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

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule:
But the slothful shall be under tribute

Proverbs 12:24

We live in a time where we love to talk about leaders, but we rarely talk about rulers. In addition, we tend to think of this as though it were the result of a great advance of liberty. But it actually is not. Rulers obviously need to be constitutionally bounded, but leaders? As long as they secured the necessary buy-in from their base, they can lead us all right over the cliff.

C.S. Lewis put it this way:

“The modern State exists not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good—anyway, to do something to us or to make us something. Hence the new name ‘leaders’ for those who were once ‘rulers’. We are less their subjects than their wards, pupils, or domestic animals. There is nothing left of which we can say to them, ‘Mind your own business.’ Our whole lives are their business.”^[1]

This proverb sets an alternative before us. The diligent go in this way, while the slothful go in another direction. The two directions are rule and slavery, respectively. Diligence in a chosen vocational activity is a combination of hard work, enthusiasm, and competence. When someone gives himself to the pursuit of such excellence, the end result is that he will stand before kings (Prov. 22:29). Are you ambitious to be the right kind of ruler? Then mind your own business, tend your own knitting, and mow your own yard. The hand that reaches for rule for its own sake doesn’t get it. The hand that winds up bearing rule is a hand with its very own calluses on it.

But laziness spirals down into slavery. He is an obvious candidate for corvée. He is put to forced labor. He is conscripted for the use of others. Precisely because he was not a self-starter, someone else decided to start him up.  

^[1] C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock, ed. Walter Hooper (HarperOne, 1994), 349–350.

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

He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life:
But he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.

Proverbs 13:3

The Scriptures have much to teach us on the subject of guarding our tongues, and this is one place where the instruction is quite pointed.

The imagery here is that of a person’s life as a walled city. The person who guards the gates, who has watchmen on the tower, who has sentries with spears at the entry way, is a person who keeps or guards his life. The idea is that if you keep the gates, you keep the city. By way of contrast, we find the talker. He opens his lips wide, as in, wide open, and the eventual result of this will be the destruction of his city.

For a time, it may not look like this. With the gates open wide, it can look like the city is open for business. A lot of profitable traffic going in and out. But other things can go in and out as well, and once again the lesson of history is learned the hard way. Short term gain is often long term loss.

The role of a sentry is to be suspicious. He asks questions, and sometimes the questions are awkward questions. He not only asks questions of those coming in, but also of those going out. A godly man monitors his words carefully. It may even have to take the form of a fake Buddha citation, “There are three keys to the words we say. Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?”

Never mind the Buddha. Is it accurate, as in, not a lie (Lev. 19:11; Col. 3:9)? Is it both gracious and salty (Col. 4:6)? Was it actually needed at this point (Prov. 25:11-12)?

James reminds us that our tongue can do a lot of damage.

“Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:5–8).

This proverb reminds us that the damage done does not exclude our own lives.

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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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