Proverbs
17
– 18
Verse 17:6 talks about generations:
Grandchildren are the crowning
glory and ultimate delight of old age,
and parents are the pride of their children.
This of course assumes the child is not drifting into a life
of crime and sin. Even still children light up our lives with joy and pride.
Family is more of a bond than anyone can imagine until they have children of
their own. We bond to our parents and grandparents, but it’s very different the
other way and I can’t explain it well. But I did not understand what God’s love
really was until I held my first child. It didn’t matter what that blob of
flesh we called Veronica did, I loved her unconditionally to the point it hurt.
Even “falling in love” does not equal the love for a child!!
Verse 17:7 talks about words from fools:
Elegant speech sounds odd when it
comes from a fool,
and a lie on the lips of a leader is even more out
of place!
If you took a script and gave it to a fool and a respected
member of the community to read on the street corner, you would be amazed at
the different response. People tend to look at the source before deciding if
they will listen to the content. Unfortunately this is true and could have us
miss important information. I like to use the person with a placard that says
“The End is Near” as an example. To Christians we know this to be true, but to
those that need salvation he’s a fool. So we need to learn how not to be
perceived as a fool.
I get this all the time when discussing evolution with
scientists. As soon as they understand I am a creationist, the discussion gets
ugly since they consider me a fool. Everything I say afterwards is dismissed
and often never heard. Some will entertain me to the point of at least
understanding it took years of study in the Bible and science to develop my
belief. So often you can be deemed a fool without any knowledge of you.
Verse 18:11 talks about wealth and security:
The rich think their wealth
is their sturdy fortress;
they imagine it to be an invincible wall of
security.
Think about how we have been programmed to believe this in
the world. For some reason we think wealth can buy us security, happiness, joy
and almost any other please desired. Unfortunately this is so false it is
dangerous. The quest for happiness is one of the most dangerous quests in the
land. We all think we must be happy all the time in order to be satisfied when
in reality we need to be at peace when all around us is falling apart.
God never said we would be born again into wealth an
prosperity but into a new relationship with Him. The world is not going to
suddenly change into sunshine and rainbows; it will still have its troubles. We
need to learn to lean on Jesus for the peace through trials and tribulations in
this world. That is the key to “happiness”, not thinking it’s tied to never
ending fun.
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