Posts Tagged: Proverbs 8
“What Brings Us Pleasure”
“Prov. 10:23 Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool,
but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.”
What brings us pleasure says much about our character. And here is the bad/good news: We can choose—over time—what gives us pleasure.
For example, I have decided that I like vegetables. Of course, having a wife who knows precisely how to season veggies is very helpful. Still, I had to decide to like vegetables.
The same with running. I’ve run two marathons. Did not find it pleasurable. Endured the preparation and the race. Now, I have decided to enjoy running. Guess what! I do in fact enjoy running now.
But do I enjoy wisdom? Wisdom involves accepting correction, practicing right behavior, diligence. Is it really possible to take pleasure in such things? It is, but it isn’t easy.
I’ve known a few people during my long lifetime who were truly wise. One of the things that I have noticed about wise people is that they always have a good sense of humor and enjoy life. Wisdom and delight are not just related. They are in a mutually reinforcing relationship.
Another thing that I’ve noticed is that many of these wise women and men (no wise guys, thank you!) even came to delight in being corrected, in practicing right behavior, in diligence. They never pretended that these things were, in and of themselves, pleasurable. However, the wise take the long view of things, realizing that they will enjoy the fruit of these not-so-pleasurable things.
In Proverbs 8, wisdom is portrayed as something (or someone) who was very much involved with creation, with God, and with humankind. In the midst of this hymn of praise to Wisdom (Proverbs 8:30-31), Wisdom is said to be a “delight” (the same Hebrew word that is used in Proverbs 10:23). Wisdom is delighting in God, in creation, and in humankind.
Christine Roy Yoder comments on Proverbs 10:23, “The objects of our affections matter. . . . What gives people pleasure and satisfaction reveals much about their values and character . . . .”[1]
What do my pleasures say about me? What do your pleasures say about you?
[1] Christine Roy Yoder, Proverbs, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009), 127.
“Orderly Spontaneity”
Do you feel as if your life is out of control, chaotic, or at least disorganized? Welcome to my world!
Or, on the other hand, do you feel as if your life lacks spontaneity? Again, welcome to my world!
Perhaps you are like me, and you struggle with both order and spontaneity. Take heart! You might be able to make progress in both directions at the same time.
Here is my 12-step affirmation for today:
“Today, by God’s grace and with His strong help, I am choosing to act in a more orderly way. This frees me up to be more spontaneous, since I am not always immersed in chaos.”
I do not think that order and spontaneity are sworn enemies. In fact, I suspect that they are close friends and traveling companions.
Of course, order can degenerate into rigidity and compulsive behavior. Spontaneity can become chaos. An unbalanced virtue is just a vice in disguise.
On the other hand, it doesn’t have to be so. My wife is one of the most organized (and organizing) people I’ve ever known. After forty-five years of marriage, it occurs to me that this is one of the many things that attracted me to her in the first place. It is still one of the many things that attracts me to her.
But my wife is also one of the most spontaneous, playful people I’ve ever known. And that also was and is attractive. Last night, she got me to play a card game called “Slamwich.” We found the game on a shelf in our rental apartment. She read through the directions, and we played it. It was more fun than I thought it would be. (I won! This of course helped make it more fun.)
Did you catch the order in the previous paragraph? She read the rules and then we played. Order (rules) and spontaneity (play).
I, on the other hand, am sometimes neither orderly nor spontaneous. However, I am doing better these days. And I have noticed that when I am doing better on either order or spontaneity, I tend to do better on both.
There is a wonderful old Christian hymn, based on a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, which contains this exquisite prayer:
“Drop Thy still dews of quietness
till all our strivings cease;
take from our lives the strain and stress
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace.”
I believe that God is not simply orderly. I believe that God is the Orderer. And our lives most definitely should confess the beauty of his peace.
However, I also believe that God is wonderfully spontaneous. He is always doing new things (Isaiah 43:19). Perhaps more orderliness would help us all to confess not only the beauty of God’s peace, but also God’s playful spontaneity.
Proverbs 8 tells us that wisdom is God’s oldest creation, there before anything else was there (vss. 22-29). But Proverbs 8 also tells us that the wisdom that God created was “always at God’s side, filled with delight day after day, rejoicing (literally, “playing”) in his presence” (v. 30, my translation). If wisdom was the first thing God created, and if it is continually playful, it is no great interpretive leap to say that the Creator himself is playful.
Wisdom’s play, according to Proverbs 8:31, is also directed to humankind. Wisdom was not only playing in God’s presence. Wisdom was also “rejoicing” (“playing”) in his inhabited world and delighting in humankind” (my translation). The same Hebrew word for “rejoicing” or “playing” is used for what wisdom does in relation to God and in relation to humanity.
So, my prayer for myself and you is this: May you and I have an orderly and spontaneous day, week, and life!
Amen!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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