There are so many wise instructions in this passage that if I try to touch on them all, there would be no point in you reading what I write. You could just read the passage. However, I will touch on a couple of things. Again and again this Book emphasizes that we should not envy sinners or hangout with the wicked. The wicked have no future. Further, evil people stir up trouble and violence. If you hang out with them you will get caught in it.
Today’s passage also reminds us to seek justice. Do not look the other way when people are unjustly punished. Speak up. Other people may believe you if you later claim that you did not know, but God will know better. If you rob the poor or exploit the needy God will pay you back. Of course, if you give to the poor and help the needy, God will pay you back there as well. Related to this, the writer tells us to get the truth and never sell it. In this context I realize that he means seek out what is true about a situation and tell others what you have found. Do not allow anyone to convince you to keep such truth silent, whether with bribes or threats.
I love reading Proverbs, but dislike trying to figure out what to write about them. Today’s passage continues to remind us of the importance of choosing our words with care. It extends that care to our actions as well. The wise think and plan before they act. The writer also reminds us that enthusiastically pursuing a project without knowing what you are doing benefits no one. Hurrying leads to mistakes. Take the time to do the project right.
The writer also revisits another theme from yesterday: the wise embrace correction and discipline while the foolish reject it. He expands on this theme in two directions. Offer discipline and correction to wise people in order for them to get better and wiser, but punish the foolish to change the behavior of others. Speak in private to those who take correction to heart. Punish in public those who do not respond to such discipline. The writer also tells us that the wise seek correction and advice.
I feel like I keep saying this, but there is not really a theme which runs through today’s passage. It is a collection of wise sayings which each contains useful understanding. However, there are several ideas which are repeatedly addressed. The writer tells us that those who fear the Lord do right and those who do right fear the Lord while those who do wrong despise God. The writer makes clear that this idea is two-sided. Fear of the Lord will lead you to do right, but doing right will also lead you to fear the Lord. I think we often overlook his point that those who do wrong eventually come to despise God. Many people who despise God, who despise Christianity, do so because they do not wish to admit that their actions are wrong. Those who love and fear God admit when they do wrong and seek reconciliation.
The writer repeatedly makes two related points. I never realized that the writer was connecting them before today. First, the wise choose their words and actions with careful thought about their consequences. Second, the wise take their time in reaching a conclusion about events. They do not immediately reach conclusions based on what they are told, or even based on what they have seen. They wait until they can be sure they know all of the relevant facts. Fools quickly believe that what supports their preconceived notions and do not ask more questions. Then they pass that on as unquestioned fact. The wise speak only of what they know and cautiously point out areas where their knowledge is incomplete.
Today’s passage starts with a personification of both wisdom and folly. Both offer themselves to any who wish. Wisdom offers using good judgment and accepting correction. Folly offers hiding your actions from others and never admitting to doing wrong. When the wise are corrected they change their behavior. The fool denies having done wrong and strikes back at the one who offered advice. The rest of today’s passage consists of individual proverbs which do not have a common theme, except to distinguish wise actions from foolish actions. However, there are several ideas which come up again and again. One of those I already touched on. The wise listen to criticism and seek to change their behaviors in light of it, even when the criticism is unwarranted. The fool strikes back at those who criticize them, even when the criticism offers them an opportunity to avoid trouble. The writer also includes multiple proverbs which warn us to limit what we say to that which is true, good, and helpful. The fool speaks about that which they know little and babbles on revealing their ignorance. The wise choose their words carefully, makes sure they have based their comments in facts, and shuts up when they have nothing more useful to say.
The writer warns against immoral women. One can easily get caught up in the fact that his comments about sexual promiscuity focus on immoral women, but one must remember that his target audience was men. As I read the passage today it reminded me of a few women I have encountered, but I know just as many men who behave that way towards women (and one or two who do so towards other men). The advice given here is valuable. If you allow yourself to get sucked in by sexually promiscuous people, it will ruin your life. It may be flattering when such a person takes interest in you. You may feel a certain excitement from considering following up on their attention. You might even get some transitory pleasure from such an encounter. But sooner or later such behavior will destroy your soul, and maybe even your life. On the other hand, if you make a commitment to one other person and stick with it throughout your life, the joy, pleasure, and contentment will last as well.
The writer anthropomorphizes (makes it seem to be a person) wisdom several times throughout this book. As an aside I want to note that when he does so he makes it a woman. He uses the metaphor that wisdom is a person to make it clear that finding wisdom is not hard. Wisdom is there for the taking for anyone who wishes. The writer lays out the characteristics of wisdom for those who do not know what to look for. Wisdom is not devious or deceptive and neither are those who possess it. If you seek wisdom, you will find it, but all too often we turn aside from wisdom for things we value that are of less worth. Some turn aside from wisdom for the promise of wealth, others for sexual pleasure, and still others allow their pride and arrogance to direct them away from wisdom. Wisdom is progressive in that if you do the simple, plain, and obvious things which wisdom directs you will gain new insight into the wise course through more complex situations.
The Book of Proverbs was composed to teach wisdom and discipline. Wisdom tells us to do what is just, right, and fair. Those who are simple-minded will gain insight by studying these sayings, and those who think they are too wise for such guidance are greater fools than the most simple-minded. Wisdom does more for us than any amount of wealth. Yet, we so often ignore what it tells us. There is a saying, “Common sense isn’t common.” While that is unfortunately true, it does not have to be. Anyone can be wise, they just have to seek wisdom. If you want to be wise, seek out wisdom, then do what it says to do.
The proverb writer starts with some ideas which are intertwined with each other. Do not be enticed by the pleasures people tell you are to be had by doing wrong. Rather trust in God and do good. Every time you do the wise thing, the right thing, you will gain a better understanding of what is right and wise. Conversely, every time you choose to do what you know is wrong you will find it harder to know, let alone do, the right thing. When you suffer because you did wrong (whether that suffering comes as punishment from some earthly authority,, or is the natural result of your foolish choice), accept the suffering and learn from it.
There is a kind of progression in today’s psalms. In the first psalm the psalmist writes of his deep depression and begs God to answer his plea. Having made his plea the psalmist remembers God’s great works and gives himself to God. He asks God to teach him to do His will. In the second psalm he continues to ask God to exert His power on his behalf, but he also calls on us to praise God, who teaches us the skills we need. We need not, should not, wait for God to exert His power on our behalf. We should praise Him now for the things He has already done.
Everyone and everything should praise God because He shows compassion to all of creation. He is there for those who call on Him. The psalmist proclaims that he will praise God with every ounce of his being. I will strive to do the same. I know that the psalmist is correct in warning against depending on powerful people. Even if they wish to help you, and even if they are able to help you at the moment, their life will end and their ability to help you will vanish. Those are big ifs. On the other hand, God is able to help you and will do so as long as you follow His guidance, and God’s ability to aid you will never end. As we praise God it will lead others to do the same until all of creation honors His name.
The first of today’s psalms is a responsive reading. I would love to hear it done by a group in several different ways. Most groups would have the worship leader read the part which changes and the congregation read “His faithful love endures forever.” Yet, when I read this I imagine the congregation reading the first part and the worship leader responding. Another option which intrigues me would be having a group of people where the part being read goes from one to another. I imagine these different ways of reading this because its message strikes me powerfully and responsive readings have become so rote that we tend to miss their power. We need to find new and innovative ways to communicate the message which God gave His people long ago. A message which has not, and does not, change, no matter how much some might wish for it to do so. Let us give thanks to God for He is good.
Again today we have a theme I touched on yesterday. We cannot escape from God’s presence no matter where we go. There are two sides to this. On the one hand, we cannot hide anything we think or do from God. On the other hand, we cannot be any place where He is not aware of what we are experiencing and come to our aid in our time of need. The psalmist does such a wonderful job of expressing both of these thoughts. He even manages to capture the comfort we can feel from our inability to hide our wrongdoing from God. An element of that comes from the fact that we need not be embarrassed to confess to God our sins: He already knows. As important, God cares deeply for us and wishes for us to embrace the goodness He has in store for us if we do His will. Let us welcome God’s examination of our lives and beg Him to show us what we have done, are doing, are about to do which is wrong so that we can correct our path.
I am going to touch on several things which the psalmist writes about in today’s psalms. I doubt that I will be able to tie these things together because the psalmist does not tie them together. Our help comes from God. There are those who look to the mountains, or to the sea, and even some who look to idols. Sometimes I look to the mountains or the sea when I need help, but not because I think they will help me. No, I look to the mountains or the sea because they remind me of their Creator. As for those who turn to idols for help, those idols have ears, but do not hear, eyes, but do not see, and mouths but do not speak. I will trust in the Lord without Whose help I would already have died. God watches over those who trust in Him all of the time. He never sleeps, not even to take a short nap. God’s eyes are upon us when we stay home and indoors and when we travel, even to the end of the earth and beyond (yes, God was watching over those men who walked on the Moon).
We can work ourselves to death, but if our effort does not have God’s support our work will be in vain. However, if we are doing God’s work, He will give us time to rest and refresh our strength. I am reminded of the pastors who spend so much time doing “Church” work that they neglect their wives and children. When I wrote that I realized that those pastors have fallen into the workaholic trap that many others do as well. God does not desire that you spend so much time doing His work that you do not have time for the family He gave you.
Psalm 119 is rather long and I often have trouble finding a theme to write about when I come to it. Interestingly enough, this year the themes jumped out at me. The psalmist starts with a basic theme and then builds on it. That basic theme is one which comes up again and and again in the Psalms: following God’s instructions brings joy. Actually what the psalmist says is that joy comes to those who have integrity, but he immediately tells us that integrity comes from following God’s commands. If we want that joy we must study and embrace God’s commands. But it is not enough to study them, we need to ask God to make them clear to us. As we study His commands we need God’s Spirit to enter into us and make clear what God wants us to do. If we ask, God will give us understanding so that we can do as He desires of us.
The psalmist tells us one of the great paradoxes of life. God’s commands are so easy to understand that even the most simple-minded can comprehend them, but so complex that studying them will make you wise. The simple who study and follow God’s law become wiser and will be given greater insight than the most erudite person who rejects them. This explains why we must never compromise with evil. No matter how things may seem to be, it is always foolish to do evil, or even less than the maximum good of which we are capable.
I want to touch on some of the other things the psalmist writes about studying God’s law and asking Him for a better understanding of it. The psalmist tells us that God’s word gives light so that we can see our path and that God will give us better understanding of His law if we ask Him for it. I think my opening sentence today is illustrative of this. When I first started doing this blog in 2012 I struggled coming up with something to write about this psalm. It seemed to me like it went in too many directions to write a coherent blog entry. In addition, I felt like in many places it got boringly repetitive. Yet today as I read through it, even though its length still overwhelmed me at first, I went from “This is so long I am going to lose my train of thought,” to “Oh look, there is another expression and reason about why we need to study God’s word.” I want to encourage you to read through the Bible, not just once, but as often as you can. Do it in a year or faster if you can, but read it, then read it again.
Today’s passage also reminds us to seek justice. Do not look the other way when people are unjustly punished. Speak up. Other people may believe you if you later claim that you did not know, but God will know better. If you rob the poor or exploit the needy God will pay you back. Of course, if you give to the poor and help the needy, God will pay you back there as well. Related to this, the writer tells us to get the truth and never sell it. In this context I realize that he means seek out what is true about a situation and tell others what you have found. Do not allow anyone to convince you to keep such truth silent, whether with bribes or threats.
