Proverbs for Today

 One of my favorite episodes of Andy Griffith show is "The Sermon for Today." I'm sure you are surprised, nay shocked! that a preachers favorite episode was about the preacher. But, to be fair, it was my favorite before I started preaching. It's the one where the visiting preacher from New York City passes through and preaches a message to the good people of Mayberry. It wasn't a very good message; he didn't take his Bible into the pulpit for one and he said the meaning of life can be found by relaxing and enjoying the simple pleasures of life, which is malpractice for a parson. I could go on, but I'll refrain from breaking down the faults of a fictional preacher scene by scene. But the theme of his message is my theme today. Slow down – specifically, slow down when your read the proverbs.

Joe Wilson said Proverbs are, "Counsel from Above for Conduct Below." Sidlow Baxter, perhaps after being locked in a room with a thesaurus, said the Proverbs are, 'Pointed Precepts for Practical Prudence." The Proverbs teach men how to walk in the fear of the Lord and how to walk in the Spirit. They are short, pithy sayings that force you to stop and think them through. They are one –liners that require a little bit of work to get the full meaning.

Maybe it would help to think of the Proverbs as episodes. Each line of these proverbs are self-contained. They are artfully crafted pieces of truth designed to help you remember them. But since they are designed to be short, they also must generalize to make the point. In order to understand the proverb, you have to slow down and work them out in your mind. But once you have the picture, it's easy to remember them, thus easier to apply them. Proverbs 20:1, "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." If a young man is tempted to drink, it's going to be easier for him in the moment to remember this picture in the moment and apply it.  But, first, you have to think about that Proverb to get it in your mind. Wine is portrayed as a mocker. She's laughing at you and making fun of you. Why? Because she's controlling you and making you do her will. Wine can make fun of you because she can make you do things you would have NEVER done. And, it's usually going to be embarrassing at best, ruinous to your soul at worst. Then, you can picture Mr. Whiskey. He's in a rage. Hang out with him, and you'll be fighting HIS battles and running your mouth. And if you aren't careful, they'll both trick you into thinking you can handle it, and most people can handle their drink and change, but you can. But if you think that, you're deceived and not wise.  Making wine and whiskey into characters is memorable.

And, to paraphrase Barney as he left the church building, "That's one subject you just can write enough about – sin."

Heavy Wrath

On a farm located on a church estate in southern Iceland, sits a rock. I think I’m going to need to back up a little. A couple hundred years ago, as legend has it, Pastor Björnsson was the pastor of both a church and sheep. He built a sheep pen of stone, and used a flat, 401 lb. stone for the gate. By and by, the stone became famous, and not for being much heavier than any door needs to be, but as a competition for feats of strength. For a couple centuries, men have tested their strength by trying to lift the rock and move it. Last year,  a 6’8”, 420lb giant of a man, broke the world record the world record carrying the stone 322 feet. His name is also Björnsson. Now, believe it or not, people travel from all over the world to Iceland, drive out to this farm, and make their way to the sheep gate where there’s a rock laying on the ground. They try to pick the thing up, and if they can lift it, they carry it as far as they can. Men like to test their strength. Another popular competition is the sandbag throw. Contestants take sandbags ranging from 50-100 lbs and throw them backwards, over their heads, to cross a beam 15 ft in the air.  Sand and stone are routinely used as implements in Strongmen competitions and have been for hundreds of years because they are heavy. Even the strongest men in the world can only bear the weight of heavy sand and stone for a short time before they succumb.

Proverbs 27:3, “A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.” Solomon uses these heavy implements to describe the heaviness of the wrath of a foolish person. The weight of the fool’s wrath is intolerable for most to bear (Exodus 5:5-10). The fools wrath is heavy because it is without righteousness. God told the nation of Israel they were to judge, an eye for an eye. That’s a law of equal justice and righteousness, not revenge. God curbs the wrath of the fool who wants an eye for a fingernail (Matthew 18:21-35). Their anger and fury isn’t controlled by justice. Once they become ignited in their hatred and passions, there is no end to their fury.

The fools wrath is heavy with folly. Wrath untethered from the wisdom of God is dedicated toward defending our personal glory and honor. And so it’s heavy because the stroke is made without just cause. I knew a person who hated their neighbor with unbridled passion. I asked him why and what started it, and they couldn’t really explain. He looked at me incredulously like it was self evident why they hated this person, and doubted my sound judgment that I had to ask why. The fools wrath starts quickly (Proverbs 14:29) and never ends. While our God is long suffering, the fool has a quick fuse and long memory. This makes the fools wrath both cruel (Proverbs 27:4) and dangerous (Proverbs 17:12).

It’ll Get You Nowhere

Proverbs 29:5  A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.

I read somewhere that flattery is a poison that makes everyone sick but the person who swallows it. Honeyed words and fair speech is dangerous for the person on the receiving end of fawning toadyism and grave error for the one who dishes it out. Flattery is a deceptive tactic designed to swell the pride and manipulate the mind of the target, to promote the self-interest of the flatterer. It’s excessive, insincere, and oftentimes undeserved praise. It’s a manipulative lie. Our proverb warns us here — flattery is a trap. Be on guard and watch out for the net, an effective snare indeed. Flattery is just someone else telling us what we likely already think about ourselves, namely that we are awesome and finally, someone gets it.

The problem with flattery is it’s not just a lie, but it’s a destructive lie (Proverbs 26:28). When you flatter someone, you are not helping them, you are not loving them, but you are showing you hate their soul and working for their harm. Flattery works ruin. Those in any positions of leadership need to be leery of a Wormtounge in their midst, who heaps undue praise upon him, and not meddle with the flatterer (Proverbs 20:19).

Many marriages have been ruined by flattery (Proverbs 7:5,21). Men need to love their wives and be thankful they tell them the truth and recognize the sweet words coming from women other than their wife is a trap. Really. You’re not that awesome. Believe your wife.

Christians, you need to watch out for preachers who use flattery (1 Thessalonians 2:5). A man that reads the Bible and lives among sinners and can’t preach a message on sin is wanting something from you. Of course, if a preacher can only preach about how bad “those people are” out there, he is using flattering words. It’s not for the faint of heart to stand before people on Sunday morning, and on the authority of God, rebuke sin in the camp, then go stand at the back door and shake the hands of those you rebuked. But a man will do it if he loves the people he preaches to. On the other hand, if the preacher loves himself, he’ll preach sweet and pretty words to you, and come down hard on the sins of others, because they aren’t as right, and good, and holy as you are, and you’ll eat your Sunday dinner in comfort and satisfaction of soul. That’s a trap.

The flatter has an ulterior agenda. He’s double-hearted and doubleminded. Their unfaithful mouths are like an open tomb, and poison is under their tongue. The very craft of this sin is based on wicked plotting and evil machinations and the undiscerning victim only realizes this way too late. Beware that you aren’t found in the camp of the flatterer. Better to speak hard truths than soft lies. God knows the score and will judge flatterers (Psalm 12; 5:9-10).

It's A Trap

Proverbs 26:27  Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

Every time I read this verse, I think about Disney's Swiss Family Robinson. It's not very spiritual, I know, but it's the truth. When the family learns of an imminent attack by pirates, they make various traps to defend their home, including digging deadfall traps (with a tiger thrown in for good measure). They  fortified themselves atop the mountain and made log falls to roll down if the enemy was foolish enough to climb up for them. But what if it wasn't a Disney movie, and the bad guys are the ones making traps? That's the image we have in our proverb.

The bad guy in the scene really wants to hurt his enemy, and he's going to go through a lot of trouble to set the trap. It takes a lot of work to dig a pit. Naturally, after I watched the Swiss Family Robinson, I wanted to dig a pit and try it out, like most boys probably did. But it takes a lot of  time and effort to dig a  deep pit and I always gave up. And to roll a stone up a hill? You would really have to hate someone to go through all the trouble to destroy them. One wonders what the payoff was for the man in the proverb? Most of the  time, the effort we put into vengeance is far more costly than the original offense.

Think about the effort pushing that rock up the mountain. Covered in sweat, muscles straining, gasping for air, pushing that rock up the hill –  all for vengeance and to hurt and kill. Every inch of ground takes all his strength to keep pushing and also to keep it from falling. It is up the mountain a pretty good way, but not far enough. It needs to be high up to cause maximum damager, because he cannot allow them to get away with that offense, or that slight. Suddenly, the stone is caught and it won’t go any further.  Hard as he tried, it won't budge, but he also can’t let go of the stone, he'll get run over. The stone of vengeance is caught by the rock of divine justice. He's worked himself into his own trap. Your sin will find you out and now there is no place else for the rock to go but down and to destroy whatever is in its path, starting with the one who worked so hard to get the stone up the hill.

God said vengeance is His – He'll take care of evildoers. You want vengeance because you are proud and don't like it when someone sins against you. Do you think God likes it? Stop trying to do God's job, because He's much better at it than you. You'll just end up mumbling to yourself in the bottom of a pit, or getting flattened by a rolling stone.

A Vision for Interpretation

"A church without a vision is a church that will never grow." I've seen that statement and many like it for years. “Vision” is a mystical way of talking about a plan for the future. It sounds more spiritual to have a "vision" than it does to have a "plan".  It's good to have a plan, but the church should be driven by the mission of God rather than the vision of a man. But, what about Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish," doesn't that show you must have a vision? If there is no plan for the future, if there isn't a vision caster at the helm, we're all going to die! That is a dreadful proposition, unless, of course, this verse means something else.

According to the dictionary, the word vision has three definitions: 1) the power of sight; 2) something seen in a dream or revelation; 3) the power of imagination, i.e., foresight. The Hebrew word translated vision correlates with our second definition, Divine revelation. I don't like to hear people always "correcting" their Bible. They see a verse like this, go to Strong's Concordance, look at Mr. Strong's definition of a Hebrew word and say their Bible is mistranslated because vision doesn't mean planning prudence, in the Bible! Words can have more than one definition. Instead of correcting the Bible and saying a word is mistranslated, look up the word in the dictionary – you may misunderstand the meaning of the word. It's always better to question your own vocabulary than to question the Bible and pronounce it wrong.

Despite the smart set declaring the Bible has been mistranslated, it appears those who misapply this Scripture, do so because they didn’t take time to understand the English word. Besides, we can know what the word means by the context, and by knowing the rest of the Bible. The Hebrew word translated vision is found 34 times in the Old Testament. In each instance, it refers to God’s revelation, or false prophets not having God’s revelation. Three books of the Bible are called "visions" (Isaiah, Obadiah, Nahum). Never is the word used in the sense of a man’s plan for the future. If a vision is God's Word, it must be followed - no questions asked. Indeed, it is sin NOT to follow God's Word and believe God's vision. But, a man's "vision" for the church is not infallible. It is not God's revelation. It may be a good plan. And if he's a good pastor, it is probably a wise plan and you should seriously consider what your pastor thinks. But it's not a sin to disagree with another man. If I say what I want is God's word, I took God’s name in vain by claiming God’s authority for my desires and plans. The context of Proverbs 29:18 proves this to be true. "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." The first half and second half of the verse parallel each other. Vision parallels law. Perishing contrasts with happy people. No word from God equals death. Keeping the law equals happiness. 

We have a vision, a revelation from God. It's important that we understand what God is telling us. It takes time and diligence to make sure we understand what God is telling us, but it is well worth the effort.

Every Wise Woman Builds

The Bible says every single wise woman is a builder. Proverbs 14:1, “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” She doesn’t lay the foundation, build the frame, and do the roofing. But she does build up the home in an equally important way, making  it her mission to build, keep, and maintain the wellbeing of her home. She uses the gifts God gives her to build and preserve a godly home, being faithful to her calling.

Every wise woman builds her home with wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 24:3-4). She thinks about what kind of home she wants. She knows the strengths, weakness, and the heart of those who live in her care and labors to build up and strengthen her family. Every wise woman builds her home with pleasantness (Proverbs 24:3-4) and makes it a place where her family wants to be.  A home with godly peace and pleasantness is a treasure, much to be desired. Every wise woman builds her home with love because she loves God and loves those God gave her. Every wise woman goes outside of herself for wisdom to build her house. And no, I’m not talking about Pinterest, but the Bible. She won’t find recipes, suggestions for paint schemes and home décor, but she will find everything she needs to know about herself, her husband, her children, and how she can build a stable homelife for her family. It’s better to live in a house built by love than to live in a picture perfect, modern home, sitting around a feast with a perfectly dressed and mannered family (Proverbs 15:17).

The foolish woman, however, doesn’t build, but tears down her home. She will leave it rubble. She’s a one-woman demolition crew of her own home and one day will look up from the ash heap and wonder, “what happened?” The foolish woman doesn’t want to bring her house to ruins, but it’s inevitable. Foolishness never builds a strong family. She tears down her own house with selfishness. When she puts herself first and her family is always last, she will destroy her home. This is the principle for any relationship. Any leader who puts themselves first will have control and get what they want in the short term but destroys the foundations in the long-term. Where the foolish woman lives for today, the wise thinks toward the future. The foolish woman tears down with anger (Proverbs 21:9). An angry home is an empty home. She tears down her own house with contentions (Proverbs 19:13). A small leak in the roof over time with a continual drip will bring a home to ruin. The constant and continual quarrelsomeness of the foolish woman slowly tears her home apart.

Like anything worth building, it takes hard work, planning, dedication, and a commitment to see it through. A home isn’t built in a day. Thank you, wise wives and mothers for all you do.  

A Hard Won War

Proverbs 18:19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.

The longest known siege in history started in 1648 on the small Mediterranean island of Crete. During the Ottoman-Venetian wars, the Ottoman Empire besieged the city Candia, Crete's capital. The fight to take the city lasted 21 years. It all started when a Catholic organization known as “The Knights of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem" looted an Ottoman ship carrying treasure to Constantinople. The Ottoman forces attacked in kind and took over the island, all except the capital. But the city was well fortified and protected, and for the next two decades, countless lives and fortunes were lost in the battle until Candia finally succumbed to the never-ending onslaught.

A hard-won battle taking down a fortified city designed to resist attack is the image Solomon has in mind describing the attempt at repairing a busted relationship with a brother. Whether in families or in churches, brothers in the flesh or brothers in Christ, when we are hurt by the wrongdoing of brother, it’s going to leave a mark much deeper than if it were an enemy.

Why? Well, it doesn't take much effort to get the relationship of an acquaintance back to the normal. You aren't that close anyway, so you don't have far to fall, or don't have to far to travel back. But, with a brother, it's different. We love and trust our brothers. We don’t expect the betrayal. When brothers have bonded in struggles, fights, blood, sweat, and tears, there is a bond that develops that is like no other. So when that love is betrayed it shakes us to the core.  We expect our brothers to have our back, not stab us in it. We expect our brothers to walk with us. Why is it sometimes easier to let things slide with an acquaintance than a brother? We show more leniency toward an acquaintance because we are either trying to win them to our side, or don’t expect as much from them. That’s also why we are harder on our friends and brothers than we are those outside the camp.  A brother’s sin is a betrayal of both the relationship both people have devoted so much to and the big part of our life we share with them.

You need to guard your relationship. A small matter can cause irreparable harm, and once the offence has been committed, it’s very difficult to win them back. Because the bond is close, it’s very easy to take advantage of a brotherly bond. Once the brotherhood is broken, it takes great effort and struggle to make it right again. I’ve known brethren at odds a lot longer than Ottoman-Venetian conflict. Though it is possible to win him back, it would be better not to sin against him in the first place or when we sin, quickly ask for forgiveness.

Essential Oils and Quenching Oils of Friendship

Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart:

so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. Proverbs 27:9

My wife has spent some time learning about essential oils, their uses, and benefits. It seems there are no end to what different oils purport to do. Reading through the wisdom books, you’ll notice that Solomon was a fan of essential oils, if for nothing else than the smell. There is something refreshing about a nice aroma. I suppose that’s why Yankee Candle does so well (Newell Rubbermaid – no relation; I’m not heir to any vast kitchenware fortune – bought Yankee Candle for $15 billion in 2015). It made Solomon happy to come home and have a sweet smell waft through the doorway, and if such small common graces fill your heart with joy, then more power to you and praise the Lord.

Solomon mused on his buoyant bouquet and it reminded him of friendship. Friendship is sweet, and it does the soul good to talk another like-minded soul, but especially a wise friend who is invested enough to give advice from the soul. The particular fragrance of friendship Solomon is talking about here comes from the friend’s counsel, wise words from a friend who really cares. It delights the heart to have a companion offering guidance when we are troubled. During some calamity, to know we have a friend to help us get back on track or stay to stay the course is comforting. When we are not thinking clearly, or cannot think clearly, how rewarding to have a friend, detached from the situation, to give us fresh perspective. When tragedy comes, it cheers the heart to have a friend to remind us of truths we both believe. What a help to stand in the funeral home and have a friend who cared enough to come or to hear the voice of one offering a word of encouragement. It rejoiced the heart to know, even in terribly sad times, one could rely on a friend’s words to give comfort and aid. How good to know there is another person who loves and cares enough to share their heart and give all they can to help you, knowing they love and want the best for you. It’s good to have a friend who tells you what you need to hear, not just want you want to hear. A friend with a backbone.

Are you a friend who rejoices the heart? It’s good to receive, but it’s better to give. Strive to be the kind of friend one can rely on. Labor to be the kind of friend whose counsel is sweet and sought after. If you want to be that sort of friend, you need to work to be wise, and “whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so the them.” Be a good friend.  Consider the fragrance in your relationships and what kind of counsel are you getting, and what kind of counsel to you give?

The Forge of Friendship

Ambrose Bierce, in his Devil’s Dictionary said being friendless is, “Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.” Part of being a true friend means you have to sometimes do or say things your friend is not going to like. Bierce, though in jest, hit close to home because to have many “friends”, you will need to lay off the truth and common sense. But is that really friendship? When someone does nothing but butter you up, they are not helping you out or being your friend -- they are setting a trap for you. Proverbs 29:5, “A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.” The only person who believes you are the greatest the world has ever known is your Mom -- anyone else saying so is flattering you wants something. Maybe you lay it on pretty thick because you want people to like you. Unfortunately, this is counterproductive if you are looking for close friendships. The flatterer may enjoy the company of others, but they won’t enjoy close friendship that comes over time through honest counsel. Proverbs 28:3, “He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.”

A good friend has your best interest at heart, not their own. You are not perfect, and no one knows that better than our friends. But, they also want the best for you, so we can see how correction, or a warning may be in order from time to time. Proverbs 27:6, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” It’s better to be corrected by a friend than kissed by an enemy. If the flatterer wants something from you, he’s buttering you up. If he is looking for advancement, they’ll use you and leave you behind. The wounds of a friend are faithful to the truth and faithful to the friendship. The enemy pretends to be a friend and feigns love for personal gain.

A friend is going to make you better. Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” True, taking your Case and your Buck and scraping them together is not the best way to sharpen a knife. But you don’t live in the Iron Age and your Case is made of high carbon steel, not iron, but the principle is easy to understand. Men can make each other better by thoughtful, purposeful resistance. When you sharpen a blade, you must remove material. The result is less of what you don’t want and more of what you do. Friends make each other better in the forge. Be careful - too much sharpening, and all you’ll have is a handle. Or, if you hammer the tip of your blade into the face of the whetstone, you’ll break the blade and make it worse. There is a right way to sharpen and a time to stop. 

No Spin

Proverbs 18: 17 He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.

If you are like me, you are a 6’2’ Baptist preacher writing a column for the Free Press. But you also might be like me and listen to political radio from time to time. I hear political pundits talk about “setting the narrative” or “getting ahead of the story” which is a nice way of saying whoever spills the beans first gets to twist the truth to favor their side and put their opponent on the defensive. Anytime you have a controversy between people, whoever gets their side of the story out first has the advantage. To borrow a thought from William Buckley, if someone comes to you and says I’m a scoundrel because they saw me push an old lady to the ground, you might get righteously angry. But if you ask me, you might find out that I pushed her out of the way of an oncoming logging truck speeding down the street. The man who spoke first gave the facts, but colored the context. Speaking of context, I will  address the run of the mill, everyday sort of slander. I still believe this principle applies to criminal charges, but if someone is accused of breaking the law, then you must get the authorities involved. Then, the authorities and the press need to apply this principle.

When entangled in controversy, you need to do everything in your power to accurately represent your opponent. I know you want to be right and win the day, but be right in a truthful and honorable way. If you have to lie to make your enemy look worse than he is, that is a good indication that your case is weak-sauce. It’s like the preacher who dropped his outline coming out of the pulpit and someone picked up the paper and saw in the margins, “weak point -- bang pulpit here.” You need to check your motives. Are you fighting for truth or fighting for yourself and looking for revenge by vanquishing your enemy by any means necessary?

It’s foolish to believe the accuser is right without even asking the accused. The Bible even tells us to not rush to judgment with men who have a proven record of godliness  (1 Timothy 5:19). The goal is sincerely and seriously hearing the accusation and getting to the truth. While you listen, you need to hold a few things in your mind at once. The accuser may be telling you the truth. They may be telling you part of the truth and leaving out key information. They may be telling you what they remember, filtered through a whole lot of emotions and a whole lot of distortion. Or they could be a dirty, filthy, liar. If you listen to the accuser and make a judgment without investigation, you are committing sin. Get the facts before grabbing the pitchforks and torches.

Excuses, excuses. Proverbs 26:13

"The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets." - Proverbs 26:13 
 
Meet the slothful man. He is the idle and shiftless ne'er do well, puttering around working hard at keeping from having to work. With much fortitude, Mr. Sloth rolls out of bed because he has a lot of work he has to take care of today. Sitting down to breakfast, his heart is full of determination as his belly is filling with eggs; he's going to get stuff done. Walking out the door, he kisses his poor, longsuffering wife on the head and tells her that he's off to take care of business. On the porch, he takes a deep breath and looks up at the sun beating down on him. "Sure is hot, for 9 in the morning." No matter, better get to it. He gets to the end of the lane, and spots something off in the distance. "It's moving pretty slow, and whatever it is, it looks big from here." The shape, though he can't be sure from this distance, almost looks like –wait, is that…a lion?

His wife is doing the morning dishes when the door busts open and her husband wildly declares "There is a lion in the way; a lion in the streets! That vicious beast could have ate me alive!" He sits down in his favorite chair in the living room to recover and orders from his beloved a tall cool drink. "That was close. I could have died! I just wish I would have been able to get to work. Maybe tomorrow."

    Yawning Man (disputed attribution)
    Pieter Bruegel the Elder

If he were a character on a television show, he'd be the loveable lazybones. But in real life, it isn't very funny. Mr. Slothful isn't funny to his wife. It isn't very funny to his kids. It isn't very funny for those people who are depending on him to live up to his God given responsibilities as a man, to put his hand to his work. Was there a lion in the street? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not. If there wasn't a lion, there very well could have been one, in this man's mind, and what, do you want him to die?!? The point here is it was an excuse. And so what if there was a lion? He goes back to bed instead of, I don't know, taking care of the lion in the way! If there was a danger, there is a danger to everyone else in the community. I've lived long enough to know that if there were free tickets to the Super Bowl on the other side of that lion, he would have braved the danger. Whether working for someone else (Ephesians 4:28), or working on things around the house, or working for the Lord, be diligent in your calling. Proverbs 15:19  The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain.

Winking and Prating

Proverbs 10:10  He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall.

I hope that you aren't winking and prating about because that would indeed grieve the heart. You may ask "how do I know that is it bad to be prating and winking?" We know this from the result of each - sorrow and falling. So we know from the start that this is not a good thing. Since we know it is bad, let's figure out what it is that is bad. 

Winking with the eye in the Bible is always shown as a devious act (Pro. 6:13; Job 15:12; Psa.35:19). Really no different than it is today. 

Prating is babbling, and the fool who babbles speaks his heart. So a prating fool goes on and on, with each word revealing to every unfortunate soul in earshot that he is indeed a fool. 

In this proverb, as in most, we have two different people, with two different outcomes. The word "but" separates the the two situations. Often "but" will transition from good to bad. For example, if you would scan up to the previous verse, we conveniently have an example in Proverbs 10:9.  He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. Here we see that the upright walk sure footed *but* the man that perverts the way shall be known. You have the godly and ungodly compared and contrasted showing you one way is superior to the other.

Our proverb is different though, because both ways are bad and both outcomes are bad. 

A) He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: 

but 

B) a prating fool shall fall.

So the "but" in verse 10 doesn't transition from bad to worse, but we know that this conjunction does transition us some way, so what are we contrasting? Both A and B are people you do not want to be and both end results are places you do not want to go. Now we need to think about what the difference is in order to gain wisdom.

The difference is in the person that is hurt. The "winker" of line A hurts other people. He causes sorrow. The prating fool of line B hurts himself. The fool who rambles on in his foolishness can and often does hurt other people (read the whole of chapter ten with the theme of work and words in mind and you can see the result of the words of a fool). Though he may not necessarily hurt others, he will hurt himself. He is going to fall.

I believe that this proverb is a warning for those with a foolish mouth. The liar and the deceiver the backbiter and the thief is universally known to hurt other people. We all know the kind of person that is being described and we've all experienced the pain of a wrecking ball of deception  Perhaps, such were some of you. But the foolish talker doesn't realize the pain he causes because he hurts himself, and nobody wants to hurt themselves, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh. If the foolish talker knew he was a) a foolish talker and b) was hurting himself, he would surely probably stop. 

Here is the important part. We have to press on. We can't stop here, or we just learned a proverb. We have to look in the mirror and examine our own words. Am I a foolish babbler? What do I talk about? Does my mouth have a break and if so does it work and do I know where it located? Is there a filter between head and mouth and if so, is it working? 

Think about it this way. In you minds eye, the part of "he that winketh with the eye" will be played by a car thief  The prating fool will be portrayed by a person who never checks their oil in their car. The car thief will cause sorrow to others. But the person who never checks or changes the oil in their car only brings hurt on themselves. They hop in the car, cruising with the windows down, without a care in the world. "Those windshield wipers slappin out a tempo, keepin perfect rhythm with the song on the radio, gotta keep rolling" says Mr. Rabbit and all is right in the world. But the fun and games come to a stop when the engine does. The whole car was groaning under the foolishness of the car owner, who was oblivious to the harm their foolish behavior was causing and the pattern of foolish behavior brought the bad fruit. There is another option, which I think hits the mark for most people. The fool knew they were doing wrong and just didn't care or didn't believe the warning was true. 

The prating fool will fall.

Doug

Vinegar upon Nitre - Not a Good Thing

Proverbs 25:20  As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.

First things first. What in the world is nitre?

I like the definition in Nave's Topical Dictionary. I think he understood as much as I do. His full definition: "a chemical". So, there you go. 

Since I'm no chemist and somehow passed chemistry in high school by the skin of my teeth by putting in Naves-like effort in learning about chemical properties, I'll give you what little I have come to understand about the aforementioned nitre. This chemical, from what my betters have discovered, is potassium nitrate, which is like a soda or carbonate and bubbles and fizzes when combined with acids, like vinegar. Apparently it was used to wash clothes in ancient times. Some sort of Ancient Egyptian Secret. I did a search on YouTube for potassium nitrate, and apparently we Americans have harnessed this power in different ways.

Without exactly knowing that vinegar causes nitre to be as bubbly as a Hello Kitty tour guide, we can tell by the taking the coat away in the cold example, that it isn't a good thing. It doesn't do much good taking a persons coat when they are freezing. Nor would it help a person carrying nitre to have you go and start a chemical reaction in their hands. Upon reflection, neither of these things would be optimal.

The "as" and the "so" is the key. Not to be overly simple, but these little words clue us in on how to read proverbs. As these two bad things are, so it is equally bad to do this other bad thing. In other words, only a jerk would take away a man's coat in a blizzard or dump water in a box of a man's Tide and everyone knows that.

It is equally bad to sing songs to a heavy heart. It is trying to overlook the pain of one whose heart is heavy by applying the wrong medicine at the wrong time. Proverbs 17:22  says A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. But be discerning enough to know when to apply this salve to which wound. I'm sure Tylenol would help the pain of a rattlesnake bite, but lets deal with the deadly poison coursing through my veins first. In other words telling someone to "cheer up" when they have just been devastated is not likely to be the best medicine. Another bit of science, the world doesn't revolve around you, or me as far as that goes. In fact, almost failing chemistry is one of the ways I learned that said earth's rotation has little to do with me and my proximity. Because you are not sad, that doesn't mean others are not, and trying to make them happy by singing songs is not going to help the situation, it is only going to make it worse.

There are those unfortunate souls who revel in sorrow and are their happiest when they are miserable. We are dealing with a person who is genuinely sad and a person who genuinely wants to help. One person has a very good reason to be brokenhearted, and the other person hates to see them that way. The problem arises in how to help them. Solomon is telling us if we go and act like a morning radio show in the midst of someone's sorrow to try to "help them" you are going to make it worse.

There are exceptions, of course, but if most people could just "cheer up" they would. There is a time to grieve and if you want to be a friend, don't be superficial with your friends pain. Sympathize, show loving compassion. There is a middle ground between being a clown and being a "friend to Job".

There is a time to weep and a time to laugh. Learn the difference.With kindly and brotherly affection, weep with them that weep. Help them, hear them, pray for them, and point them to Christ.

Grace & Peace,
Doug

Which way do I go? To fight or not to fight

Pro 26:4-5  Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Which way do I go? How do I given an answer when I'm challenged or when I'm question? It isn't an easy question to answer and when you are standing at the proverbial fork, this passage might not seem to help much because sometimes the road to the left is good, and sometimes the same road is bad. Sometimes you need to answer and sometimes you don't. It would be much easier if we only had verse 4 or 5, we could be NASCAR drivers and always turn left. We get to the fork and the our directions say "it is necessary that you turn right - but sometimes you have to turn left."

What's the point then? You have to stop and think.* You have to consider the consequences of your words. You have to determine what kind of "fool" you are dealing with and where your answer will lead you and if your answer will help or hurt. You have to consider the wisdom in answering at all because once you answer, you have chosen your path. 

Just because you CAN win a fight doesn't mean that you should. Sometimes it is better to let someone wallow in their own foolishness. On the other hand, sometimes you can best glorify Jesus Christ by rebuking error. Often you can best show love to your neighbor by knocking the chair of conceit out from underneath him. 

This doesn't bode well for social media because internet fights are often like wildfires. They burn hot and they burn quick, but the damage lasts for a long time.

So, stop and think. Look down both paths. Pray and study God's Word and take the route that best glorifies Jesus Christ, even if that means you don't get to win. 

*Sometimes you don't have this luxury to spend hours in contemplation. Some situations require immediate decisions. Even so, we cannot be thoughtless in our response and must trust in God's grace and His good providence.