Year 2, Day 304: Proverbs 13

Guard Your Mouth

There are days when I think Proverbs 13:3 was written specifically for me – and people like me.  I like to talk.  Occasionally I am guilty of just enjoying the sound of my own voice.  It’s not that I think that I’m smarter than anyone else; I just think that I have a good ability to think logically through an issue and I can process problems well.  Maybe we all think that about ourselves for all I know!  But I like to talk, I like to work through issues, and I like to discuss ideas with other people.  For the record, none of this is bad.

But as I understand that about myself, I also need to understand Proverbs 13:3.  The people that guard their mouths preserve life.  The people that open their mouths wide come into ruin.  I think I’ve blogged about this recently, but it is worth saying again.  One of the best lessons I learned through seminary and the first quarter of my ministry is how to keep my mouth shut.  In seminary, it was simply self-preservation and a desire to actually graduate.  In my actual ministry, it has come out of a desire to truly listen to the people to whom God has called me. 

Sure, I can spew piece of advice after piece of advice and thought after thought.  As a pastor, there are times and places for that.  But I always feel I am most effective when I am in a situation where I can listen to others talk and support the ideas that are truly planted by God in fertile ground.  There is much to be said for leading in the front.  But there is also much to be said about leading from behind as support, too.  The first step in being able to support someone is understanding the importance of closing my mouth and opening my ears.  As Solomon says here, “Those who guard their mouths preserve life.”

Pretense

Proverbs 13:7 returns us to a topic that I blogged about yesterday.  “A person pretends to be rich but has nothing; another pretends to be poor but has great wealth.”  How many of us in our desire to establish a pretense of being well off actually put ourselves in great holes?  How many people have bought homes for which they could not pay – or even could not pay for the upkeep?  How many people have bought homes for so much that they then struggle to put food on the table or to have clothing for their family?  Is our society not struggling with being debt-rich and resource-poor?  It is better to put on a life of modesty and have enough than to put on a life of wealth and have nothing.

The Joy of Having Just Enough

Then we turn to Proverbs 13:8 and hear something that is so true that it is almost laughable.  “The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth, but a poor man hears no threat.”  Think about that for a second.  When is the last time you heard about a poor man’s child being kidnapped and held for ransom?  When is the last time that a poor person traveling abroad was in true danger of being kidnapped?  So often the desires of our heart – especially the desires that marry well with greed – are what get us into trouble in this world.  I wonder how many times people have honestly thought about stealing or breaking into my absolute-base-model-with-zero-frills-plain-colored Toyota Corolla?  Yet, if I drove a Jaguar with all the bells and whistles how much security would I need to invest to just keep it safe?

I do have to say something to be clear here.  Solomon is not saying that wealth is bad.  He’s not saying that wealth is evil.  He is simply advocating a life of modesty.  He is telling people to live within their means and don’t flaunt what you have received from God.  Solomon’s point is not that wealth is evil; rather it is that wealth brings more problems than blessings.

Hating The Child Because We Refuse To Discipline

Before closing with Proverbs 13:20, I want to really quickly hit on Proverbs 13:24.  I want to reiterate a point that our adult Sunday School teacher hit on a few weeks ago.  Proverbs 13:24 doesn’t say “spare the rod spoil the child.”  Proverbs 13:24 says, “Spare the rod, hate the child.” 

Parents who do not properly discipline their children are not showing love to their children, they are showing hatred.  Parents who do not discipline their children are allowing their children to grow up without having to learn how to do things like set priorities, make judgments, and manage consequences.  Parents who do not discipline their children are setting their children up to have a difficult time getting along with society in a positive manner.  I think Solomon got it right.  Parents who lack discipline for their children are showing hatred towards them.

Walking With The Wise

Now let’s return to Proverbs 13:20.  “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise; the companion of fools will suffer harm.”  There’s an undercurrent in this passage that we must heed.  The assumption is that the person who walks with the wise will become wise. 

In other words, we are not inherently wise.  Wisdom is a learned trait.  If we want to become wise, we must find the wise people around us and do everything in our power to hang out with them.  We must learn from them.  We must seek out their advice.  We must heed their words and learn to apply them to our life.  Wisdom is a way of life.  Wise is a quality that a person becomes.

So often we forget this.  We toss our life away trying to be entertained rather than becoming wise.  We throw our life away in parties and fun when we could be learning from the masters of wisdom in our community.  We chase the moment rather than the future.  Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise; the companion of fools will suffer harm.

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