Don't lose your grip on Love ...
Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people. -Proverbs 3:3-4
Love and loyalty (or faithfulness) are the hallmarks of healthy relationships - it is really hard to have one without the other. Just consider these words that the apostle uses when he defines love for the Corinthians: patient and kind; not envious, boastful, arrogant, irritable, resentful or rude. Given that it is no wonder that loyalty cannot be separated from from love. We must hold these values tightly because they define what it means to be a son or daughter of God.
The word "reputation" seems to have both a bright and dark side. In a negative way people sometimes embrace a prideful persona where their reputation is wrapped up in what they do or how they do it. In our scripture today Solomon speaks to how love and loyalty presents a different kind of reputation. He tells us that this sort of reputation is earned by living well. And when we live a life of love and loyalty we live well in the eyes of God and those around us.
Come Holy Spirit. Fill me today that I might live well in your eyes and the eyes of those around me.
Take to heart what I'm telling you ...
Good friend, take to heart what I'm telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life. Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding. -Proverbs 2:1-2
I love the way that The Message begins this chapter with the words "Good friend". In other versions it is rendered "My son". In either case the words denote a loving perspective towards the reader. Sometimes love is what is needed to communicate wisdom. Often a person cannot hear unless they sense a loving motive. It is why the apostle writes of speaking the truth in love. Sometimes the intentions of our heart speaks louder than the words of our mouth.
When I read this passage the word humility comes to mind. God has called us to be life-long learners - but not all are humble enough to learn. In some sense it is impossible to learn or even seek God if we are not a little humble. If we are filled with pride we will not seek out wisdom because we already see ourselves as wise. But if humility has entered our soul we will most certainly understand our need and seek out wisdom. And God promises to help the humble.
Help us, dear Lord, to take to heart what you say to us in the scriptures.
The more you get, the less you are.
They're racing to a very bad end, hurrying to ruin everything they lay hands on. Nobody robs a bank with everyone watching, Yet that's what these people are doing— they're doing themselves in. When you grab all you can get, that's what happens: the more you get, the less you are. -Proverbs 1:16-19 MSG
Solomon's statement: "the more you get, the less you are" speaks to me of how important it is to keep ourselves free of the love of money and material things. I think that we reveal a dark life philosophy when our definition of success encompasses the location of our house or the model of our car. In my thinking success is never defined in material terms - some of the most successful people are poor when wealth is defined by their bank account.
Just as greed takes life away generosity gives it back to us. Developing a generous heart is the only way that we can defeat greed and the temptation to be stingy. Being generous is so much more than giving to the church ... it is a habit we develop when we tip our waiter/waitress after a meal ... it is reflected by the grace we give others when they are late for an appointment ... it is responding with gratitude when we don't have to. It is the antidote to greed.
Free us Lord from the love of things. Help us to be outrageously generous.
The first step in learning is bowing ...
Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning. -Proverbs 1:7 MSG
The heart of King Solomon is seen so clearly in the Proverbs. The first chapters of this book deals almost exclusively with what it means to be wise. In a sense wisdom has very little to do with the intellect - even the simplest of people can be wise because wisdom is more about the heart than the head ... it is more about intuition than logic. Yet wisdom can be so hard to find because wisdom does not always make sense. Sometimes wisdom is found in the strangest places.
Interesting that Solomon begins his writings on the subject with the idea that all wisdom begins with a fear of, or bowing down to, the Lord. It reminds me of how he will later advise us to trust God with our hearts and not rely on our intellect. In a sense wisdom begins when we begin to trust Him with all of our heart. This, I think, is what it means to fear the Lord. We do not bow down with a sense of fearing his wrath but more as a way to acknowledge his fatherly love for us.
Teach us to be wise today Lord. Help us to trust you with all of our heart.
He enjoys giving rest to those he loves.
If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap.
It's useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?
Psalm 127: 1-2 MSG
Solomon speaks here of the vanity of doing things without the influence and blessing of God. He indicates that even the most ornate of palaces are but mere shacks in the eyes of the Almighty. These verses remind me of how Jesus spoke to his disciples about building their lives on a solid foundation. It speaks to me of the glorious dwellings that we build when we trust the Lord. In truth our lives are only safe when they are entrusted to our heavenly night watchman.
That said I am not sure that I can really relate to the idea of the gift of rest. Can you? When I consider what it means to trust the Lord I sometimes think of some sort of religious activity. Yet trusting the Lord is more about resting than it is about doing. I think that much worry and anxiety has its roots in what we do rather than what He does. Could it be that God only builds when we rest? Is Solomon trying to tell us to be still and know that He is God?
Help me to walk in this gift of rest today Lord. Teach me what it means to trust you.
The gift of wise rule ...
Give the gift of wise rule to the king, O God, the gift of just rule to the crown prince. May he judge your people rightly, be honorable to your meek and lowly. Let the mountains give exuberant witness; shape the hills with the contours of right living. Please stand up for the poor, help the children of the needy, come down hard on the cruel tyrants.
-Psalm 72: 1-4
I love that this series of devotions on the sage of Solomon begins with a prayer. These verses are reminiscent of the response that Solomon gave to the Lord at Gibeon when God appeared to him in a dream and asked him "What can I give you?" I wonder how you would have answered that question? Solomon responded saying:
"Here's what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?"God gave Solomon wisdom that night and over time helped him discern how to lead Israel. I love how today's passage speaks of wisdom and just rule as gifts given to leaders who ask for such things. It seems to me that the fruit of such gifts is the ways that wise and just rulers honor the meek standing up for the poor and needy.
Help leaders all across the world to be ones who seek you and desire a wisdom that helps that helps the poor.
The Sage of Solomon
It has been said that King Solomon, the son of King David, might be the wisest man who has ever lived. His life and ascendancy to his father's throne is chronicled in Kings and Chronicles. His sage (i.e. wisdom received through reflection and experience) is expressed in Proverbs, Psalms, Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.
Over the years I have read his writings many times. For years it was my practice to read a chapter from Proverbs each day. So beginning tomorrow I'll briefly comment (maybe ramble a bit) each day about the thoughts and impressions I have as I read through the sage of Solomon. And, for a change, I'll use the The Message - should provide a different take on these ancient words. Please join me each day on this sagely journey.
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