Keep Your Wits about You
Opening Prayer
“Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee” (Frances Ridley Havergal, 1836–1879).
Read Proverbs 6:1–19
My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor,
if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 you have been trapped by what you said,
ensnared by the words of your mouth.
3 So do this, my son, to free yourself,
since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands:
Go—to the point of exhaustion—
and give your neighbor no rest!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes,
no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
12 A troublemaker and a villain,
who goes about with a corrupt mouth,
13 who winks maliciously with his eye,
signals with his feet
and motions with his fingers,
14 who plots evil with deceit in his heart—
he always stirs up conflict.
15 Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant;
he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
God is not exactly shy about pointing out displeasing habits and tendencies peculiar to mankind. He sugarcoats nothing when he assumes such a posture.
Think Further
Sandwiched between the warnings against the seductress are fatherly warnings
against three other persons or behaviors: getting entangled in monetary difficulties over loans; the lazy-bones type that lurks among us; and the trouble-maker or community-breaker. It is hard to explain why these particular matters appear in this location. It seems that verses 12–19 are two parallel poems, both concerned with stirring up conflict (14,19) and apparently following a six-seven pattern by giving six behaviors in verses 12–15 and seven in verses 17–19. Could it be a contemporary warning that focusing overly on deviant sexual behaviors might lead us to overlook or neglect other behaviors which are equally as detestable to the Lord? Is it shocking or discordant for me to find the Lord as the subject of the verb “to hate”? (The language in 16b is strong: “abominations of the Lord’s soul”.) The word occurs elsewhere in Proverbs (Prov. 11:1; 12:22; 15:8,26; 16:5; 17:15; 20:10,23); after scrutinizing these verses, do I need to revise or enlarge my understanding of the holy, righteous love of God?
Have I been wise in my financial dealings and transactions? If not, I am admonished to badger my friend for redress: “Go—to the point of exhaustion—and give your neighbor no rest!” (3). The sluggard, like many a lazy schoolchild, is addressed twice (6,9); he is given a lesson from nature. There was no social-security, welfare or Medicaid system in the ancient world to pick up those who fell by the wayside. I finish my reflections by noting the body signals of the community-breaker, vividly described: crooked
mouth, squinting, shuffling, plotting. Every day, everywhere, I, too, am giving to other people body signals, generated in the heart and becoming apparent in my actions. What message(s) am I communicating before, during and after any words which I may add?
Apply
How often are we ourselves guilty of committing some of the shortcomings cited in this passage?
Closing prayer
Open my eyes, Lord, to the things You love and the things You hate; and especially to the lessons You have embedded in created things.
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