Chapter 19

Proverbs 19 (Ted)

Proverbs 19:2-3,21

2 It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.

3 A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.

21 Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

"...A Light Unto Your Path..."

Have you ever gotten ahead of God's plan for your life? I often wonder why it is that God doesn't talk to me "more directly." Why don't I hear an audible voice for every important choice I need to make? I've found two key reasons so far...

First, God wants me to develop the habit of using the brain He gave me to figure life out. He doesn't want to micro-manage my life -- He wants me to grow into a mature Son of God. That means figuring some things out on my own. But wait, isn't that what these Proverbs are warning against? Kinda. And that's where the second reason comes in...

God sometimes only tells us part of His plans because we exhibit a tendency to run too far ahead.

As a result, we miss the turn He took and end up back "off plan". It's easy to blame God for that, after all, if He'd only told us more... But really, we're the guilty party -- for not seeking Him when the way was unclear.

We need to learn to wait on Him. By doing so, God saves us from our tendency to run ahead by only giving us a limited picture. But like verse 21 says, even when we make "wrong decisions" based on limited information, His purposes still prevail. God's cool like that.

These Proverbs echo another that says "...we make our plans, but God determines our steps". I'm becoming convinced that God's less concerned with where our journey is than how it's shaping us. After all, God already knows the end, and so should we -- we end up in Heaven, glorifying Him! May we give Him all the more glory for accounting for our humanity as we journey toward truth...

Chapter 18

Proverbs 18 (Tim)

Proverbs 18:1 - "A recluse is self-indulgent, snarling at every sound principle of conduct."
Proverbs 18:2 - "Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions."
Proverbs 18:13 - "What a shame, what folly, to give advice before listening to the facts."

As human beings created by God, we are called to rely on each other for sound counsel regarding our spiritual walk and daily lives. By solely relying on our own judgment and human frailty (in the forms of hormones, emotions, and self serving interests), we can easily lead ourselves away from God and into a life of sin. And verse 1 warns us that, left to ourselves, it becomes easy and natural (to our sinful nature) for moral relativism to arise. For an easy example of this, look to our society today. We are all isolating ourselves behind our work, our personal goals and losing touch with our neighbors, our friends, even our very own families! In this isolation, rather than having a natural corrective social influence of friendships and human interaction to keep us on track, we begin to slowly approve of more and more things that are wrong in God's eyes simply because we don't want others to disapprove of us.

So, it is an inherent function of our human nature that we have an interdependent need for sound counsel. Verse 1 speaks to that. Verses 2 and 13 speak of guiding principles to be followed by the counselor. The issue at hand is that our judgment isn't always sound or well considered. Why? Our experiences, especially the ones that have scarred us, affect our perceptions and don't help us see the situation clearly. We are quick to judge and quick to voice those judgments (verse 2).

There's only one problem: we aren't God and our quick judgments aren't always right. God makes perfect decisions at His perfect timing for one very important reason: He's omnipotent. He has all the correct answers to every question and situation. We do not. These verses are here to remind us that (verse 13), as a trusted friend for someone seeking advice, it is our responsibility to listen first and as completely as possible before we speak to a situation. Without the entire context surrounding the decision to be made or question to be answered, shame is brought upon the counselor and the counseled could possibly be harmed as well.

Of course, praying together for wisdom prior to speaking to that situation doesn't hurt either. Remember... God knows the right answer!