High Doors

For Friday, May 25, 2006
Proverbs 17:19

Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
he who makes his door high seeks destruction.

We often think our sins and transgressions are private and personal. We have a pride problem, or a lust problem, or a sloth problem.

Sin and strife go hand in hand. We may wish to have the one without the other.
Our sins don't seem so bad if they are personal foibles: then they are problems we might we try to overcome, if at all, through self-improvement.

But God did not make man or woman to be alone. When sin entered, broken relationships and strife entered as well. Unless we are completely perverse (and sometimes we are) we'd all like to live lives free from strife and conflict. But our sins won't let us. Through Christ's work and his Spirit we can have true peace, as we are enabled through God's grace to stop loving our transgressions.

The Spirit calls us to meekness, to making doors that are low.

Give to him who asks

For Thursday, May 24, 2006
Proverbs 17:18

One who lacks sense gives a pledge
and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.

This is a difficult proverb to understand. On the one hand we seem to be warned here, and many other places in Proverbs (6:1, 11:5, 20:16, 22:26, and 27:13) about the foolish risk we put ourselves in if we help our neighbor financially, here by offering to secure a loan for him.

On the other hand, aren't we supposed to be willing to help the poor and destitute, even when it impacts us negatively? The answer lies in what is intended by the giver of the pledge. A loan anticipates repayment. The one who pledges for his neighbor considers his neighbor's debt an asset that will be repayed. But it would very like not be, especially since land was the most productive resource in Israel, not coins.

So when we are helping others, we should not be thinking of our return on investment. Our financial future is not in our hands. Since we are stewards of that which God givs us, and He has declared his wirsdom to us, we must not think that we are wiser than He, and know what is an acceptable risk.

We give freely, as we are able, expecting nothing in return.

Friend and brother

For Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity

Adversity is the test of true friendship. Many are those who are close at hand when we are doing well. We shouldn't think too negatively of the person who inquires after our well being, but seems uninterested if we talk about one of our burdens or problems: we all do it.

But when we have a friend that we can come to with our burdens, even just to be listened too, it is a precious gift. Even greater is the willingness of the true friend to offer other kinds of help, spiritual, financial, or just standing alongside.

When we have troubles many times it becomes an opportunity for people to decide that our troubles are a sign of our weakness or wickedness. Job experienced this, as did David. Paul too, as the Corinthian church needed to be reminded that the adversity Paul suffered was the sign of the faithfulness of his ministry, not the failure.

When a friend or brother stands by us when all seems to be against us, the deep love we were called to demonstrate is manifest.

A fool and his money

Tuesday May 23, 2006
Proverbs 17:16

Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom
when he has no sense?

Sometimes our maxims match up very nicely with the scriptures, as is the case with "A fool and his money are soon parted"

But here the emphasis is not on how the fool wastes money, but on his foolish heart. Even a good thing like money is useless to the fool, for he lacks the heart and sense to make use of the blessings and benefits that he does have.

We can think of the revelation of God in Romans 1, where all the attributes of God are on full display, but the fool runs off after that which is not God.

Why should the fool have any blessings?

It shows the mercy and love of God, who sends rain on the just and unjust, and loves his enemies as we also ought to do.

It shows the wickedness of man, who rejects the grace of God, and like a stone is impervious to the water poured out upon it.

The proverb ponders a mystery: why does a fool have a good thing, when he doesn't know the purpose of it.

The wisdom of God pushes us to consider this riddle, and we can trust in the answer of God that "even that which he has shall be taken from him".

Innocence and Guilt

For Monday, May 22, 2006
Proverbs 17:15

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the LORD

We have our own sayings and maxims, sayings which have the ring of truth in them, and have some limited wisdom or application. The Biblical Proverbs give us much more: they give us the wisdom of God.

One common expression we hear about our standards of justice and the presumption of innocence is that "it is better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man be condemned." Other than this expression being an assertion, it also calls us to question how we might calculate what number of guilty men could go free before it might be worth condemning an innocent man.

How much more significant is God's standard of justice. He does not want the rulers of Israel or the nations to declare any guilty men to be innocent, or to condemn any innocent man. Both alike are an abomination.

Surely, there was a presumtion of innocence, and guilt had to be satisfactorily demonstrated under Israel's justice. But Proverbs warns about the crimes of injustice that the rulers can perprtrate.

We're not many of us called to be rulers or judges, but many temptations pull us away from sober judgment. We may excuse the sins of those close to us, while mangifying the peccadilloes of those that are distant. We may desire the sins of family members to be swept under the rug, while receiving evil reports of those we bear grudges against. For many reasons we judge unjustly. But God is a judge who judges us with a perfect standard.