatry.  Our “sword” is not a literal one, but as the Apostle Paul reminded the Ephesian believers, it is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  As we live into God’s word, and live it out in our daily lives, we are still “slaying” the spiritual forces of evil that would do us harm.

The Book of Psalms closes out in Psalm 150 with a call to praise the LORD with our voices and with our instruments. The LORD is worthy of our worship and praise every moment.  We praise Him in the morning when we wake up.  We praise Him throughout the day, because He is always with us and deserves our worship and praise.  We praise Him together with music, dancing and singing, because–He is worthy of our worship and praise!

As we return to Luke 11, we find it full of teaching as well as Jesus’ interaction with the religious leaders. That interaction was mainly negative, because Jesus chastised them for teaching the truth, but living in contradiction to it. That style of living: teaching one thing and living another is hypocrisy.  Let’s focus on that for a moment.  In our day, the church is often accused of hypocrisy.  When I was fifteen years old, I stopped attending church, because of all the hypocrites there.  I continued to read my Bible, to pray, and to tell my friends at school about Jesus.  My life wasn’t always what I read and “taught” to my friends.  My anger often spilled over into daily life.  My language wasn’t pure. I was being a hypocrite myself, but it’s always easier to see the shortcomings in others than in ourselves.  We tend to judge others on their actions and ourselves on our intentions.  A couple years into my boycott on attending any church activity with the “hypocrites” there, a new pastor came to our church.  Pastor Andy Weigand started coming to dinner at our home.  He was a single, young man who had recently graduated from Harvard.  I was intrigued. Why would a Harvard graduate “waste” his time serving as a pastor in a tiny church in Gipsy, Pennsylvania?  After a while, I started meeting with Andy to study the Bible together.  Then about six months after he came, Andy asked me why I didn’t go to church?  I told him it was because of the hypocrites.  Andy proceeded to ask me a series of questions about whether there were hypocrites on the football team at school, in the cafeteria, and then he asked, “Do you ever do anything hypocritical yourself?”

I had to say, “Yes,” but then I added, “What’s your point?”

Andy answered, “I always figured I’d rather go to church with a hypocrite than to hell with him.”  I was in church the next week.  Jesus called the religious leaders hypocrites, and they were.  They weren’t seeking to change, though.  We all have some hypocrisy that’s obvious to others, or maybe hidden under the surface.  I’m grateful to Andy for challenging me in love about mine.  It has given me the opportunity for more than four decades to mingle with other hypocrites in the church, who are seeking to let Jesus transform us from the inside out, so when we see Him face-to-face one day, He will affirm our faithfulness and not our hypocrisy!