The Honeycomb

For Friday, August 10, 2007
Proverbs 24:13-14

My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb
are sweet to your taste.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, there will be a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

We tend to contrast wisdom with pleasure. The wise man avoids pleasures so that he might pursue righteousness or keep his head to make good decisions. But wisdom lies really in choosing true pleasure. Wisdom itself is pleasure, and the wise man will not part from it, not so much out of self-discipline and denial, but because he has tasted the honey and likes it.

He reads the "classics" and writings that typically take effort to comprehend fully not so much to improve his mind but because they engage his mind. What we regard as an effort to be "above the rest" is simply his ability to delight in what we will not make the effort to understand. Our tendency is to go with whatever immediately catches our attention. That is why the mass media uses constantly changing images. It knows that we will press the remote quickly to another channel the moment we are bored. And we are bored when we have to use mental energy to grasp what we are seeing or hearing or reading.

Like the child who develops a fuller taste for foods as he grows up, so we could do the same if we would develop our minds. What may seem to be tedious at the beginning, becomes a pleasure that tastes like honey.

Strength to Rescue

For Thursday, August 9, 2007
Proverbs 24:10-12

10 If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12 If you say, "Behold, we did not know this,"
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?

What a sobering text! We are to be judged not only by the bad we do, but the good we fail to do. Even more sobering, we will be judged by the One who knows fully our hearts which we daily hide from ourselves. "I didn't know," we may say. But God sees that we did not want to know.

This teaching is invasive. It searches out every place of our hearts. What would happen if we honestly looked about us and saw those "who are being taken away to death"? Who would we see? What would we do about it? How would we "hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter"? I hesitate to give examples because they might blind us to more real situations around us. Who are stumbling to physical slaughter? Who are stumbling to spiritual slaughter? Who are physically beaten? Who are emotionally being broken? What would we see if we saw "slaughter" through the eyes of God? What would we see if we saw our own hearts as he does?

He saw sheep stumbling to slaughter and gave up his Son to hold them back. What do we give up?

The Schemer's Plans

For Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Proverbs 24:8-9

Whoever plans to do evil
will be called a schemer.
The devising of folly is sin,
and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

Wickedness is wickedness however it is carried out. But as the law affirms, it is especially repugnant to devise wickedness. Some people "fall" into sin, yielding against their better judgment. But the schemer plans his evil. He uses his ability to reason for the express purpose of causing mischief.

Consider the drug dealer who uses business acumen to run an elaborate, sophisticated business complex. Consider the thief who studies how to carry out a crime with the same meticulous attentiveness as any scholar. There is the businessman who out of greed and ambition uses his talent and expertise to manipulate the system and gain undue advantage over others.

There is a sadness about such persons. For one considers not only the crimes committed, but the good that goes undone that these persons were capable of. What if such schemers used their abilities for good? What all could be done? How much good goes undone?

And then there is the scoffer who is an abomination. Again, the problem is not merely that he ridicules, but that he uses his mental skills to mock rather than for productive good. Scoffing is the lazy man's use of mental wit. Unlike the schemer who turns to wickedness out of ambition, the scoffer turns to destructive ridicule out of lack of ambition. Both live wasted lives.

What are your plans today? To advance your own cause or the cause of Christ? To shoot down the efforts of others or build others up? It is not good to know the plans of your Lord today for you? Whatever exactly they may be, they are for your good.

Wisdom Too High

For Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Proverbs 24:7

Wisdom is too high for a fool;
in the gate he does not open his mouth.

The image here is that of men sitting at the gate of a city. This is where the elders of the town gather, discuss the Law and judge disputes. The fool does not join in because he cannot follow the discussion. He cannot comprehend their logic. It is not that they use esoteric words, but that he does not know how to reason and so cannot follow their reasoning. Though they are discussing practical application of the Law, they may as well be speaking of deep mysteries, as far as he is concerned.

This is a growing problem today. Young people are growing up learning to read words without comprehending what is being said. They cannot follow a continual line of argument. The constant exposure and movement of images have added to the problem of deliberate reasoning. You can see this in TV and movies when comparing them to older shows. The camera angle and focus move much more often. We cannot tolerate a still camera. We lose our focus on what is being communicated.

And this is affecting our whole society. As politicians already know, their task is not to use logic well, but to evoke feelings that make the hearers think they are hearing good reasoning. Sermons are made shorter because hearers cannot listen to a sustained discourse for a long period, unless the sermon is propped with changing visual images.

We have the capacity to reason well, but with media relying on emotional manipulation to communicate and the education system dumbing down what is being taught, we are becoming fools unable to comprehend wise discourse. If only we would then be silent at the gate. Instead, we are taught to open our mouths more loudly so that folly can be heard by all.

Wise Strength

For Monday, August 6, 2007
Proverbs 24:5-6

A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

The first half of the proverb seems to be extolling individual wisdom. The wise man alone is full of strength. But the latter half unveils more about wisdom. The true wise person seeks wise counsel. Wisdom leans on wisdom. A wise person knows that he alone does not have all wisdom. He knows his limits. He values others who see what he cannot see. He is not hampered by pride that refuses to acknowledge what others may possess and he lacks.

This is a primary reason that the wise achieve victory over those who are stronger. Unhampered by pride, they can think through carefully what is the best action to take. They are not weighed down by petty disputes and jealousies. Wise counselors think what is best for the one taking their counsel. Wise rulers listen humbly to wise counsel and act accordingly.

How are you guided? By what appeals to your ego or what presents clearly scriptural truth in light of the real circumstances? From whom do you seek counsel? From those known for wisdom or from those you can count on to take your side and flatter you? If you want to be strong, then humbly seek the wise counsel of those wiser than yourself. Out of such humility one finds wisdom and becomes strong.