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

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine:
But a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

This is a proverb with many points of application. It can apply to someone’s personal life, to relationship challenges, and to the broader subject of our culture wars. The applications generally work in the same way, so let’s consider the latter.

One of the besetting sins of conservatives is the sin of shrillness. We love what is being threatened by the various forms of unbelief, and so we react poorly. Our responses are too often the responses of panic, and so we start yelling. We write our comments online with a fisted crayon. If asked about it, we justify our response by pointing out how terrible it would be if the threatened object of our love (e.g. marriage, the Constitution, America) were to be harmed or destroyed. We justify reacting this way because what they are promising to do would be terrible.

When someone goes into battle as a merry warrior, the people who have responded this way are often disconcerted by it. It seems that such a person isn’t taking the situation seriously enough. If he were, then he would be panicked also, right? As Jean Kerr once put it, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it’s just possible you haven’t grasped the situation.”

But it is also possible that such a one is the only person who is in a position to do something about it. A merry heart does good like medicine. It strengthens. And a broken spirit dries up the bones, which is not what you want in your fighters. There have been times when fighting men have given up all hope, and have fought on in a savage and dull despair. But more often than not, they just go down, or scatter to the four winds in a rout. So say what you will about it, merry warriors are far more formidable. And if the situation really is dire, you want someone who will actually help you out of it, rather than someone who has internalized the need for help, crumpled up his own spirit, dried up his own bones, and who has then curled up in the fetal position. 

A merry warrior is someone who takes the situation seriously without taking himself seriously. Daniel Daly was a Marine sergeant in the First World War, and is one of the small handfuls of men who have received the Medal of Honor twice. In the Battle of Belleau Wood, he once yelled at his men before going over the top, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” He died in 1937, many years after the war.

As Chesterton once put it, memorably as usual, “The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God’s paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle—and not lose it.”

Read Full Article

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

The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water:
Therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.

Proverbs 17:4

Arguments and quarrels have an internal logic of their own. Whatever the point of the person who started the affair, the affair itself has its own ideas. And those ideas are usually much grander than the modest ambitions of the instigator.

Chesterton says somewhere that one ought not to be allowed to take down a fence unless they can explain the reason why the fence was put up in the first place. In a similar spirit we can say that no one should be allowed to set any explosive devices on a dam unless they are able to tell us exactly how much water is stored behind the dam.

This proverb teaches us that the consequences of a dispute will often go far, far beyond what any of the initial disputants intended. Consequently, the advice given to someone who is prepared to “contend” is that he “leave off.” What you think you are doing is not necessarily what you are doing.

This same point is made with a different metaphor in the book of James. How great a forest fire can start from a little spark (Jas. 3:5). Conflagrations can start with a small word. Or, following the logic of this proverb, with a word that the one speaking it thought was a small word.

Before you blow up the dam, think about more than your plan to free the salmon. Think about all the people who live downstream. Think about all the consequences you did not think about. And this is the difficulty, right? We find it very hard to think about the things we didn’t think about.

And this is why the Word of God is given to us. This proverb is there to tell us that you ought to stop and think even if you have no presenting issue in your consciousness. When you are crossing the street, you should look both ways.

Read Full Article

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

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love;
But he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Proverbs 17:9

One time, in the course of a church controversy, I was accused of “covering something up.” But as we have learned in other contexts, you cannot determine virtue or vice by looking at the verb only. What is being covered up? Why is it being covered up? Is the murderer trying cover up the telltale indicators of his crime (Prov. 28:13)? Or is it love, trying, yet again, to cover a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8; cf. Prov. 10:12)? In that particular church controversy, I remember saying to someone that I was a pastor, and that I cover up sins for a living.

But it should go without saying that some things that are covered up need to be brought out into the open. “Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:3). The devil picks this up by the wrong end, which is how he became the accuser of all the brethren (Rev. 12:10), accusing them day and night. This censorious spirit may operate in the name of “transparency” or “accountability,” but what it is really after is the opportunity to point a finger and demand an answer now. The reason sinners like to do this is because, outside of Christ, the best defense is a good offense.

So in this proverb, the one who covers a transgression is the one who is seeking the path of love. This is how Joseph responded when he found out that Mary was pregnant. He knew that he was not the father, and so it followed that Mary had been unfaithful. “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly” (Matt. 1:19, ESV).

But in the world of hectoring accusers, the thing that made Matthew say that Joseph was a just man is the very same thing that makes accusers say that he was manifestly unjust. Was he not being indulgent? Was he not covering up? They would have told someone about it. They would have repeated the matter. And the proverb tells us that they are the kind of people who wreck friendships.

This proverb is part of wisdom literature, which is why it takes wisdom to be able to distinguish a righteous and an unrighteous revealing, a righteous and unrighteous “covering.” Every wise parent knows this. There are times when you would discipline your children for “tattling,” and other times you would discipline them for not saying something. For example, if your three-year-old is on the roof of the garage, you really want the older kids to say something.

Read Full Article

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

A man’s heart deviseth his way:B
ut the Lord directeth his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

This verse shows us that the doctrine of God’s absolute sovereignty is not a doctrine that is the private reserve of esoteric theologians. No, the sovereignty of God is an immensely practical and enormously comforting doctrine. It is something that every saint should know and understand, and learn to rely on in all our daily pursuits.

We make our little plans and out into the day we go. There is nothing wrong with this; it is what we are supposed to do. The book of Proverbs is filled with all sorts of exhortations that would encourage the sons of men to get off the dime, and to go do something. We are told to work in the field, to avoid the painted ladies, to lay up an inheritance, to give to the poor, and a host of other things. But when we devise the way to go do any of these things, we must always remember that this is not the end of the story—it is only our part, which is a very small part. God is the one who directs the steps.

He does this whether the decisions of our heart are wise or foolish, righteous or sinful, thoughtful or thoughtless, asleep or awake. We make our free decisions, and God uses our free decisions to accomplish His divine purposes.

We are aware of this when it comes to momentous things, like the crucifixion of Christ (Acts 4:27-28). But we need to remember why Jesus taught us that a cat can’t catch a sparrow apart from the will of the Father. We need to remember why He said the hairs of our head are all numbered. The reason is so that we might not fear (Matt. 10:31).

Because we make decisions, and because we are mortal, we need to trust the only one who can keep us. Whenever you change lanes on the freeway, the lives of your children in the back seat are in the balance, not to mention the lives of your hundreds of thousands of descendants. Better get it right.

A better way would be to trust the Lord. He is the only one who can direct our steps.

Read Full Article

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

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer:
But the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.

Proverbs 15:28

As happens a lot in Proverbs, the contrast between righteousness and wickedness is sharp. In this contrast, we have the obvious one between the righteous and the wicked. But it goes a step beyond this—the contrast is between the heart of the righteous and the mouth of the wicked.

A problem or question has apparently been posed, and the heart of the righteous thinks about how to answer. Righteousness does not blurt. The word for “studieth” can mean growl or mutter, or meditate, or imagine. One gets the picture of a wise man working through a difficult problem, talking to himself as he goes. His heart is hot, a wisdom forge, and he doesn’t bring out his words until they are ready.

But the mouth of the wicked is filled up and ready to go now. The mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. If you want an answer now, he has an answer for you now. The quality is crappy, but delivery is prompt.

With the righteous, there is a solid consistency that runs from the heart through the mouth, and then to the outside world. With the wicked, the answer is in his mouth already, and may bear no relationship to what he really believes or, for that matter, any relationship to how things are out in the world.

The righteous is slower to speak, but what he says comes from the heart, and what he says has been “growled over.” He shares this with you, not because it was his turn to talk, but rather because he believes that he has a word for you in season.

Read Full Article