Proverbs 6:16-19

“There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that hurry to run to evil,
a lying witness who testifies falsely,
and one who sows discord in a family.” NRSV

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3 NRSV).

We are definitely a “why me?” culture. We want the best for ourselves, often without the corresponding effort. We want to avoid suffering and loss at all costs, but don’t really mind if others suffer around us.

Harsh? Yes. But likely, it is the truth. We are, as a culture (and becoming, as a world), highly competitive and self-centered. There isn’t anywhere touted the idea that we should promote others over ourselves or suffer loss so that others don’t have to.

Except in the Bible.

I looked up “pride” and “haughty.” In the Hebrew, the word “rom” actually means “to be high, exalted.” In English, the words “pride” and “haughty” both have the connotation of being better than everyone else, of not being on the same plane.

I shouldn’t have to suffer . . .
That person I loved shouldn’t have died . . .
I shouldn’t have lost my home . . .
I should have been promoted . . .
I should have gotten that loan (or car or house) . . .
I should be the one chosen . . .

To all these questions (and ones like them), I would ask: Why not?

Think about a typical, fairly common situation. One opening for a promotion. Several people vying for it. Only one will get it. All of the others will lose out. Why should we desire to “win” so that all these other people will lose?

Haughty eyes.

The verse in Philippians says: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.” Selfish ambition. Self-seeking. Conceit. The idea that I should receive the “good” (the recognition, the attention, the glory, the benefit, the rewards) and that others will have to wait (or not get at all).

Matthew Henry: “We must be concerned not only for our own credit, and ease, and safety, but for those of others also; and rejoice in the prosperity of others as truly as in our own. We must love our neighbour as ourselves, and make his case our own.”

We’re often so busy trying to get what we need (or, more likely, want) for ourselves that we don’t have the time or effort (or inclination) to try to “get” for someone else. We’d rather have the nice office, the better position, the higher salary, the larger home, the newer car, the better clothes, the more spectacular event, more attention, more control, more power. We aren’t inclined to even give in, no less seek the betterment of someone else around us to our own detriment.

Haughty eyes.

We look upon the world as the place where we get what we need, want, desire, can benefit from. Everyone else can take care of herself.

That certainly isn’t what the Lord Jesus did (on this earth) and it’s certainly not what He commanded us to do. Isn’t there a greater reality for us? Isn’t this life simply a breath and then gone? I think that heaven (and eternity) need to have an impact on our lives. If this—these short years—is all there is, then we should go for the gusto and get all we can get. However, if eternity (and heaven) are real, then it doesn’t matter whether we succeed or fail here as long as we live the cause of Christ . . . in humility and great love for those around us.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 6:12-15

"A scoundrel and a villain
goes around with crooked speech,
winking the eyes, shuffling the feet,
pointing the fingers,
with perverted mind devising evil,
continually sowing discord;
on such a one calamity will descend suddenly;
in a moment, damage beyond repair.” NRSV

I grew up on Saturday morning (black and white) westerns where the good guys all wore white hats and the black guys all wore black hats. (Life was simpler in those days.) The fact is, while that kind of behavior stereotyping may make for good entertainment, it doesn’t serve us in real life. All behavior has a purpose; people aren’t just perverse (though they may seem so) simply because they want to be perverse.

In other words, while people may appear to be scoundrels or villains, there is a purpose in their behavior. They may be afraid (usually); they may be angry (possibly); they may even not feel well. And that being the case, there is the potential within all of us to be “a scoundrel and a villain.”

Solomon ain’t just talkin’ about the guys in black hats!

I’m not always as loving, as forgiving, as charitable (and ultimately as trusting of the Father) as I ought to be. And when those times bubble up in my life, I am often the one with the “crooked speech.” Oh, I certainly don’t intend for what I say to bring about evil. Necessarily. It’s just that some particular person has harmed me or threatened me or even (just) disturbed me and I want those around to know how innocent I am and how guilty that person is. So I point fingers. I even might fantasize about how some evil might befall them. Certainly, rather than sowing peace for that person, I’m trying to sow discord. And often, as a result, I’m caught with my foot in my mouth: calamity that suddenly descends, sometimes even creating damage beyond repair.

My tongue gets me into trouble more than I care to admit.

James talks about the difficult discipline of controlling one’s words:

“The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so” (3:6b-10 NRSV).

Growing up we were taught a saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” In a similar fashion, I try to teach my students: “If what someone says about you is true, then it’s true and you shouldn’t be upset. But if what they say about you isn’t true, their saying it doesn’t make it true.”

But the fact is, words hurt. Whether or not we allow them to hurt us is often beside the point. But more importantly, we use words to try to control, rather than trusting God. If we truly believe that God will bring us justice, if we truly believe that He will provide regardless of our circumstances, if we truly believe that we can rest in our peace with Him, then we would feel no need to try to harm someone else. And we certainly wouldn’t justify ourselves by saying that it was only something we said; that we are better than those who harm physically because we only spoke.

I think that, as a Christian, I need to be much more self-reflective and even brutal with how I evaluate my life and my actions. I need to see my sins as sins and deal with them accordingly. Only then, when I realize that even the softest word spoken to bring pain to another, can I really acknowledge that, in that moment, I was a scoundrel and villain and desperately in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 6:6-11

“Go to the ant, you lazybones;
consider its ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief
or officer or ruler,
it prepares its food in summer,
and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want, like an armed warrior.” NRSV

“Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy” (Ephesians 4:28 NRSV).

“For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right” (2 Thessalonians 3:10-13 NRSV).

There is a new phenomenon of child neglect and it has to do with computer games. Moms, dads, couples so involved in their computer activities—games, chat rooms, blogs, internet shopping—that they neglect their own children (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557480/Couple-play-computer-games-as-children-starve.html).

We are a society of recreation. That has become, for many, the goal . . . and for those many, their god. We are to be called, not fondly, lazybones, for we would prefer to play and indulge ourselves, to sleep and rest, to watch TV and have fun, rather than to work and do what is right.

There is a weariness that is not of the body, but rather of the spirit, of our choices. We can weary of doing what is right. (If that were not the case, the apostle Paul wouldn’t have admonished against it.) Solomon was adroit in saying: “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.” To be honest, that is a good description of recreation. We want to work five days, take off two. Work forty-nine weeks, take off three. Work twenty years . . . take off twenty! And poverty is coming upon us because we are becoming a people that scorns honest work.

We would rather play.

Sister Aimee McPherson, who founded the Foursquare Church organization and built the Echo Park Angeles Temple debt free, was walking down the church aisle after a long service (which included an after-service prayer time). A young seminary student was waiting in the back to talk with her. This student walked down the aisle and, in doing so, ignored the piece of trash that was on the floor. Sister Aimee walked past the student and stooped to pick up the trash. She asked the student quietly, “Do you intend to be a pastor?”
“Yes! Yes!” he responded enthusiastically.
“You’ll never make it,” she replied quietly and exited the building.

That story, passed down through my family, has stuck with me for many years. When we tire of doing simple, humble work, we set aside the most basic lessons of scripture which are to “work quietly and to earn [our] own living.” We forget that this is one of the basic foundations of “doing what is right.”

The Lord doesn’t expect us to accomplish great things . . . as the world measures great things. He merely expects us to follow Him moment by moment doing those things which are humble and quiet, those things ignored by the world, but for which He has ordained our hands to do.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 6:1-5

“My child, if you have given your pledge to your neighbor,
if you have bound yourself to another,
you are snared by the utterance of your lips,
caught by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my child, and save yourself,
for you have come into your neighbor’s power:
go, hurry, and plead with your neighbor.
Give your eyes no sleep
and your eyelids no slumber;
save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter,
like a bird from the hand of the fowler.” NRSV

Solomon talks here about making a promise for another, in our terms, guaranteeing a loan for someone else. Cosigning a loan for a friend or a neighbor. He talks about this same thing in two other places (once about a stranger and once about a neighbor):

“To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble,
but there is safety in refusing to do so.” (Proverbs 11:15)

“It is senseless to give a pledge,
to become surety for a neighbor.” (Proverbs 17:18)

It seems like a good thing to help someone out, someone who is in financial trouble and needs our help. After all, they are the ones who will be paying the debt, right? We are simply helping by signing, by lending our “credit worthiness.” But, of course, we all know that isn’t the case. If we co-sign for someone, we are agreeing the pay the amount if they don’t. There are other such business deals, ones that are similar in their impact. “Partnership” deals where two or more families go in together to buy property often mean that we alone could end up being responsible for the debt. Going into business with someone else is also similar.

That isn’t to say that we shouldn’t do those things, but the Bible is very clear about Christians doing their best to stay out of debt. Period. Why? Because with one fell swoop (as we are seeing in this economy), we can lose even the house in which we live:

“Do not be one of those who give pledges,
who become surety for debts.
If you have nothing with which to pay,
why should your bed be taken from under you?” (Proverbs 22:26-27)

But there is a stronger, more spiritually-based reason. If we are so tied up in debt (and in promises to pay for others), we may not have anything left to give when the need arises. I love what Jesus said:

“If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.” (Luke 6:34-35)

Basically, the thought is that, if we have it and someone else needs it, we give it! If that person returns it, great. If they don’t, then that’s also great. The fact is, it’s just stuff anyway . . . and someday it’s all going to burn. Better to give with a generous spirit than to harbor bitterness in our hearts about what the person owes us.

I think about the parable in Matthew 18:

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sisterk from your heart” (23-35 NRSV).

Anything—anything—that someone else might owe us is nothing compared to what we owe the Lord Jesus Christ. And anything that we might give to them is nothing compared to what He has given us! Where is our trust in His provision, in His generosity, in His love for us? Is our “god” so small that we think that we can somehow outgive what He will give back to us? Of course not! So rather than indebting ourselves by cosigning, how much better that we simply give to that needy person? “Silver and gold have I none” (Acts 3:6), but what I have I will give you . . . a place to live, clothes to wear, food to eat, a ride to work, a friend to listen. And ultimately, the witness of the Holy Spirit in our lives who also loves this person in need.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 5:21-23

“For human ways are under the eyes of the Lord,
and he examines all their paths.
The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them,
and they are caught in the toils of their sin.
They die for lack of discipline,
and because of their great folly they are lost.” NRSV

Ever do something in secret and hope you didn’t get caught? We all do! We drive over the speed limit; we make a personal phone call at work; we sneak the last piece of fudge. Whatever our weakness is, we sometimes do those things we know we shouldn’t do in the hopes no one will see and catch us doing it.

God sees.

We forget that! Or, at least, we ignore it. I think, for myself, I’m concerned that if God sees me doing something wrong, He will stop loving me. So it’s easier to think that He doesn’t see than that He really does.

I need more discipline.

“They die for lack of discipline . . ."

Sometimes I think that discipline is really just the desire to grasp life as it is, rather than how I wish it was. I mean . . .

I wish that eating candy didn’t produce fat.
I wish that watching TV didn’t degrade my morals.
I wish that buying things didn’t deplete my resources.
I wish that yelling when I’m angry didn’t hurt others.
I wish that I could sin without God knowing.

All these actions bring results that I want to avoid. I want the actions . . . without the consequences. And that simply isn’t going to happen. What I need to do is to embrace life as it is, not as I want it to be, to understand that certain choices will automatically bring about certain reactions and there’s nothing I can do to change that. Better that I change my choices!

“ . . . they are caught in the toils of their sin.” The KJV translates it: “they are holden with the cords of their sin.” Our choices are directly tied to their results. We can’t separate the two (as much as we might like). Further, the more we do something, the harder it is not to do it the next time. Our choice and our response becomes more and more automatic, more habitual.

“They die for lack of discipline . . . “

There are three kinds of discipline: (1) the kind of discipline that is outwardly imposed by others (e.g. punishment) to try to encourage us to change our behavior; (2) the kind of discipline that is inwardly imposed by ourselves by denying the lusts of our flesh; and (3) the kind of discipline that is teaching.

The wicked die, I think, from a lack of all three. There are times when we need others (including Father God) to impose such consequences as to violently repel us from our course. We are set on destroying ourselves because the moment feels so good! The Father’s love is such that He will create horrible circumstances to try to convince us to take another path.

There are times when we know that what we are choosing is wrong and we make the decision to turn away from it, to deny ourselves. (As Christians, it’s likely that this is a skill we need to improve in our lives. I know that I do.)

There are also those times when we simply need more instruction, to learn more about what it means to please God so that our choices line up with His will.

This passage calls “a lack of discipline” “great folly.” I want this day to embrace wisdom, rather than folly, that I might receive life rather than death.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 5:15-20

“Drink water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
Should your springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water in the streets?
Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for sharing with strangers.
Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
May her breasts satisfy you at all times;
may you be intoxicated always by her love.
Why should you be intoxicated, my son, by another woman
and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?” NRSV

I’m surrounded, in my school, by children who are growing up in “blended” families. Paraphrased from another situation: “I don’t know what is worse. The fact that we have blended families or the fact that they are so commonly accepted that there is actually a term for them?” Just this week we had dinner with two (now) single moms who have shared, at one time, the same husband. And so, for several years, they have co-parented each other’s children. While the effort to keep these children together is commendable, the fact that these young women (in their thirties) are on their third (or fourth or fifth) partners is, in itself, frightening.

Solomon talks about “rejoic[ing] in the wife of your youth.” There is something to be said for growing old together. There is a comfort in familiarity. It is a safe haven when you can go and know that you will be accepted. I guess I don’t understand why people have this desire (this need?) for the new, the unknown, the unfamiliar. I think perhaps we look to new situations (new relationships, new jobs, new homes) as a way to fix what’s wrong with where and who we are right now. If we could just get that new job in a new city, we’d be happy. If we could just have that new relationship with that new person, we’d find love and acceptance.

The problem is, we take ourselves with us into that new situation. In other words, whatever it is that is causing us to be discontented now . . . will still be there (eventually) then. Because we will be there.

God gives us a command here. He doesn’t say “find joy in the wife of your youth.” He says, “Rejoice in the wife of your youth.” In other words (my paraphrase), “determine to be joyful with the relationship you have now.” If we could understand that our decisions can determine our emotions, rather than allowing our emotions to determine our decisions, we would find it much easier to walk to the narrow path.

Ever walk down the hallway at work and have a co-worker ask you how you are? Of course. It happens to us all. The next time, be conscious of how you react. Do you frown and find something to complain about? Or do you smile and find something to rejoice about? We always have a choice! Even when we are hurting or sad or confused or anxious, we can choose to find the silver lining, to rejoice in the blessings God has sent for us today. Just a beautiful sky or a singing bird or someone’s smile can be a blessing. In fact, if we were to begin to list all the blessings we have, we would be overwhelmed.

We can learn to rejoice in our present situations, in our current relationships, in the place where God has planted us.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 5:6

“She does not keep straight to the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.”

One of the saddest things in life is ignorance. Even sadder is a seared conscience which is, in effect, a ignorance of morality. Solomon talks about the adulteress here, a woman whose conduct is so depraved that she doesn’t even know (any longer) that what she is doing is wrong. She has so long chosen not to walk the path of life that when her ways wander into sin, she doesn’t even know it.

Sin can become so familiar, so comfortable, that, after awhile, we don’t even give it a second thought. That is a dangerous place for a Christian. When we get to the point that we have ignored the Spirit’s voice so much that we no longer hear, we are in great jeapardy.

Paul warned us about this in 1 Timothy:

“For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (4:3-4 NRSV).

Paul isn’t talking to nonbelievers here, but to us, to Christians. There is a time when we are at risk for turning away from the truth, from turning away from the path of life. And, if we do it enough, in the end, we will not even be aware that we are doing it. It will be so comfortable to us.

Yesterday, at school, I was talking to some of my students and talked about the word “conscience.” Most of them had no idea what I was talking about. It’s so sad because our conscience is very important! It is the barometer which tells us whether or not we are following the right path; it is the inner sense that seeks for the Spirit in all things.

Paul writes:

“By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:19b NRSV).

It is possible, as a Christian, to ignore or even reject our conscience. But why would we? It is like an internal traffic light that tells us whether or not we are headed in the right direction. Is it green that we can continue down this path? Or red that we should stop? Or yellow that we should take a second look, a second consideration?

The more we “keep straight to the path of life,” the more we cultivate our conscience, the more we become in tuned to it. Our walk with the Lord becomes more familiar, more comfortable, more easily discerned. However, when we fail to keep to that path, the voice of our conscience becomes more difficult for us to hear. We aren’t used to listening and so often ignore it. Scripture often calls this a hard heart. And our hearts can become so hardened that we come to the point where we don’t even know right from wrong, obedience from sin. If we are to not be, as Paul said, “shipwrecked in the faith,” then we need to begin today to listen to our conscience.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).