Trembling Occasions

For Friday, April 11, 2008
Proverbs 30:21-23

Under three things the earth trembles;
under four it cannot bear up:
22 a slave when he becomes king,
and a fool when he is filled with food;
23 an unloved woman when she gets a husband,
and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

In our modern democratic age, we might take issue with this proverb. Our stories of success are the very things held up here as troubling. We admire the slave who overcomes his circumstances to become king. We may not admire the fool, but at least appreciate the wit he uses to get his food. Is not the story of an unloved woman finding a husband who loves her romantic? And as for the maidservant, we think of the servant girl mistreated by the arrogant mistress who lives out a Cinderella story and displaces the mean mistress. Indeed, we regard all these instances as Cinderella stories.

But here is what the proverb is speaking about. It looks at the slave who obtains his position by leading a rebellion and sits on a royal throne, which his ignoble spirit demeans. The fool should be receiving what he needs - discipline, and yet through the folly of life gets rewarded for his foolish behavior. The unloved woman is not one who has found a husband to love her; rather, she is unloved because of her own critical, unloving ways, and woe to the man who is forced or beguiled into marrying her. And as to the maidservant, like the slave, she has used deceit and probably her sexual prowess to displace her mistress.

Cinderella stories are nice, and it is good to see those who are good and who possess noble spirits rise above their circumstances. But for all such stories, there are many others in which the wicked and the ignoble have used evil means to displace those who are in rightful places of authority and in circumstances that befit their character. Such persons turn noble positions into opportunity to bully. The slave bullies all those for whom he holds perceived offenses, raising the wicked to power and humbling the noble. The unloved woman turns the role of help-meet into opportunity to bully her husband. The handmaiden as mistress struts arrogantly before the household. And the fool feels like a clever man because his stomach is full.

The Way

For Thursday, April 10, 2008
Proverbs 30:18-20

Three things are too wonderful for me;
four I do not understand:
the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a serpent on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of man with a virgin.

This is the way of an adulteress:
she eats and wipes her mouth
and says, "I have done no wrong."

The proverb contemplates the mystery and grace of "ways." There is the graceful flight of the eagle in the sky, moving its way through the air and the winds seemingly with ease. There is the serpent without legs sliding along easily over rock. There is the way of the small ship navigating over high waves. And then there is the way of the "man with a virgin" - the way of a man wooing a maiden or a husband intimate with his new bride, a picture of the mystery of love that brings physical intimacy.

These "ways" have a sacredness about them as one contemplates the physics and the beauty about them. How repugnant, then, it shows the way of an adulteress, who treats sex as nothing more than having a meal. The eagle is nothing more than a bird flapping its wings, the snake a wiggly creature, the ship but a boat floating on water, and the man with a maiden - well, that is nothing more than a man giving way to lust. There is no mystery, no beauty, no sacredness; there is just creatures getting around and carrying out their instinct. Nothing is good, nothing is bad; the "ways" are simply creatures going through the motion.

The adulteress can make a decent living with such an attitude. So can anyone doing what they do merely for the profit. But what they lose is their soul, their ability to see mystery, to sense the sacred, and ultimately to know real joy.

Dishonoring Parents

For Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Proverbs 30:17

The eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother
will be picked out by the ravens of the valley
and eaten by the vultures.

Disrespect of one's parents clearly is not a modern phenomenon. This is the second time in chapter 30 that the matter has been raised (see v 11). There is the tendency of youth and, perhaps more so, adult children to denigrate their parents. Among youth, there is there natural tendency to want to assert independenc, and that often comes through questioning one's parents. Nor is it unusual for youth to resist what they feel are restraints on their intincts for pleasure and acceptance among their peers.

It is the adult child who never grows out of that youthful attitude who is most troubling. As he grows into adulthood, he should be learning the trials and temptations that have beset his parents, thus making him more understanding of whatever defects they possess. He should be learning from his own failures the frailty of the human spirit, and so identifying with his parents as fellow sinners needing grace.

How else will he handle being a parent himself? Like Peter who swore to his Lord that he would not be like the other disciples who would forsake his master and then sinned beyond them, so is likely to happen to the adult child who swears he will be a better parent than his. It is not self-confidence, but rather humility that will make the difference. And once we understand that we are no different from our parents, however poor they may have been in raising us and still treat us - once we understand that whatever we do right is done by the grace of God, it is then that we have a chance ourselves to raise children who will not mock and scorn us.

Bless your parents; honor them by doing whatever is for their good. Act according to the principle of grace and not out of your hurts. Perhaps you cannot help them (though you have more of a chance to do so than if you act of resentment and pride); but what is really at stake is your heart. Do not let it be filled with pride; do not let scorn come to life in it.

Craving

For Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Proverbs 30:15-16

The leech has two daughters;
“Give” and “Give,” they cry.
Three things are never satisfied;
four never say, “Enough”:
16 Sheol, the barren womb,
the land never satisfied with water,
and the fire that never says, “Enough.”

We are given vivid imagery of the spirit which is never satisfied. The impression being made is that such a spirit feels a true hunger that cannot be satiated, not so much out of greed but out of an inability to receive or maintain nourishment. This is made clear in the last three examples - the barren womb (that feels the emptiness of being able to bear a child), the barren land (which would be the common condition in the Middle-east), and fire (which ceases to exist the moment its fuel runs out). They crave to receive, like the leech and his family that must have "blood" to survive. And so Sheol is represented. No matter how many dead it receives, it has an unending appetite for more. Again, their problem is not being greedy, but being unable to benefit for long in what they receive.

Such a spirit is pitiable. He craves for fulfillment but cannot attain it. Like the Teacher of Ecclesiastes, he explores the different ways to find it - in work, in pleasure, in entertainment, in riches. He may seek it by exploring philosophies and religions. He may try to find it in noble and sacrificial work. And at times he seem fulfilled, but then the craving comes again, only stronger. "Give, give," he cries.

The saddest position is when he cannot profit even from hearing the gospel. His heart does not possess the proper soil, because in his pursuit to find fulfillment through other means, he has left his heart hardened and incapable of receiving the seed of the gospel. Like hardened barren land which cannot profit from the rain, so is his heart to the gospel.

Let us pray for our neighbors who are in such a state. Who crave for fulfillment and, yet, by the very means they seek to satisfy their cravings, they are hardening their hearts to make it all the more difficult to attain. Pray for them, that the Spirit will touch their spirits and satisfy them with the blessing of the gospel.

There Are Those

For Monday, April 7, 2008
Proverbs 30:11-14

11There are those who curse their fathers
and do not bless their mothers.
12There are those who are clean in their own eyes
but are not washed of their filth.
13There are those—how lofty are their eyes,
how high their eyelids lift!
14There are those whose teeth are swords,
whose fangs are knives,
to devour the poor from off the earth,
the needy from among mankind.

We are given four observations of probably one type of person or generation. It is of the arrogant whose pride and self-absorption lead to spite and self-deceit. They despise their parents (and others in rightful authority) whom they regard as fools. They regard themselves as being clean, i.e. without fault, while in truth they are most defiled. They look down upon everyone, whom they regard as lesser beings and fools. And they are especially severe with the poor and needy, whom they despise precisely because of their poor position.

They only admire the powerful who are also ruthless, for they believe sincerely in the law of survival of the fittest. They despise their parents because of their parents' attempt to instill a moral code, which they regard as oppressive and unrealistic. Like the fool, they think they have life figured out; indeed, that they are among the few who understand the ruthlessness of life and the rules that one must play to survive and succeed.

And what is required to deal with them is a righteous use of discipline. For their problem is not a lack of education, but a lack of heart. We cannot change another's heart. We can curb the behavior, and we can point in the right direction, using reason and a charitable spirit. But what is truly needed is the work of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, pray for those whom you know following the path of arrogance. Pray for their being brought low, that they might recognize their poverty and folly, rise in humility, wash off their filth by the blood of Christ, and bless their fathers and mothers and everyone who persevered in pointing them along the path of God.