Category: Morning Musings

Open book on wooden table with glowing light beam and sunset outside windows

A Shield Against Perverse Paths

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“For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will delight you. Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you. It will rescue you from the way of evil—from anyone who says perverse things, from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness, from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious.” (Proverbs 2:10-15 CSB – Read the chapter)

Kiefer Sutherland’s famous character, Jack Bauer, from the series 24, made a really interesting observation at the end of the first season. When it was revealed that a former good guy had become a bad guy, he noted that the villains weren’t simply bad people. They were once good people who made a bad choice that was then followed up with another bad choice. It’s frighteningly easy to fall down a rabbit hole of bad choices that finds us winding up somewhere entirely other than we meant to go. Wisdom helps us avoid that. Let’s talk about it.

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The Fruit of Pursuing Wisdom

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“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of his faithful followers. Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity—every good path.” (Proverbs 2:6-9 CSB – Read the chapter)

As we talked about last time, Solomon said to his son that following his instructions would lead him to understand the fear of the Lord. They would lead him to come to understand who God is. That seems like a pretty good deal all by itself, but Solomon goes on to give us a lot more than that. Over the course of the rest of the chapter, as well as the next several that follow, Solomon goes on to explain what are the results of coming to know the Lord. The results are, in a word, wisdom. As for what that wisdom brings, let’s start talking through it here.

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How to Seek Wisdom Like a Treasure

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“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.” (Proverbs 2:1-5 CSB – Read the chapter)

Think for just a second about the total number of things you have learned truly on your own. You did the research. You performed the experiments. You found all the secrets. You not only solved the equations, you came up with them in the first place. This was truly unique knowledge, you are managed to get it for yourself. How long is that list? I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s not actually very long. Let me add another thing to it: the Christian faith. No one comes to or grows in the faith all by themselves. Let’s talk about how it actually happens.

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Learning from the Hard Way

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“Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when trouble and stress overcome you. Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will search for me, but won’t find me. Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the Lord, were not interested in my counsel, and rejected all my correction, they will eat the fruit of their way and be glutted with their own schemes.” (Proverbs 1:24-31 CSB – Read the chapter)

There’s an old saying about the fury of a scorned lover. When you get all caught up with another person and they reject your advances, the resultant grief will often manifest as a particularly potent form of anger. Through the opening chapters of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman who is eagerly seeking out the company of those who will receive her. She wants to be found and embraced. She wants for her words to be heeded, and for her lovers to enjoy all the sweet fruits that come from a deep and abiding relationship with her. If her advances are rejected, though, all of that passion reverses its direction, and our rejection of her will be matched on at least equal terms. In other words, if we don’t like wisdom, we’ll get what’s coming to us. Let’s talk about it.

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Young man standing at a rural crossroads with hooded figures pointing at him

Avoiding a Dangerous Road

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“My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded. If they say—“Come with us! Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. Let’s attack some innocent person just for fun! Let’s swallow them alive, like Sheol, whole, like those who go down to the Pit. We’ll find all kinds of valuable property and fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot with us, and we’ll all share the loot”—my son, don’t travel that road with them or set foot on their path, because their feet run toward evil and they hurry to shed blood. It is useless to spread a net where any bird can see it, but they set an ambush to kill themselves; they attack their own lives. Such are the paths of all who make profit dishonestly; it takes the lives of those who receive it.” (Proverbs 1:10-19 CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things the Scriptures are pretty clear that we shouldn’t mess around with is temptation. We sometimes imagine that resisting temptation is like a muscle. The more we do it, the stronger our ability to resist it gets. I’m not so sure, and the authors of the Scriptures (who were inspired by God) seem to agree. The apostle Paul doesn’t tell us to resist temptation or fight against it, he tells us to flee from it. Run away. Do not engage. Don’t test it to see how long you can hold out. Hightail it in the other direction. That doesn’t make you a coward, it makes you wise. How do I know? Because the very first bit of wise counsel we are given in Proverbs has to do with staying away from temptation. Let’s take a look.

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