Prov. 2-4
“Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path” (Prov. 2:9). Aren’t those words hot topics these days! It would be interesting to do a word study on “equity” and see how distorted its definition has become. The CSB translates that word as “integrity”. And I like how The Message puts this verse. “So now you can pick out what’s true and fair, find all the good trails!”. In any case, it is clear that whatever these words are, it seems they are a desirable thing, regardless of what perspective someone might be coming at them from.
The big discrepancy seems to be on what they actually mean. This verse says, “Then you will understand…”. This indicates that we can know what they mean and how to identify them. The secret to how would lie with whatever comes before the “then”. Verse 6 makes the source pretty clear, “For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding”. The five verses prior to that indicate that if you seek wisdom and understanding – seek it the way people search tenaciously and relentlessly for hidden treasure – then you will find it in God.
We can’t look to the world to find wisdom or to tell us what is true and fair. And we sure can’t find it in ourselves apart from God. Indeed, Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths”. It can be difficult, maybe even frightening sometimes, to stand firm in the Truth when the world around us is doing everything it can to convince us that truth can be anything. But we know better. And Proverbs 3:25-26 says, “Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught”. The LORD will be my confidence – what more do I need?
In Proverbs 3 and 4, Solomon goes on to talk quite a bit about what wise behavior looks like. He also spends a lot of time talking about the wisdom of seeking wisdom and how to do that. Proverbs 4:7 says, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight”. So desiring wisdom is the first wise thing. It is good to be one who knows what you don’t know. So many are blind but think they can see! So however far any of us think we are from wisdom, the fact that we know we need it and desire to find it already makes us wiser than most. Keep in mind that even that small bit of wisdom comes from God, and be humbly grateful for it.
John 19:23-42
John makes quite a point in this passage of pointing out the fulfilment of scripture prophecy. I was a little amused when I read verse 28. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst’”. Something about the nature of that statement made me think that Jesus’ words were very intentional. He, of course, knew the Scripture, so it was like He was an actor reciting his lines according to the script.
Most of the people involved in fulfilling those scriptures, however, were unwitting participants. They were just doing what came naturally to them at that moment in time with no thought to the fact that their actions had been foretold. I wonder if they ever came to a point of realizing that they had done what Scripture had said they would de (not realizing, of course, that it would be them doing it). And I wonder if or how the realization that they had been used by God in that way – that God had known they would be in that specific place at that specific time, doing or saying that specific thing – so long before they ever even were, changed them. Fact is, God knew each and every one of those details about each and every one of us before He created any of us. Kinda mind-blowing, isn’t it?