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

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise (KJV).

Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise (NKJV).

Proverbs 20:1

For over a century, the evangelical church in North America was overwhelmingly dry—that is, they had adopted the temperance approach that had begun to gain traction in the 19th century. This movement culminated in Prohibition, a 13 year ban on alcohol in the United States (1920-1933). In truth Prohibition was a spectacular failure, but sometimes people mistakenly imagine that the problem it was seeking to address was therefore an imaginary problem. But that was not the case—drunkenness was a significant social problem prior to Prohibition. Perhaps we could think of those thirteen years as America’s time in rehab.  

Now “temperance” was actually a misnomer because the word should refer to moderate use of alcohol, not to an absolute requirement to abstain from it. The word temperance did not originally bring teetotalism to mind. But the period after Prohibition actually was pretty temperate.

Something similar happened with the gradual relaxation of attitudes toward alcohol among evangelicals. At first, alcohol is approached carefully, gingerly, like it might bite. This is all to the good because Scripture teaches us that alcohol does bite, like an adder (Prov. 23:32). 

But we live in a time when substance abuse of various kinds is increasingly common, whether pot, or opioids, or prescription pills, or alcohol. Christians there need to make sure they don’t let down their guard simply because the outside culture is giving way to dissipation. A good check on our spirits is to remember the words of this proverb—wine has an attitude problem; it mocks. Whiskey is violent; it is a brawler, and can beat you up. Both of them together are liars, telling you that you are far more temperate than you actually are.

When people ask for my advice on this, I have a pretty simple rule of thumb—only one.  

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

Delight is not seemly for a fool; Much less for a servant to have rule over princes (KJV).

Luxury is not fitting for a fool, much less for a servant to rule over princes (NKJV).

Proverbs 19:10

We are accustomed to the word egalitarian because of our debates about headship and submission within marriage, and because of the broader question of sex roles within the church. And almost all conservative Christians know and understand that the Scriptures are not egalitarian when it comes to marriage—the husband is the head of the wife (Eph. 5:22-24). And they also understand that a woman is not permitted to teach or exercise authority over men in the church (1 Tim. 2:12-15). 

But what many do not understand is that the Bible is not egalitarian anywhere, and this proverb provides us with a good illustration of that.

All societies have various social strata—in our setting, we have the homeless, the urban poor, the blue collar workers, white collar workers, the independently wealthy, and then the billionaires. In some societies, these strata are assigned by tradition, and if that tradition is hard and inflexible you have a caste system. If it is more attractive to us, you have might have a scene out of Pride & Prejudice, where the nameless servants get all the work done, and are less obtrusive than your smart phone notifications are. In that kind of society, there is some mobility. In ours, there is quite a bit of traffic between the strata, but the principle is still one that applies.  

So luxury is not fitting for a fool. We all know what happens when a redneck wins the lottery. Pretty much everything that will happen could be filed under the heading of “not fitting.” And a hired hand should not be given authority over someone who is a genuine aristocrat (as opposed to a faux-aristocrat).

This is not because wealth is bad, and it is not because authority is bad. Rather, the point is that both wealth and authority are things that require years of training to handle properly. If you come into wealth suddenly, then bad things happen. If you come into authority suddenly, then bad things happen.  

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

There are many devices in a man’s heart; Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

Proverbs 19:21

We have a proverb in English that states much the same truth. Man proposes, God disposes.

A man’s head can be crammed full of ideas, and he thinks that he can go first here, and then over there. When he is done, he will do thus and such, and make a pile of money.

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil” (James 4:13–16).

Men can think up many plans, but only the Lord’s will is going to be accomplished at the end of the day. That being the case, the point should be surrendered in principle before the first step is taken.

Note that we are not surrendering the point in principle if we say something like, “I have prayed about it, and it is the Lord’s will that . . .” This is compounding the sin of arrogance, not actually hedging against it. James tells us that we must leave the outcome entirely in the hands of God. If He determines that the thing will be done, then it will in fact be done. If not, then not.

At this point, some become fatalistic. They shrug and say, “What’s the use then?” Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. But this is too simplistic as well. If we read through the book of Proverbs carefully, we see that we are commanded in multiple places to pay attention to cause and effect. If we pay attention to this pattern of cause and effect, then we will see trouble coming and avoid it—we will learn that industry leads to wealth, we will not marry a quarrelsome woman, and so on. If we put this together, we will see that our planning is essential, and that it is equally important that we not trust in our planning. 

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

The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: But the substance of a diligent man is precious (KJV).

The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man’s precious possession (NKJV).

Proverbs 12:27

Proverbs about laziness can be pretty colorful. We have one about the time it was raining porridge, and one poor fellow had forgotten to bring his bowl. Or you could be as lazy as Ludlum’s dog, who had to lean his head against the wall to bark. 

This ancient Hebrew proverb captures much the same idea. The lazy man might be prevailed upon to go hunting, but if he manages to catch his food, he is too lazy to feed himself with it. Cooking looks suspiciously like work, and there is always the clean up afterwards. 

The contrast here is to the industrious man. His diligence is his precious possession, which is the central reason why he has any other possessions. To be the owner of diligence is to own a number of other fine things as a consequence. This relates to another proverb I once saw on a poster in a business that is renowned in our area for its industry—“everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.” 

The indigent often wonder (complainingly) about how some people seem to get “all the breaks.” Now sometimes there really is a lucky break, and the ball bounces just right. But Scripture teaches us that diligence messes with these averages.

We need to remind ourselves that these are proverbs, meaning that they are not universally true, the way an axiom in geometry is universally true. Parallel lines do not meet, and this is not generally true. It is simply true. But there are times when layabouts win at Powerball, and there are other times when men are as hardworking as they come, and they still struggle to make ends meet. That said, proverbs are generally true, and diligence really is a prize possession.

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

He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: But blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it (KJV).

The people will curse him who withholds grain, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it (NKJV).

Proverbs 11:26

A generous heart can be revealed and manifested in a number of different ways. This is surprising to some because it is easy to assume that generosity is manifested simply and solely through giving. But if we look at the sweep of scriptural teaching, we should be able to see that a generous heart can be revealed through giving on your own initiative, through giving when asked, through loaning when asked, through loaning with no expectation of a return, and through selling. The Bible does not have a “one size fits all” approach to this.

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 6:1).

“Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matt. 5:42).

“But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil” (Luke 6:35).

But a generous spirit can also be manifested when a merchant with grain to sell does not try to be too clever by half trying to manage the futures market. If the people need grain, and you have grain, then a generous spirit sells it now. A generous spirit does not try to manipulate the price through hard dealing now.

So there is a way to give that is selfish and a way to give that is not. There is a way to loan that is selfish and a way to loan that is not. And there is a way to sell that is selfish, and a way to sell that is not. A commercial transaction can be a manifestation of a righteous demeanor.

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