Tag: wisdom

Don’t Forget about Kindness and Truth (Proverbs 3:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

My child, do not forget my teaching,
    but keep my commands in mind.
Then you will live a long time,
    and your life will be successful.

Don’t ever forget kindness and truth.
    Wear them like a necklace.
    Write them on your heart as if on a tablet.
Then you will be respected
    and will please both God and people.

Trust the Lord with all your heart,
    and don’t depend on your own understanding.
Remember the Lord in all you do,
    and he will give you success.

Don’t depend on your own wisdom.
    Respect the Lord and refuse to do wrong.
Then your body will be healthy,
    and your bones will be strong.

Honor the Lord with your wealth
    and the first fruits from all your crops.
Then your barns will be full,
    and your wine barrels will overflow with new wine.

My child, do not reject the Lord’s discipline,
    and don’t get angry when he corrects you.
The Lord corrects those he loves,
    just as parents correct the child they delight in. (New Century Version)

There is no wisdom apart from humility. And humility can only be accessed through being authentic and vulnerable. The proud person doesn’t look to God (or others) because they think they already know what is best and can figure out things without anyone’s help.

Wisdom is a skill that is attained through learning and application, over an extended period of time. The wise person has a solid body of knowledge, and is able to take that know-how and apply it to real life situations.

For the skill of wisdom to be realized, we must first take the posture of a child. We need to listen well, and humbly receive instruction. Without this initial mindset and heart attitude, wisdom will forever be elusive.

Then, when we learn and gain understanding, it’s imperative that we remember it. This is why the best learning engages all of our senses; it presses needed information deep inside us, so that what comes out of us is right, just, and good.

Concerning the Christian life, we can only obey commands which we know. So, it’s important to learn and retain the commands of God. This is one reason why I read my Bible every day; my mind and heart need the continual refreshment and recalling of Holy Scripture’s insight and instruction. I want to be so full of God’s good commands that if you cut me, I bleed Bible.

Kindness and truth are to be worn like a big gaudy necklace around our necks – so that we will always have in front of us what’s most important in living our lives.

The reason so many people are continually at odds with one another is that kindness and truth are neither acknowledged nor remembered. But you cannot have good relations without basic human kindness and a commitment to truth. Put another way, being gruff and mean, and fudging on reality, will not only get you nowhere, but it will also bring a profound lack of success in life.

That stubborn meanness and inattention to truth comes from spending way too much time alone in one’s head. Left alone for too long, every one of us will come up with all kinds of goofy thinking that we believe is the truth. But it’s really only craziness born of a tremendous lack of healthy interaction with others.

At some point, everyone must eventually trust the Lord – who is kindness and truth itself. Going it alone is not an option, that is, unless we want to be lonely, messed-up in the head, and miserable in both body and soul.

Let’s get real. Often, the reason why so many of us choose a path of arrogant pride, radical independence, and selfish loneliness is because we simply do not want to be hurt.

Someone, some group, or many persons have hurt us, and we’re determined to never be hurt and to hurt like that again. So, we shut others out – including God.

We may not go the route of becoming actual hermits, but we build invisible walls which no one can scale. This is why the loneliest people are actually around other people – they’ve shut them out emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, even though they are next to them physically.

Persons who take such a route to living eventually discover that, although they may have avoided the sort of pain they feared, a new kind of suffering is experienced. And it’s the kind of suffering that gnaws at your insides and slowly kills you.

Little does one know, but the fear, anger, and hatred morphs into a bitterness which becomes gangrene of the soul. The person dies a little bit at a time in an agonizing existence. We all must endure pain; it’s just a matter of what sort of pain we will accept: the bad kind or the good kind.

A good sort of hurt is the pain of healing, of making things right, of committing oneself to reconciliation and peace. It’s a soreness of being corrected by Holy Scripture and God’s directives, a suffering that will truly lead to life, not death.

So, what will it be? The book of Proverbs calls us to make a choice, not only between good and bad, but a choice of better and best, and of accepting the sort of pain that helps us grow; or rejecting that and enduring a debilitating hurt that damages deeply, maybe even permanently.

Let go of the pride and adopt humility. Become a student of wisdom. Take up the necklaces of kindness and truth. Honor God with a life full of experiential knowledge and devotion to the betterment of humanity. Learn to trust the Lord and others who are trustworthy. Know what it feels like to be merciful, pure, and peacemaking.

You may just find that the old tools of cynicism, sarcasm, skepticism, distrust, and unbelief become lost in the mental junk drawer of things rarely, if ever, used.

Lord Jesus Christ, you prayed for your friends that they would be one as you and your Father are one. We confess our resistance to your prayer. We have failed to maintain the unity of the Spirit. We have broken the bond of peace.

Don’t Be a Fool (Proverbs 1:20-33)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment

Wisdom shouts in the street;
    in the public square she raises her voice.
Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
    At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
“How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
    mockers hold their mocking dear,
    and fools hate knowledge?
You should respond when I correct you.
    Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
    I’ll reveal my words to you.
I invited you, but you rejected me;
    I stretched out my hand to you,
    but you paid no attention.
You ignored all my advice,
    and you didn’t want me to correct you.
So I’ll laugh at your disaster;
    I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you,
        when terror hits you like a hurricane,
        and your disaster comes in like a tornado,
        when distress and oppression overcome you.
Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;
    they will seek me, but won’t find me
        because they hated knowledge
        and didn’t choose the fear of the Lord.
They didn’t want my advice;
    they rejected all my corrections.
They will eat from the fruit of their way,
    and they’ll be full of their own schemes.
The immature will die because they turn away;
    smugness will destroy fools.
Those who obey me will dwell securely,
    untroubled by the dread of harm.” (Common English Bible)

I don’t know about you, but I find that the older I get, the more I realize I don’t know.

What I’m trying to say is that, as I move along in this life, I am discovering more and more how much I need wisdom.

Wisdom is more than being smart, intelligent, or even having some common sense; it is to gain a basic foundation of sound knowledge and instruction, and then having the ability to put that knowledge into practice, applying it to the specific concrete situations we face daily.

In other words, to be wise is to make decisions, engage in actions, and speak words that are appropriate to a given circumstance.

Conversely, stupidity has less to do with one’s intelligence quotient (IQ), lack of education (degrees), or ability to speak well (erudition). To be stupid means that a person is too stubborn to accept help, take advice, or learn from their mistakes.

The Foolish Person

Instead, a stupid fool relies on their own short-sighted opinions, looks for easy ways out of trouble, and generally expects others to think and act the way they do. And that approach to life can literally get you killed. I can testify to that as a hospital chaplain who has been around a lot of death.

The telltale signs of a foolish person are:

  • Refusing to change, even if it means having a better life, or even to keep living
  • Ignoring the advice, correction, or rebuke of another person
  • Being cynical and sarcastic most of the time
  • Mocking and talking down to others
  • Disliking books and reading; or just generally not wanting to learn or consider new ideas
  • Freaking-out when any little thing doesn’t go their way

A person characterized by those things will face disaster, likely sooner than later. That will happen, not so much because they tend to get into trouble, but because they do not have a solid spiritual, emotional, and mental foundation of internal support to draw from. So, when disaster hits them, they fall over and crumble, like a house with its foundation built on sand.

Fools won’t find God in the mix of their hardship since they did not look to the Lord to begin with. And even in the midst of their adversity, the fool would rather blame God than seek God’s help. Indeed, stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance.

The Wise Person

The wise person, however, is careful to set aside time so that they can learn about God and God’s Word. They seek to know God’s commands in order to live honestly, ethically, responsibly, and justly.

Wisdom has taught them humility, obedience, and acceptance. When the storms of life hit the wise, they are safe and secure in a house built on the rock; the wind and waves shall not blow them over.

People who have sought wisdom can remain calm in the midst of trouble; rely on their acquired experiential knowledge in hard situations; and have faith that doing what is right and just is its own reward.

Wisdom is still calling out, just as she did all those centuries ago to the ancients. Amidst all the noise, bustle, and confusion of our contemporary society, you can hear the clarion voice of Lady Wisdom above the fray – that is, if you are bending your ear to listen…

Almighty God, the Creator and Author of my life, help me learn to read what you have written on my heart. Give me discerning eyes, a steadfast spirit, and courage of heart to look within me in order to understand how to reach outside of me. And once I have begun to read you aright, give me the generosity to help others to read you, to sound you out one letter, and one word of radical giving at a time. Amen.

How To Be Honest, Just, and Fair (Proverbs 1:1-7)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Solomon writing Proverbs by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David and king of Israel.

Here are proverbs that will help you recognize wisdom and good advice, and understand sayings with deep meaning. 

They can teach you how to live intelligently and how to be honest, just, and fair. They can make an inexperienced person clever and teach young people how to be resourceful. 

These proverbs can even add to the knowledge of the wise and give guidance to the educated, so that they can understand the hidden meanings of proverbs and the problems that the wise raise.

To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the Lord. Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn. (Good News Translation)

At the beginning of this year, if you like making new year’s resolutions, or are looking for a good practice to adopt, I have a suggestion: Consider committing yourself to the reading, reflection, and study of the biblical proverbs. At the least, read a chapter of Proverbs every day throughout this month. Since there are 31 chapters, and 31 days in the month of January, you have a guide in what to read every day.

The pursuit of wisdom is a noble aspiration for the New Year. One of the best places to go in that pursuit is the biblical book of Proverbs because it is all about living wisely and not foolishly. To acquire and live by wisdom means learning how to grow in being right, just, and fair in all our interactions and dealings with others.

Honest

“Honest” is “right” or “righteous.” For King Solomon of old, this is a relational term – to be righteous, to have honest and right relationships with God and other people. Righteousness involves experiencing peaceful, harmonious, and fruitful relations. 

For the Christian, right living is to know the wonderful freedom and joy of an unhindered relationship through Jesus Christ in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. When it comes to fellow human relations, a person characterized by righteousness does not, for example, let the sun go down on their anger. It is to know personal peace as well as to be a peacemaker, so that relationships do not remain strained, but enjoy harmony.

Just

“Just” is closely related to “right.” We might tend toward primarily understanding justice as a punitive act – and that is certainly a part of the term. God punishes the wicked with appropriate timing and wisdom; and deals with those who withhold righteousness and love through their uncaring, inattentive, or evil acts. 

Solomon understood justice as mostly concerned with providing a person with the necessities of life. So, for example, if someone is hungry and needs food, or does not have clean water to drink, it is a “just” act for us to provide those critical needs. God is deeply concerned for justice, and expects people to act in this same manner.

Fair

“Fair” is to be egalitarian. Fairness and equity binds righteousness and peace together by avoiding prejudice toward others and their needs. It means to not show favoritism because there is an unshakable belief in the equality of all people, no matter where they are from, what they do, or who they are.

Therefore, if we exercise righteousness and justice exclusively with individuals and groups we like, but ignore others in need, there is no fairness. To give our love and service to all persons without strings attached, or without being concerned to get paid back, is the practice of being fair in everything we do and say.

To live in the way of being honest, just, and fair in all our interactions is to be wise. Conversely, the classic fool is one who judges others, creates discord, and ranks persons according to their own personal standard of who deserves help, and who does not. Trying to have a useful and gracious conversation with a fool is like trying to reason with a toddler – you will get nowhere. 

A good way of pursuing the wise and biblical virtues of honest righteousness, restorative justice, and egalitarian fairness is to ask God to open our eyes to those within our sphere of influence who need both physical and relational needs met. Then, follow through by loving those persons for whom God brings into our lives.

Almighty God, the essence and source of wisdom, you are always right, just, and fair in all things. I praise you for your infinite and abundant wisdom.

Whereas you abound in wisdom, I am lacking. Please help me to grow in wisdom, as I increase in my knowledge and respect of your divine presence.

By means of your Spirit, please increase my depth of insight as I study your Holy Word. Hold me back from leaning on my own understanding and enable me to wholeheartedly embrace the wisdom from above.

Since you are a just God who shows no favoritism, lead me into being like you in my dealings with others through the example of Jesus Christ, in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Listen to Lady Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1-12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Sophia, Divine Wisdom, by Mary Plaster

Wisdom has built her house;
    she has set up its seven pillars.
She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
    she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servants, and she calls
    from the highest point of the city,
    “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
    “Come, eat my food
    and drink the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple ways and you will live;
    walk in the way of insight.”

Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults;
    whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse.
Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you;
    rebuke the wise and they will love you.
Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still;
    teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
For through wisdom your days will be many,
    and years will be added to your life.
If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
    if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer. (New International Version)

Life is full of choices. Whether we quibble about how much free will or deterministic fate a person actually has, or has not, we are still left with the ability to choose how we shall proceed and/or respond to basic life situations.

The two basic choices in life were often displayed in early film and television cartoons by having an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. The stereotypical portrayal helps us see that there is always a choice between good and evil.

Although our choices in life are quite personal and specific to a particular situation, the choice between good and evil is much bigger than this. It is choosing a certain way to look at the world, which then influences and informs the concrete decisions we make in life.

In our lesson for today, wisdom is personified as a lady calling out to us as people. In contrast, foolishness or folly is equally personified. The two ladies are continually speaking to us.

Lady Wisdom leads the community of sages who know how to live a right, just, and good life; she invites others to join her at the table and learn her ways. On the other hand, Lady Folly heads a group of simpletons who are driven by the passions of the moment; she easily attracts those who want cheap and easy solutions.

Wisdom’s message is a passionate appeal to take the path of insight through God’s revealed will. We are encouraged to leave empty-headed ways of thinking, and live with awareness, insight, and direction. The term “wisdom” in Scripture is the ability to apply sound biblical instruction and divine commands to concrete situations in our lives. 

For the spiritual person, especially, it is vital and imperative to daily listen to Lady Wisdom and follow her instructions.

The fact of the matter for too many people is that they are too impatient to let Lady Wisdom teach them her ways. It takes too much time, and is too hard for them. So, they turn to Lady Folly, who makes bogus promises of satisfaction without all the time and effort.

Idolatry (running toward other gods) immorality (running to victimize another) lying (running the mouth without any truth to it) and arrogance (running to get quick power and authority) often results from the inability to wait on the lessons that Lady Wisdom deeply desires to impart to us. 

Wisdom is not gained quickly; her teachings must be learned slowly with careful application over time. We are much too prone to wanting the simple solutions to complex problems that Lady Folly offers. But Lady Wisdom calls us to leave such simplistic thinking and take the high road of authenticity, self-awareness, and attention to the common good of all persons.

Therefore, rather than rushing to Google for answers to our questions; instead of allowing another person to make decisions for us; in place of implementing sheer pragmatic plans; allow Lady Wisdom to penetrate the mind and the heart so that what comes out is thoroughly good, benevolent, just, and helpful. 

And the best place to begin in starting down the road of wisdom is to give the Lord proper place in our lives. The skills for a good life gets its start through respect of God and obedience to the Lord. To truly have understanding and a wise life, one must get to know God. 

Nobody can talk themselves into wisdom, because it takes a reverent spirit, listening ears, and measured words to be able to put Lady Wisdom’s instruction into practice. There are no substitutes.

All-Wise God, the One who is never in a hurry and who is always holy, create in me a wise mind and a wise heart. Help me to sit still long enough for wisdom to bring spiritual growth and maturity to my life, through Jesus Christ my Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.