Chapter 16 - Half Way There

 Read Proverbs 16

As you read through this chapter, were you thinking or singing what I was?  I know though you had to be thinking Bon Jovi.  Right?

Whoa, we're half-way there

Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Take my hand, we'll make it. I swear

Whoa, livin' on a prayer

We are halfway there!  Somewhere around verse 16 or 17 in this sixteenth chapter, this song had to come to you.  I know the Sixties and Seventies had the best music, but you can’t discount everything from the Eighties. I know that it hit you when you were reading:

How much better to get wisdom than gold,

    to get insight rather than silver!

The highway of the upright avoids evil;

    those who guard their ways preserve their lives.

What do I have to do, get a karaoke machine?

Whoa, we're half-way there

Whoa, livin' on a prayer                        

Take my hand, we'll make it. I swear

Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Many of you noticed a subtle shift in composition from here is something good and here is the negative contrast, to other parallels, sometimes offering a choice but more often an affirmation.

Let’s do a little verse by verse this morning.  Let’s go old school.

Verse 1.

To humans belong the plans of the heart,

    but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

I have thought this through.  I have done my cost-benefit analysis. It’s a good plan but I am wise to get a sanity check.

From where?

From God’s word.  From his answers to my prayers.  From my Christian brothers and sisters, that’s where. We have been given this wonderful body of Christ that we live within to help us.

God’s Spirit lives within us and we live in the body of Christ.

So, before I commit with my mouth or my signature or by any other means, let me see if the answer that trusting in the Lord brings me to is the same as my own understanding.

If there is dissonance, I am not ready to commit to the plans of my own construction.  It’s back to prayer, study, and consultation with the Spirt that lives within me and my fellow believers in the body of Christ who will speak the truth in a spirit of love to me.

On to verse 2.

All a person’s ways seem pure to them,

    but motives are weighed by the Lord.

We have been here before.  You, of course, remember Proverbs 3:5-6.  Do you remember what I said about our own understanding?

It makes sense to us.  It is our own understanding.  Of course, it makes sense to us.  You might need a couple extra sermons and a team of psychiatrists if your own understanding doesn’t make sense to you.  It is your own.  You came up with it.

The Christian should have dissonance between his or her own understanding and what the Lord has to say if the two are not in one accord. 

Solomon tells us that God looks beyond our logic and rationale and sees our hearts.  God’s word judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Our motives are weighed by the Lord. 

Verse 3.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,

    and he will establish your plans.

Our prayers are mistaken in motive when we ask the Lord to bless our plans when our plans are not in accord with God’s.  We should petition him to bring our plans into accord with his.  Some translations say our thoughts instead of plans.  Thoughts are where our plans begin.

Do you remember taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ Jesus? Do you want your plans to succeed?  Commit them to the Lord.

Don’t argue with the Lord when he makes a few changes to your first, second, or twenty-second draft.

Once his plans and our plans are the same, they are established.  They are confirmed.  They are ready for execution.

When we studied James not too long ago, I gave you a modern paraphrase of what this book full of New Testament wisdom had to say.  We will call it a Spenceaphrase.

Don’t get married to your plan.

Planning is good.  It is mind-developing, but anchoring yourself to your plan gets in the way of getting on board with the best plan—the plan that God desires to establish in your hearts and minds.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do,

    and he will establish your plans.

On to verse 4.

The Lord works out everything to its proper end—

    even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Is anyone catching a theme here?  The Lord has it all worked out.  He is saying, “I’ve got this.”

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Sound familiar?

God says, I’ve got this!  Even for those who are anchored in the everything else. I’ve got this!   Ok, that’s another Spenceaphrase, but you have grown accustomed to those by now.

So, we trust that God will direct our steps.  Let’s also trust him to take care of those who continue to rebel against him—the wicked.  Sometimes the latter part here is tougher than the former, but what happens to the wicked is not our burden to bear.

Verse 5.

The Lord detests all the proud of heart.

    Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

Here is the follow-up to I’ve got this. The Lord knows our heart and despite directions to the contrary knows that we drift away into wondering if the wicked really get what they deserve.  Our own understanding thinks that our rewards will be lessened if the wicked don’t get condemned in accordance with our plans—with our own understanding.

Solomon tells us not to worry about that part.  Be sure of this.  They will not go unpunished.

Verse 6.

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;

    through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.

Now just hold your holy horses right there!  I thought it was the blood of bulls and goats and sacrifices and that the law required the shedding of blood that atoned for sin back then.

There were required sacrifices.  There was a Day of Atonement.  A lot of blood flowed to atone for sins, but the actual atonement for our sins came in love.  We call him Jesus.  We call him Lord.  John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

God loved us first.  Whether it’s in sacrifice, confession, profession, baptism or other acts, we must realize that these are in response to the great love of God.

We hit the trifecta on this verse.  Love, faith, and fear of the Lord keep us in God’s ways and out of the everything else.

Since we are talking faith and faithfulness, let’s review Hebrews 11:1.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Of course, I can’t pass up the connection to Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

    but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

This verse gave us the fear of the Lord, faith, and reminded us that the forgiveness of sins is rooted in love.

We will wrap up with verse 7.

When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way,

    he causes their enemies to make peace with them.

Sometimes, we can think of God’s way as walking to school—uphill, in the snow, both ways—just like our parents did.  But it’s not always like that.  Sometimes, God removes obstacles from our path.  Sometimes God fights our battles for us and our enemies have no choice but to make peace with us.

Remember that God’s way is for our own good.  Sometimes the Lord lets us grow in our battles.  Sometimes he causes our enemies to make peace with us.  Consider this in the context of for our own good.

How can the Lord take pleasure in our ways?  Our ways have grown to be as his ways.  It’s the whole on earth as it is in heaven concept.  The whole earth isn’t there yet, but we can be.

Our ways can please God because we have taken on his ways.  It just so happens that this is for our own good.

Some of you are thinking that the next couple of verses would enhance the context.  Some are thinking it’s time for lunch.  The next two verses do make for excellent discussion and it is time for lunch.  You are blessed to have a lunchtime topic for conversation.

Better a little with righteousness

    than much gain with injustice.

In their hearts humans plan their course,

    but the Lord establishes their steps.

Don’t let these opportunities for further discussion pass. This model of reading the same chapter every day and having the wisdom of God on our hearts should bring it to the forefront of our conversation.

There is God’s way and it’s for your own good.

There is everything else.  That’s where the mines are.

Today we spent a little more time with Solomon on God’s way and its blessings and getting our thoughts and plans into accord with his.  We spent more time on things that are for our own good.

Amen.

God's Way--It's for our own good

 Read Proverbs 15

Solomon composed quite a collection of quips and comments for this chapter.  We find several on the wise and the foolish, which we discussed in the first service.  We see discernment and correction but we also see many quips about wickedness. We see counsel regarding gentleness and I return once again to there is God’s way and there is everything else.

Consider verse 24 especially in the context of God’s way and everything else.

The path of life leads upward for the prudent

    to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.

I have been preaching God’s way and everything else ever since we began the Proverbs. Is this the first that we have heard of God’s way being better for us?

Of course not.  Consider the words of God delivered to his people through Moses.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

God told his own chosen people who had come out of bondage in Egypt to do things his way and only his way.  Why?  It’s for your own good.

It’s for your own good!  Living God’s way is for your own good.  The everything else is marked by death and destruction.

God’s way is for the wise.  Who are the wise?  Those who accept and receive and follow God’s way. Wow!  That sounds like circular logic, but understand that it’s a good circle.  It’s God’s circle and worth the buy-in.  Be wise.

But this is Old Testament wisdom, right?

Let’s turn to the words of a fisherman you should know well. This will be from Peter’s second letter.

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. (Now there’s a man after my own heart.  He is writing to stimulate good thinking). I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. (Just because we live in this age of grace does not mean we disregard the directions we have received before).

Now back to Peter’s words.  Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

How do you forget creation and the flood? People deliberately forget the mighty acts of God and say where is his coming? How do you omit creation and the flood?  Deliberately.  If these things don’t fit your narrative, you just leave them out.  It’s a deliberate choice and not an oversight. It’s right on target for today.

Consider Solomon’s words in this context.

Mockers resent correction,

    so they avoid the wise.

The mockers, the scoffers, the fools, and those who hate wisdom simply avoid the wise and the facts for they have no sound basis for argument.  We live in this world that both Solomon and Peter describe.

What can we do in the midst of this unrighteous turmoil?

We don’t dive into every argument with a fool.  We are counseled against this.

We live lives that the Lord would find holy, blameless, and spotless.  It’s an impossible task on our own, but with God, we can stay the course.  With God, when we miss the mark, we confess and God is faithful and just to forgive.  He puts us back in our race of faith.

Peter tells us that we have been warned ahead of time what is coming and how much the world will contest the will and righteousness of God.  His counsel is to be on guard so that we won’t be carried away by the spirit of lawlessness that will surround us and we must know how deceptive it will be. 

It will not attack head-on but use subtly to undermine what you know to be truth.

Anchor yourself in the knowledge of Christ Jesus and grow in the grace that he has given to us.

What does all this mean?

There is God’s way and there is everything else.  We may venture into the everything else from time to time, but the grace of God that we know in Christ Jesus invites us to return to God’s ways. Return to God’s way.

In other messages and commentaries, I have compared everything else to a minefield.  I don’t know if you have ever been in a minefield, but if you haven’t don’t put it on your bucket list. In Iraq, you had now you see me, now you don’t minefields.

The wind moved the sand and either hid or uncovered the minefields and the cleared roads that went through them.    That could be interesting.  I served at the end of the first Gulf War and was assigned to the United Nations mission in Iraq and Kuwait. 

One day, I was coming back to my sector having visited a patrol base in the central sector.  I had a captain from Indonesia with me and he wanted to drive.  I let him drive and after a couple dozen kilometers, we hit some sand drifts.  He was doing ok for a while and then got stuck in a big drift.

If you drive enough in the desert, you will probably get stuck at some point.  This young captain popped out of the vehicle grabbed the shovel attached to the back of the Land Cruiser and was about to thrust it into the sand surrounding the front of the vehicle when I grabbed the shaft of the shovel.

The captain gave me a funny look until I showed him the metal objects that looked like olive drab softballs.  They were cluster bombs that did not explode on impact.  They were not duds.  It’s just that the sand cushioned them enough to let them land undetonated. They were designed to explode when they hit a hard surface such as an armored vehicle.

The blade of a shovel also works just as well.

Do you know how long it takes to move about a quarter yard of sand?  About two and a half hours if you are doing it in handful size scoops, some of them with a cluster bomb in them.

It wasn’t a minefield by design, but it met the qualifications and produced the same results.  You wanted to get out of it as soon as possible. You wanted to get back on the safe path. You did this with all deliberate speed.

The path of life leads upward for the prudent

    to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.

There is God’s way.  It may seem like it is uphill most of the time, but it leads to life.  The everything else leads to the realm of the dead.

God has given us direction for our own good.  Sometimes it came as commands and directives.  Sometimes it came as wisdom.  Sometimes it came in the flesh as God with us—the only flesh that has ever fulfilled the law. 

But know that what God has given us in commands, directives, wisdom, and even in his Son has always been for our own good.

Doing things God’s way is for our own good.

When you think of this mantra that I think resonates with most of you by now, think for my own good whenever you think of God’s way.

Think of landmines when you venture into the everything else.

God’s way—for your own good.

Everything else—landmines.

The path of life leads upward for the prudent

    to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.

Amen.

Don't be Stupid!

 

Read Proverbs 12

I could just take the week off and say there is God’s way and there is everything else.  I could do that for several chapters, but there are more nuggets than this simple but accurate dichotomy give us.

For instance, Stupid is as stupid does.

The person who hates correction is stupid.  Many grew up being told not to call anyone stupid, but Solomon tells us there is a clear exception.  It is the person who ignores the counsel of the Lord.  That’s different than being ignorant of what the Lord has to say.

It’s knowing what the Lord has to say and rejecting it outright. 

The fool declares in his heart that there is no God.

We began this journey with a simple declaration about knowledge, wisdom, instruction and discipline.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

    but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

A person is a fool to despise wisdom and instruction or wisdom and discipline.  A person is stupid to hate correction.  The classifications seem harsh but realize in rejecting instruction and discipline and correction, the person that Solomon labels a fool is saying, I already know it all.  You—not even God—can teach me anything.

There is a saying going around that rings true.  A coach can help you with your mistakes but nobody can help you with your excuses.

We can only receive correction where we acknowledge a mistake or a miscue.  If we think we know it all, correction seems useless to us. 

 We have been down this road for a while and will continue on it to the end.

Listen to advice and accept discipline,

    and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

Here’s a coupling of verses that we have already studied.

Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;

    teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Wisdom—which includes prudence, discretion, knowledge, acceptance of counsel and correction—was present at the foundation of the world.   How could we reject it?

Solomon makes yet another appeal.  This one is a bit more on the blunt side than others that are more poetic.  If you reject the wisdom and counsel of the Lord, you are just stupid. Stupid!

These are not words of evangelism.  They probably won’t bring anyone to God.  They are what we have seen from Solomon before.

Wake up.  Pay attention.  Get this and get it good.  He calls out to those who are about to step off a cliff and shouts: Stop!

If you saw a loved one about to step off a dangerous cliff, would you casually comment to the person next to you, Hope he doesn’t step off or would you shout Stop!

Not everyone is about to step off of a cliff.  Some just struggle day-to-day with seeking God and his wisdom.  This whole read a chapter a day may seem daunting to some.  Others can’t find the time.  You can binge-watch something on Netflix but can’t find the time for a chapter a day.

The counsel and correction that we need to navigate this life come in seeking God and his wisdom on a daily basis. 

What I am talking about is learning to ride a bicycle. Imagine learning to ride a bicycle like climbing a mountain.  You start out in the foothills.  It’s new but not too challenging.  You probably had training wheels.

Then the lateral fail-safes came off and you started riding and you made some progress and you fell over.  You got back up and went a little farther and fell over.  This happened again and again and there were some skinned knees and bruised elbows.

Then you reached the checkout point.  What’s the checkout point?  It’s that point where you lay down the bicycle and think, If I was walking, I would already be there by now.

But, if you will pick up the bicycle and try one more time, or two more times, or a dozen more times, you find that you have crested the mountain and are on the downhill.  It is from that point forward that you go everywhere on your bicycle, even if it’s just to the end of the block.

You pop wheelies, ride with no hands on the handlebars, and put playing cards in the spokes.  You go everywhere on your bicycle, at least until you get your driver’s permit. Then you can’t remember where you left your bicycle.

But you have to get past the checkout point.  At some point when you don’t feel like you are getting anywhere, you still have to press on.

Such is the case with reading your chapter each day.  At some point, it just doesn’t click.  It seems pointless and hardly fulfilling.  It’s like, I could have had another 15 minutes of sleep, but you press on anyway and read your chapter.

If you get past your checkout point, you find that it’s not too far to where you crest the peak and are on the downhill.  It won’t be, I have to read my chapter or as is the case here, Tom is making me read my Bible.  It will be, I can hardly wait to read my chapter today and tomorrow and the next day. 

The person who hates correction is stupid, thus the one who hungers for the Lord’s correction is wise. We long to be counseled by the Word of God on a daily basis.

We have a methodology that is effective.  We could change the method at some point, but for now it produces good fruit, at least for those who pressed on through the checkout point.

To not receive the counsel of the Lord is just plain stupid. 

Solomon pounds the pulpit one more time and says pay attention.  There is God’s way and there is everything else and it’s just stupid to live in the everything else.

Tom pounds the pulpit and says press on.  Read your chapter every day, even when you don’t feel like it.

Long ago and far away I went to a 2-year school in Quantico, Virginia that lasted 6 months.  It was the drinking from a fire hose metaphor extended for half a year.

I remember one day we had 3 exams and were headed out to the field for a weekend exercise after evening chow, but before we headed out to the field, we took the Air Force Officers Qualification Test.  It wasn’t part of our curriculum, but just something the services did to see how the services compared to each other, at least as far as entry criteria.

The captain administering the test said that traditionally, Marine officers didn’t do too well.  I thought, could it be because you don’t give us the test until we are already brain dead?

But the drinking from a firehose continued for six months.  It was hard to tell if you had learned anything because you were already learning the next thing, but for the next 20 years, I had an internal library to call upon.  It had registered and been cataloged and was available for retrieval.

In between the plethora of golden nuggets that compose the Proverbs are Solomon’s reminders to stay the course.  Pay attention.  Listen to my words. Don’t be stupid!

My counsel is to press on through the checkout point.  It gets easier and your desire to receive the counsel and correction of the Lord grows.

There is God’s way and there is everything else and you will grow hungry for God’s way, including his correction.

Let me put it this way.  Yes, it is stupid to live in the everything else, but seldom does negative motivation get you up the hill and past the checkout point.

So let’s put this in the positive reinforcement mode.  Desiring the correction of God’s way is wise.  Be numbered among the wise.

Amen.

The Prudent Overlook an Insult

 

Read Proverbs 12

I’m jumping ahead a few chapters to get to one of my favorite verses.

As iron sharpens iron,

    so one person sharpens another.

Why couldn’t I wait?  It is good company for a coupling of verses we find in this twelfth chapter. This chapter poses the dichotomy of the wise and the foolish once again.

The way of fools seems right to them,

    but the wise listen to advice.

Fools show their annoyance at once,

    but the prudent overlook an insult.

As we continue in the Proverbs, so too the counsel continues.

Do not answer a fool according to his folly,

    or you yourself will be just like him.

So the topic of this short message is…

FACEBOOK and other online traps.

There is value in discussion, even argument, between people who seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness and surely his wisdom.  Discourse between and among godly people, who are seeking not only the best solution for a problem but personal growth, is valuable.

We help each other grow in intelligent discourse.  Civil discourse is good discussion and a fertile ground for growth.  We who belong to Christ Jesus are blessed to grow in his grace.  That means that we can make mistakes and he will never kick us to the curb.

God already took into account our brilliance and our stupidity when he claimed us as his own. He did tell us through Solomon that some things just don’t help us grow.  Arguing with a fool is one of those things.

This seems harsh, to pass on a discussion because we consider someone to be a fool.  Are we not counseled to avoid calling someone a fool?

We are, but we are also counseled not to engage a fool.  How do we know if we have encountered a fool?  Here are two indicators that Solomon saw fit to share.

First, the fool always thinks that he is right.  His way always seems right to him.  That’s just human nature.  Our way seems right to us, but we who seek wisdom will listen to counsel—especially godly counsel—and are not married to our way.

Second, the fool is annoyed immediately when someone disagrees with him.  Do you remember quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger? The fool is upset as his first course of action.  He is primed to respond. He is quick to answer and with anger.  Listening gets in the way.

Our counsel is, scroll on—let it go. There is no profit to be had here.  Any fruit that comes from further engagement will be rotten.  Move on.

But, but, but…I can’t leave it alone.  You don’t know what he just said. 

The prudent overlook an insult.

Long ago and not too far away, I was a Leadership for Life instructor for The Oklahoman.  For all of the games they played with circulation numbers, they did try to do some positive things.  One of them was the Leadership for Life program.

One afternoon, the company had arranged for Sherri Coale to come and speak to the instructors.  I figured it was worth the drive to the Edmond office and I didn’t even wear my OSU tie.

Sherri talked about many things but her best anecdote was from when she was a new high school basketball coach.  There was one man who always gave her flak regardless of what she did.  He would argue anything, anytime, and anywhere.

Sherri said the thought of what he would confront her with next darkened every day whether she saw him or not.  She finally went to one of the more experienced coaches and shared what was happening.

The older coach told her concisely, Don’t wrestle with the pigs.  You will both get muddy, but the pigs love it.

The prudent overlook an insult.

This was solid counsel that I am sure Sherri kept with her all of her years.  We followed the OU girls for a while, went to see them in a regional tournament at whatever the basketball arena is called now, and enjoyed watching Sherri coach.

I thought she was a good coach but could only shake my head at the commentators when the Sooner girls didn’t get the win.  The talking heads started talking about what heels she wore for the game and maybe she should have paid more attention to coaching.

The prudent overlook an insult.

You have purposeful things to do with your life.  Wasting time arguing with someone—even someone who insults you or your position on something or which heels your decided to wear today—someone who will neither listen nor consider your thoughts is a waste of time.  Chances are that the other person gets entertainment value out of wasting your time.

You have purposeful things to do.

I don’t avoid going online.  Sometimes I am very provocative, but I pick my conversation partners carefully.

The careful use of provocation can lead to creativity but the foolish are only annoyed by thoughts that engage the mind.

You have purposeful things to do.  Your time is wasted, not invested, in arguing with a fool.  There is no, Well done good and faithful servant at the end of an argument with a fool.

I love a good discussion.  I enjoy civil discourse.  If you find a partner who is quick to listen then you are blessed, especially in this age of insults.  Those folks are one in a million. 

Most people don’t discuss.  They degrade.  Discussion takes work.  Put-downs come easy.

You have purposeful things to do.

The prudent overlook an insult.

You have purposeful things to do.

Amen.

Daytime Friends and Nighttime Lovers

 Read Proverbs 5

Anyone remember Kenny Rogers?

Daytime friends and nighttime lovers

Hoping no one else discovers

Where they go, what they do

In their secret hideaway

Solomon spoke of not getting snared by the adulteress.  It’s a trap and it can lead to death.  This would be a good spot for an analogy for the wild animal that chews its leg off because it is caught in a trap.  Get out of there.  Save what you can of yourself, even if you hop around on three legs for the rest of your life.

Better yet, don’t go in the area where the traps are set. 

Do you know how armies decide where to put minefields?  Like them or hate them, minefields are a part of modern combat and they are placed where you expect your enemy to travel.

How can you do that?  Look at the terrain.  Where are the rivers?  Where are the mountains?  Where are the areas that slow down your enemy?

Now what’s left?  Terrain that might be easier to traverse.  That’s where the minefields go.  The path that looks easy just might be mined.

It is so much easier to navigate a minefield before you get into it.  You have more options.  Once you are in a minefield every step is perilous.

But we are not talking about things that go boom.  What can it hurt now and then?  We are all human. It’s ok if nobody finds out, right?

For your ways are in full view of the Lord,

    and he examines all your paths.

The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them;

    the cords of their sins hold them fast.

For lack of discipline they will die,

    led astray by their own great folly.

Long ago and not too far away, I delivered newspapers in Altus for a few weeks because that area did not have a manager and they were missing a few carriers.  So I am driving around Altus at zero dark thirty and there are people leaving houses at 3 am and 4 am and there is no Marine base anywhere close by to make these work hours for anyone.

Where are people going at zero dark thirty?

Daytime friends and nighttime lovers

Hoping no one else discovers

In our folly, we forget that nothing is hidden from God.  This applies to more than nighttime excursions.

God sees the heart.  Nothing is hidden from God.  Your ways are in full view of the Lord.

You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can never fool God. You can only fool yourself and cheat yourself out to the blessings of remaining in the harmonious union with the wife of your youth.

Now Solomon directs this counsel at men, but it applies to both genders.

There is God’s way and there is everything else and if you decide to venture into the everything else, don’t think it goes unnoticed by God. 

I have used this term many times over the past decades and use it now:  Front End Analysis.  Good decisions on the front end of any process make for easier problem solving later on.

Rushing into anything sets us up for catastrophe.

There is God’s way and there is everything else.  Here’s the tip of the day.  The front-end analysis has already been done for God’s way and the return on investment is continued blessing and favor.

Choose God’s way to begin with and you don’t have to chew off a leg to get out of a trap.

Amen.

How I Hated Discipline

 Read Proverbs 5

The one-liner goes like this.  I’m so broke that I can’t even pay attention.  Solomon directs us to do just that. 

Pay attention.

Listen well.

Do not forget.

Accept my words.

Store up my commands.

Pay attention.

Most of us realize that our thoughts tend to drift.  We have to refocus time and again.  We have to remind ourselves to stay on task, to pay attention.

I have been saying that there is God’s way and there is everything else for a while, but Solomon liked to precede his wisdom with a direction to pay attention.  This is important.  Ignore wisdom at your own peril

Going back to the first chapter, we picked up on the mode of operations as far as wisdom goes.  If you revere God so highly that the fear of anything in the world pales in comparison, you have begun a journey that leads to knowledge that leads to wisdom that embraces the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

We have discussed that Trust in the Lord is wisdom and that wisdom leads to more trust.  It is a self-perpetuating cycle.  Trust in the Lord-Wisdom-Trust-Wisdom.

We want to get on and stay on this cycle.  Trust in the Lord-Wisdom-Trust-Wisdom.

The world cannot understand this and rejects this in favor of its own mantra that it attempts to pass off as wisdom. All wisdom comes from God.  Wisdom was present at the creation of the world.  Wisdom was woven into the fabric of the universe.

We are directed to Get Wisdom and Seek Understanding.

We discussed how we are all made with purpose.  How pitiful it would be to be made in God’s image and not know his purpose for us—to just drift through life.  Sometimes that purpose coincides with what we do for a living.  Sometimes it has little relationship to our income or our livelihoods, but we all have purpose.

There may be very specific things that God has purposed for each of us, but there are some things he has purposed to all who call upon the name of the Lord.  These should sound familiar.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

I will walk in the light as he is in the light.

I will be known as a follower of Christ Jesus by my love.

I will take the words of my Master and put them into practice.

I will live as if tomorrow is not promised but eternity is.  My choices matter and I chose to seek the Lord in all that I do.

We will never live a day in our lives without purpose, so we continue to get wisdom and seek instruction and live this life to the full desiring to bring glory to God in all that we do.

But some don’t.

I don’t want to dwell on the negative, but Solomon saw fit to put a dramatic warning on living in the everything else.  He starts with the adulterous woman who is ever so seductive at first but bitter in the end.  What seems so attractive at first will drain the life out of your life.

There is God’s way and there is everything else and sometimes the everything else looks ever so inviting, but it is a trap, one that can lead to death.  It will surely drain the life out of you.

Not all traps are set by women.  Folly and laziness and pride and arrogance all set traps for the one who will dare to veer from the path set by God.  We will get to these in time but for this time let us look at the dramatic response of the one who has succumbed to living in the everything else.

While the beginning of these wayward journeys was enticing to our flesh and to our corrupt hearts, staying the course of wickedness and foolishness come to this inevitable end.

At the end of your life you will groan,

    when your flesh and body are spent.

You will say, “How I hated discipline!

    How my heart spurned correction!

I would not obey my teachers

    or turn my ear to my instructors.

And I was soon in serious trouble

    in the assembly of God’s people.”

What’s worse than hitting rock bottom because of your own decisions?

Recognizing that it did not have to be that way.  It absolutely did not have to come to this.

Realizing that you ignored warning after warning after warning but your own understanding minimized the warnings into nothing and you continued on your path that led to destruction.

Solomon was not writing to the pagans.  He was writing to those who knew there was one true God and who claimed to be God’s people.  He was writing to those who should have been trusting in God with all of their hearts and not succumbing to their own understanding as they veered from the path God set for them.

In hindsight, the wayward son will cry out, “How I hated discipline!”  He will cry out, “I should have taken the vaccine!”  I am not talking about the vaccine that has caused so much controversy today, but the vaccine of wisdom and trust in the Lord.

And you won’t get this from the CDC, that vaccine is approved for both adults and children.

The one who would not return to God’s way will acknowledge that God does discipline those whom he loves but I would have none of it.  The more God rebuked me, the more I hardened my heart against him. The more that God loved me, the more I rejected him.

For about four decades now, I have tried to introduce a simple concept into many decisions.  I have been very successful at boring people to tears when I talk about something called front-end analysis.

What?  Front-end analysis involves heavy investment on the front end of a process.  It looks at consequences and sequels for multiple choices or courses of action before the decisions are made.

People today don’t want to do that.  I just want a new computer or a new car or a new storage building.  I don’t want to do a needs analysis. Those are boring. I don’t want to think this through.

I just want what looks good.

Solomon takes us through some consequences and sequels to our choices.  Doing things God’s way brings us to blessing.  Ignoring God’s way and choosing what I call the everything else leads us on a path of destruction.

But Solomon puts the one on this wayward path in the first person and gives him the perspective of hindsight.  “I would not obey my teachers.  I would not listen to instruction.”

In hindsight, the one on the verge of destruction will see clearly the root cause: “How I hated disciple.”

We learned in the first chapter of Proverbs that those seeking God love disciple and instruction for fools despise wisdom and instruction and discipline.

We love sending kids to church camp.  We pray that they grow closer to God for we have seen so many go the way of destruction.  We know that God is a merciful God and desires none to perish, but how far down the road to destruction can someone go before they give up seeking God? How long can long can someone stay on the path that leads to destruction before they abandon all hope?

 

We are not allowed to give up on anyone.  Like God, our hearts must desire that none perish but if we are serious about this, we don’t wait until someone is a good way down the path that leads to destruction.

We who have received and embraced God’s wisdom call people to come home as soon as we see them off course. We who desire to practice wisdom choose to work on the front end of the process. It’s where we get the best return on investment—the cost is low and the returns are high.

Our hearts break at the words of regret and hopelessness spoken in hindsight, “How I hated disciple.  How my heart spurned correction.”

We who seek God’s wisdom seek to call others back to God’s way sooner than later.

But, but, but I’m not qualified.

But, but, but I don’t want to meddle.

But, but, but I don’t want to judge.

But, but, but that’s just not my way.

But it is wisdom’s way.  There is God’s way and there is everything else.  Wisdom tells us to call those who have abandoned God’s way home, sooner than later.

Love and wisdom call us to call home those who have nothing but regret and remorse ahead of them.  Wisdom says to stick your neck out and invite those who are lost to come home.

Wisdom tells us what to do.  Love compels us to do it.  Empathy longs for people not to hit rock bottom but to come to the Lord now.

We who seek wisdom are advised to work on the front end of the process and call others to do the same.

We who seek to live God’s way are charged to call others to join us before they venture too far into the everything else.

Love and wisdom call us to bring the lost home.

Amen.