At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

He that is despised, and hath a servant, is better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread.

Proverbs 12:9

There are a number of ways to state this principle. It is better to have beer and no foam than to have foam and no beer. It is better to have cattle and no hat than to have the hat and no cattle. It is better to have steak and no sizzle than to have sizzle and no steak.

In this proverb, actual wealth is enjoyed while not being proclaimed to the world in an ostentatious way, and this is better than to have the ostentatious display and go to bed hungry. But some people prefer the reputation to the thing itself. This seems like a bizarre sin to fall into, particularly when the right choice is obvious (as it is with the extreme example of the hat and the cattle).

But there are situations where we nevertheless need to be disciplined and trained by God’s Word to respond and react in the appropriate way. Here is a pop quiz for your heart. Would you rather be wise and thought a fool, or be a fool and thought wise? Would you rather be a just man who was thought to be a racist, or a racist who was only thought to be just?

Of course, our immediate response is that we would rather have the reality and the reputation to both line up. And so yes, if that is an option, take it. But Scripture reasons with us in this way so that we might learn how to prioritize correctly. “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold” (Prov. 22:1). We respond to this by saying that we would prefer, if God doesn’t mind very much, to have a good name and great riches. Sure, but that is not how integrity usually comes to us. Solomon was given great wealth because he asked for something else. The wealth was thrown in because he didn’t ask for the wealth to be thrown in.

Abraham came down the mountain with a living Isaac because he went up the mountain willing for it to be otherwise.

Notice finally that this choice of the flashy car over the bills being paid on time is a result of a person who decides to “honor himself.” But when you promote yourself like this, you are asking for God to demote you. You are asking God to do with you what He usually does in this world to such folly (Luke 17:33).

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

Proverbs 29:22

An angry man is a blow torch, and he always carries his fuel around with him.

We live in an imperfect world, and this means that if we want to get angry about something, there is always material available. If we have that blow torch, and our can of lighter fluid, then we should not be surprised to discover that the entire world is flammable.

But the proverb does not represent this angry man as simply passive, as one who is put upon by irritating forces. No, he is an agent. He is a carrier. He is the arsonist.

There are things wrong in the world. That fellow ahead of you on the highway is driving too slowly. The ticket agent was not as helpful as she should have been. The line at the bank was unconscionably pokey.

But one of the bigger problems in the world the fellow who can make anything into a larger mess than it was before. The angry man stirs up strife. The furious man abounds in transgressions, and when he is done we have a much more complicated snarl than existed before.

Man’s anger does not accomplish God’s purposes (Jas. 1:20). We are commanded to be slow to anger (Jas. 1:19). Our mouths are not to be filled with anger (Eph. 4:31). Anger can be righteous, but even then it will rot like manna if we try to keep it overnight (Eph. 4:26). We are not told that Jesus was angry when He cleansed the Temple, although He probably was. Certainly He was filled with zeal (John 2:17). We are told that Jesus was angry when He healed the man with the withered hand (Mark 3:5). But note the difference. When Jesus got angry, the end result was a man with a withered hand who was healed. When we get angry, the end result is a hole in the sheetrock and a distraught family in need of comfort.

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

Many seek the ruler’s favour; But every man’s judgment cometh from the Lord.

Proverbs 29:26

The word we are looking for here is curry, as in curry favor. Not as in chicken curry.

The scenario described envisions life at court, and the game that is being played by various courtiers is that of trying to flatter, cajole, manipulate, or otherwise beseech the ruler. He is the source of blessing, or so it is thought, and so it makes sense to go to him for favor. It is natural, but still wrong-headed.

What matters in the course of every man’s life is the blessing of God. What does it matter if you have the king’s ear if God has determined not to bless your going out and coming in? And what does it matter if the king is your enemy if God has determined to shower you with His favor? Haman had the king’s ear, and he had almost right up to the moment of his destruction. David had the king’s hostility, and he had right up to the moment when he became the king.

Now it is true that when God blesses, that blessing will often be mediated through lesser authorities (e.g. the ruler). So the proverb is not teaching us to be rude to these lesser authorities, but rather not to set our heart on them. They are in the hand of God, and what matters is what He has determined to do.

There is one other point to be made, and that is the fact that the principle applies beyond life at court in a monarchy. Many seek the principal’s favor, many seek the award committee’s favor, many seek the sponsor’s favor, many seek the patron’s favor, many seek the cool kids’ favor, many seek the branch manager’s favor, and many seek the favor of that phantom “the right side of history.” There can be idols in every direction we look.

And of course we deal with all of these people, and we are to love them, but we are not to place any of our contentment in their hands. We are to live this way because we imitate the Lord Jesus.

“But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man” (John 2:24–25).

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears

Proverbs 26:17

One of the things that proverbs require from us is the arduous task of thinking things through. The proverbs come to us in the form of general truths, and we rarely find one that says “always turn right, no exceptions.” We are told, rather to answer a fool according to his folly to keep him from becoming wise in his own conceits (Prov. 26:5), and we are also told not to answer him that way lest we run the risk of becoming like him (Prov. 26:4). Clearly, we are supposed to judge which way we are supposed to go based on the circumstances.

In this proverb we learn that there are troubles and disputes that are none of our business, and they remain none of our business even after we become aware of their existence. It should remind us of the cartoon of the husband who can’t come to bed yet because “someone is wrong on the Internet.” If a husband and wife start quarreling in the checkout line ahead of you, it would seem that this would be a good time to apply this proverb. If you intervene on the lady’s behalf, let us say, you will find that both of them wheel on you. When you take a passing dog by the ears, you are simply creating an entirely new situation. You might know exactly what it would take to make everything better, but that does not mean that your intervention would make anything better.

But clearly this is not a one-size-fits all situation. If the man ahead of you physically attacks the woman, and punches her, then you have a clear responsibility not to stay out of it. If the Good Samaritan had arrived on the scene of the robbery while it was taking place, what would his responsibility have been then?

Let Scripture interpret Scripture, and always remember which are the weightier matters of the law.

 

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At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. 16: 11)

All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; But the Lord weigheth the spirits

Proverbs 16:2

One of the great challenges for Christians in this sinful world is the challenge of getting a right perspective on yourself. Having a correct view of oneself is something that we are called to, and it seems clear that having an accurate view of your own limitations would be a desirable thing indeed. The apostle Paul tells us that we should understand ourselves. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3).

And even though he calls us to this right understanding, he makes sure that we also understand that having nothing against yourself is not an automatic guarantee of anything. “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor. 4:4, ESV).

We should evaluate ourselves with a sober judgment. We should make sure that we are not in any way flattering ourselves. We should know our duty to have confessed all known sin—we should have a clean conscience. But even with a clean conscience it is possible for us to be self-deceived in some respect.

And self-deception is a true oddity. How is possible for one part of our brain to tell a whopper to another part of our brain, and to have the second part of the brain buy it? And yet it happens. Scripture tells us not to be self-deceived. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22).

Our proverb says that every man sees things his own way. The people who have it right do so, and the people who have it wrong do so. Everyone looks out at the world through their own eyeballs. So what can we do about this? The proverb concludes with the stone cold reality that the objective truth about ourselves resides . . . outside ourselves.

Fortunately, God has given us a mirror by which we can see ourselves. And as the example provided by James shows, we must resort to this mirror constantly. This is why fruitful Christians are, by definition, people who are in the Word.

“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:23–25).

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