People of God, this is our last look at Proverbs for this Pentecost Season. We will certainly come back again and again in years to come. It is impossible to grow as a people without the wisdom of King Solomon.
Proverbs are not merely suggestions for better living, rather they are commands for the good life on earth as it is in heaven. Proverbs define the true meaning of success, wealth, and joy. Proverbs is a dictionary whose substance is not subject to change with time or modern fashion. Proverbs is not just true for all times, it is at all times true.
This is why there are so many lessons to learn in Proverbs, and this is why the more we read it the more we will gain from it. “A proverb a day keeps the devil away,” said my old P.E. Teacher. He was right. There is nothing more anti-devilish, anti-Screwtape than drinking deeply at the fountain of kingly wisdom.
Read. Meditate. Memorize. Apply. Proverbs is for you! You have the responsibility to embrace it and allow it to shape you. C.S. Lewis once wrote:
What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.[1]
The sort of person you are and will become is largely based on how well you receive wisdom. If you look at wisdom and say: “Well, this is just too complicated and it has the potential of causing some pain, so I will choose to overlook it for now.” At that moment you have made a decision. You are shaping the person you will become one day. But if your response is: “This is the wisdom of God, and though it will not be easy at times to live by it, I know that this will shape me to be more like my King.” This is the proper attitude: one that is not blind to the consequences of wisdom, but one that knows that wisdom is worth pursuing.
The question before us is “to fall or to flourish?” Solomon is demanding an answer from his son. Life is filled with decisions, and the primary decision you make as a Christian each day is whether you will make it your life-long goal to pursue wisdom, or whether you will choose to cavalierly walk through life? The latter makes you susceptible to falling, the former makes you more like our Lord. Decision-making is unavoidable. Solomon puts it into perspective in verse 26:
The people curse him who holds back grain,
but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.
In verse 26 the market is at the center of the king’s attention. It is amazing how much the Bible has to say about the economy! Solomon here is describing someone who does not want to see the market run its course. He does not want to see competition. He withholds from the people the wealth of the nation. He keeps what rightly belongs to the people. Joseph withheld grain for seven years because he knew that a famine was coming. He was working on behalf of the people, but this leader has large stores of grain at his disposal but he will not allow the market to possess it and sell it at a fair price. He withholds because he knows the people are dependent on it for survival. He manipulates the market.
We see this in communistic countries. Communism is a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state. When this happens the people curse their government, their leader, and their king. Government is not to hold back wealth. Government is not to keep wealth; they are not to stop competition, they are to allow the market to function. They are to encourage people to buy goods from sellers. Continue reading “Sermon: Proverbs 11:26-31; To Fall or to Flourish?”