Sanam Doctrinam

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,
But he who walks wisely will be delivered.

Proverbs 28:26

Memorial Day. I suppose that for as long as I live my thoughts about Memorial Day will always include a towering catalpa tree, mantled with white flowers. In southern Illinois where I spent my youth, catalpas always bloomed around that time of year, their snowy bunches cascading on the boughs like the slopes of a snowcapped mountain. Besides that gigantic specimen of flora that dominated our backyard, Memorial Day also brings to my mind recurring events that always happen right around that same time—graduations.

There is a certain line that emerges almost like a chorus in valedictory and salutatory speeches throughout our land. It’s remarkable how frequently this injunction pops up in these addresses from those at the top of their senior class. And it sounds so delightful: Believe in yourself.

That’s the language of self-help books and life coaches everywhere. It’s a marvelous call to hearken to the strengths of human nature and move forward with total confidence in them. “Believe in yourself,” beckons those who may be timid, or unnerved, or uncertain to chart a bold path with self as the wellspring of strength. To say there’s anything wrong with this golden axiom of our times would be tantamount to speaking badly about one’s mother, America, and apple pie, combined.

Allow me to be the goat and the killjoy pariah. “Believe in yourself,” is about the most rotten counsel out there. That phrase is printed on the sign at the entrance of the road to Hell.

We shouldn’t be surprised to find the world’s best advice running directly counter to what God tells us. Jesus said that the relationship between the world’s point of view and that of His followers could only be characterized as hatred (John 15:18-19). Scripture describes those who love Christ and adopt the world’s point of view in terms normally reserved for marital infidelity (James 4:4).

In today’s verse Solomon identifies the person who “trusts in his own heart” as a fool—a person on whom the bank of morality has foreclosed. An old scholar of Proverbs, C. H. Toy, helps us with this phrase when he writes that it means to “rely one one’s own mental resources.” It means to look to ourselves; to say with the poet of yesteryear, William Ernest Henley, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

The danger of such an approach to life is revealed in Solomon’s proverb for today when he says that the alternative to trusting in one’s own heart is to walk wisely and find deliverance as the result. Solomon implies that the result of the fool’s demonstration of his foolishness by trusting in his own heart is desperate peril without deliverance.

How do we walk wisely? Getting good counsel is the answer. And the counsel that we so desperately need is not that of the self-help books or the best psychologists. The counsel we need is God’s Word.

Apart from the Word of God and the God whose mind it reveals, we are left to founder in our own ignorance, doing our own thing, groping our way in the dark like the blind. Believing in ourselves is not the way to success—it’s the way to shipwreck a life for time and eternity. Deliverance comes only from trusting our Creator.

Don’t take the valedictorian’s words, no matter how wonderful they sound. Don’t believe in yourself—in your own misguided heart. Trust in someone bigger than yourself. Trust in Him.

How blessed is the man who fears always,
But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Proverbs 28:14

“You’re going to get scars if you scratch.” That was the counsel I received upon my diagnosis of chicken pox. Being a short-sighted and unthinking young lad, all I knew is I had an itch, and the good Lord gave me ten digits to deal with it. Did I listen to the counsel? Not a bit. I have the scars to prove it.

Sin is something like scratching chicken pox in one regard: It comes with consequences. That is where today’s Monday Musings passage begins.

Some Proverbs of Solomon don’t require any explanation. This one does. Depending on the translation of the Bible you use, you may or may not find the Hebrew personal name of God—Yahweh, normally translated “LORD”—in this verse. If that’s the case, you’d never know that in Hebrew, God’s name is nowhere in this verse. The rendering at the top of this page is an accurate representation. It would be understandable for our minds to jump to the conclusion that God’s name is the missing element in this verse. Proverbs has a great deal to say about fearing Yahweh (3:7, 14:2, 14:16, 24:21, 31:30). But upon closer inspection, the text points us in a different direction. The thing that is not apparent from our English translations is that Solomon used two different words for fear in Proverbs. One is used of fearing Yahweh. The other is used of fearing adverse circumstances. This second word is used in Proverbs 1:26-27 (twice), 1:33, and 3:24-25 (twice). It’s this second word that’s used in today’s Proverb. All that to say, this verse is probably not talking about fearing God.

As is often the case with Hebrew poetry, the second line of the proverb points us to what that something else we should fear is. The two lines are set in contrast to one another, conjoined by the word “but.” Solomon says that the person who hardens his heart will fall into “calamity.” That’s put in contrast to the person who “fears always.” Fears what? Not God. Solomon is talking about a person who fears the consequences of sin—the circumstances that arise when a person disregards God’s directives for living.

Like a person who ignores repeated highway signs that say, “Bridge Out Ahead,” a person who plunges headlong into sin winds up with a wrecked life. A person is blessed—in a privileged position—who sees the consequences of sin and takes them to heart. Earlier Solomon wrote, “The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on, and are punished for it” (Proverbs 22:3). That’s the contrast that is mirrored in today’s verse, as well.

Are you a person who “fears always”? Sin’s consequences amount to a circle of destruction. We are at the epicenter. When we choose to sin, we break fellowship with our Creator, if we have trusted His Son for eternal life. Then there are those we hurt when we sin. Nearly any sin, no matter how secret, has a destructive influence on others, due to the damage it has brought in our own lives. That impairs our interactions with others. We can be of little spiritual help to others when we are ailing.

The alternative to fearing always is to have a hard heart. A hard heart is one that is unresponsive to God. Like a scar from scratching chicken pox, calamity is the certain result of choosing to sin. Its consequences are disastrous.

Should we fear sin? Certainly. When we get down to it, sin is the most terrifying thing in life. Not to fear sin is to invite calamity.

He who turns away his ear from listening to the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.

Proverbs 28:9

Sometimes it’s better not to pray. That might be a surprising statement to receive in your Monday Musings mailbox, but before you unsubscribe, let’s consider it in the light of today’s verse.

We might assume that prayer is something God always wants His people to do. To be sure, prayer is repeatedly encouraged in Scripture. I think of Paul’s words of instruction to the believers at Ephesus: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” We could enumerate other similar verses throughout Scripture. Yet, Solomon maintains that sometimes the very act of praying can be an “abomination.” That is strong language. Considering, however, what Solomon says makes prayer an abomination makes his assertion much more reasonable.

Solomon says that the person whose prayer is an abomination is one who turns away his ear from listening to the law. This is not talking about a person who quits listening to the Bible on CD. This is not someone who deletes her Scripture MP3s off her iPod. “Listening” in this verse has the idea of an obedient hearing and heeding of God’s Word. The law, or Torah, this verse mentions is not law in general. It was God’s law, given through Moses, the Torah. Another translation colorfully (and accurately) translates this verse as one who turns a deaf ear to the law. However we translate the verse, it describes someone who ignores God’s directives for his life. This is the one Solomon says would be better off not praying.

What Solomon is describing in this verse, I believe, is false devotion with true devotion. Jesus definitively described this distinction between false and true devotion in His words about the hypocrites of His day. Jesus said of them, quoting Isaiah 29, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me” (Matthew 15:8). The issue of false religious expression was a problem in Solomon’s day, in Isaiah’s day, in Jesus’ day, and, we might add, in ours.

The question naturally follows as to what constitutes false religious devotion. We might explain this in terms of religious activity that springs from a person who is disobedient toward God. Of course, praying is God’s will for His children, but not when prayer serves as a cloak for a heart that will not submit to God. I can think of a couple reasons a disobedient person might pray. It may be to impress others. The hypocrites of Christ’s day did this, and consequently the Lord Jesus spoke words of condemnation toward the lengthy prayers they uttered for the benefit of a human audience (Matthew 6:5). But there’s a second, more subtle reason for people who are disobedient praying. Instead of it being for others’ benefit, it may be for their own. Let me explain. Sometimes, we can perform some act of religious expression such as attending a worship service (or services) or praying, or whatever other form it may take, simply to compensate for our disobedience in another area. We may, for example, perform these outward acts of religious expression simply to soothe ourselves over our involvement in a relationship we know we shouldn’t be in. This is nothing more than a self-lie. God is not pleased with this sort of religious veneer over a disobedient heart.

For all time an example from Scripture serves to illustrate Solomon’s point. We find it in the life of the king who King Solomon’s father, David, succeeded as king of Israel. The account is found in 1 Samuel 15. The story is probably familiar to many of us. Samuel had given a clear, specific direction to Saul for him to destroy every remnant of the Amalekites. Saul decided he had a better plan. As a result, the prophet Samuel confronted Saul. With the acumen of a trial lawyer, Saul attempted an impressive defense of his actions using the most religious explanations. Samuel stopped Saul’s explanation short with uncompromising words: “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.”

Solomon called false religious devotion an abomination. Samuel called it divination, iniquity, and idolatry. The point is the same: Acts of outward religious expression that spring from disobedience are something that God hates.

Our application is simple. When we cloak our disobedient heart in religious activity, God is dishonored and displeased. Such activity proves an abomination to Him.

Sometimes, it’s better not to pray.

Know well the condition of your flocks,
And pay attention to your herds;
For riches are not forever,
Nor does a crown endure to all generations.
When the grass disappears, the new growth is seen,
And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,
The lambs will be for your clothing,
And the goats will bring the price of a field,
And there will be goats’ milk enough for your food,
For the food of your household,
And sustenance for your maidens.

Proverbs 27:23-27

I think if you interviewed someone who has experienced both wealth and poverty, they’d said they liked wealth better. I haven’t run into many people who are trying to be poorer. Most folks I know will take any opportunity afforded them to better their financial situation.

There is a problem with money, however: It’s uncertain. It doesn’t matter how many FDIC insured accounts we have, they are not protected from inflation, war, or lawsuits. Money is not an impenetrable fortress, though some people may think it so (Proverbs 10:15; 18:11). Rather, money is markedly uncertain; it’s prone to depart unexpectedly (23:5).

With these thoughts about finances as a backdrop, Solomon provided some important counsel to his readers with regard to their use of possessions.

Solomon’s poetic counsel in today’s verses might be summed up this way: Be wise in your use of money because it’s uncertain. He brings out the uncertainty of money by explicitly stating that it doesn’t last forever (v. 24). Today’s verses constitute an admonition toward wisdom in our use of finances. Since finances don’t last, Solomon tells us that is important that we plan wisely with regard to our money.

The text doesn’t come right out and say this, however. Instead Solomon enjoins his readers to pay close attention to their livestock. This might be something with which we cannot easily identify. It might help us to understand the contrast Solomon makes here. He contrasts livestock with crops. Crops, Solomon points out, are seasonal and somewhat unpredictable. Livestock, on the other hand, present a much more stable commodity.

How does this text about livestock and crops inform our use of money? To make a principle of it, we might say that Solomon’s counsel is to plan financially for the future. When the grass and the herbs are gone, Solomon says, then the livestock will provide clothing (v. 26), money for purchases (v. 26), and food (v. 27).

The acquisition and care of livestock, Solomon tells us, represents wise financial planning. The sheep and goats of which he speaks were something of a savings account to those who had them. In the lean times, the animals’ owners could use these resources to see them through.

It might be worth pointing out that these truths are remarkably pertinent in our day. Still scrolling across RSS feeds on computer screens is news about the sub-prime lending crisis. While much blame can be laid at the feet of those with predatory lending practices, an equal share of blame can be levied on those who, in a desire for instant gratification, bought a home with an adjustable rate mortgage, without any consideration for the future. Imagine how different the housing situation would be in the United States had people simply heeded some ancient Hebrew wisdom in the twenty-seventh chapter of Proverbs.

Saving money is a key component in wise financial planning. While we hear a good deal of teaching about giving our money (which, incidentally, is vitally important in our greed-infected culture), we don’t hear so much about saving. Scripture extols it. We have money for three purposes, I believe, namely to live on, to save, and to give. To do any of these things requires financial planning.

Those who attempt to give without planning likely will not give much. Non-systematic giving is typically sporadic and meager. It is not surprising, then, that Paul should offer the counsel he does to the Corinthian church: “On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2).

In a church that is rife with people deep in credit card debt, usurious loans, and week-to-week living, Solomon’s counsel is vital. Wise financial planning is not something reserved for those with significant sums of money. Wise financial planning is for everyone.

On a very practical level, a budget may be an important place to start, as far as financial planning goes. Whatever form wise financial planning takes in our lives, it is an important practice for those who recognize themselves as stewards of that with which they have been entrusted.

Am I advocating the hoarding of finances here? Absolutely not. We cannot take it with us. We can send it on ahead. And we send it on ahead by using what we have for our Lord’s purposes. That involves the generous, systematic sharing with others of what we have. Part of that systematic generosity, however, involves wise financial planning.

Let’s heed Solomon’s words. Keep an eye on those flocks and herds. Money is uncertain. Planning is essential.

As in water face reflects face,
So the heart of man reflects man.

Proverbs 27:19

Today’s verse presents a principle that is woven throughout Scripture, but does it more concisely than perhaps anywhere else in the Bible. The principle, put in its simplest form, is this: We live from our hearts.

Scripture teaches us that our words, actions, and attitudes aren’t formed in a vacuum. Instead, they have an origination point. Every aspect of the way we live comes from our interior, from deep within our soul. This place from which we live, this center of who we are, Scripture calls our heart.

We are familiar with this abstract use of the word. Clearly, we are not talking about the cardiac muscle that regulates the flow of blood through our bodies, but the secondary sense of heart springs from this.

In ancient times, people knew at the center of the body, buried deep within, was the heart. Consequently, this most central of organs became associated with the deepest, most genuine part of us—who we really are. Expressions with which we are all familiar ensued. We love with all our heart. We express heartfelt sympathy. We lose heart when we are discouraged. We speak of putting our heart into something. Each of these expressions emphasizes the identity of our heart as our central character.

It’s interesting that we speak of people having a good or bad heart, but never a false heart. That is because there is no such thing. I can’t have a false heart, because my heart is who I am, despite what I say or do.

If the heart sounds pretty important, it is. Jesus identified it as the center of who we are, just as did Solomon. He identified a series of sins, some of which were actions and some of which were attitudes, and He traced them to a single source: the human heart. In Matthew 15:19 we read, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” Every evil we will ever encounter either in our world today or in our own lives springs from our heart. We might say the heart is the heart of the problem with our world today.

Solomon identifies the importance of the heart in today’s verse. He compares it to a mirror. If we want to see our face, we look in a mirror. If we want to see who we are, we look into our heart.

We’ve seen the overwhelming significance of the heart, but it remains for us to consider our responsibility with regard to it. I think I’d like just to point out one word of instruction, also from Proverbs, with regard to our hearts. It’s found in 4:23. There we read, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Solomon says we have the crucial task of watching over (literally, “guarding”) our hearts. How do we do that? I think the key is watching what enters our heart.

We’re inundated with a host of unbiblical philosophies on a daily basis. Without carefully guarding our hearts, we might find we incorporate these philosophies into our perspective. Before long, we find ourselves far from God and His Word, enmeshed in spiritual falsehood.

How do we guard our hearts, then? I think Scripture points to an answer to this question, as well. Psalm 119:11 says of God, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.” God’s Word is the silent sentry that protects our hearts as we post it at the gate.

This is why meditation on and memorization of Scripture is so vital. Without these two things, our hearts are vulnerable.

We can’t afford not to guard our hearts. We live from them.