Tag: wisdom

Psalms & Proverbs, wisdom for every season

The Voices We Listen To Shape Our Lives | Wisdom from Psalms & Proverbs

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Proverbs, Psalms, Scripture

Today I’m reminded of the dangers of the company we keep. I’ve started reading through Proverbs and Psalms again every day. One chapter of Proverbs per day (today is the 22nd, so I read chapter 22), and 5 Psalms today (today is the 22nd, so 106-110). Allow me to share a few of the words of wisdom that struck me this morning.

“Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.” – Prov 22:10

“Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.” – Prov 22:24-25

“Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what’s right.” – Psalm 106:3

“He loved to pronounce a curse—may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing—may it be far from him.” – Psalm 109:17

Over and over again in today’s reading, it contrasted the ways of the Lord with those of the world, and what stood out to me was eye-opening.

The way of the Lord is to bless others, and in doing this they will be blessed.
The way of the evil one is to curse others, and in doing this they will be cursed.

The way of the Lord is to sing praises to him.
The way of the evil one is to mock others.

The way of the Lord is to seek justice.
The way of the evil one is cover up, deception, and depriving others of justice.

The way of the Lord is peace, driving away those who are divisive and cause endless arguments.
The way of the evil one is mocking and insulting others, constantly looking for an argument.

I could continue on and on from just the 6 chapters I read this morning. But those 6 chapters were a good reminder. Now let’s take this one step further.

In your family, do you speak more blessings on others, or curses? Are your mouths filled with praises of God, or mocking and insults of others? Does you work to pursue justice in all things no matter the cost, or are you ok with depriving others of justice so long as things work out the way you want? Do you strive for peace, or is there always an argument to be had?

How about in your circle of friends?

How about in the media and entertainment you consume?

How about in your social media feed?

Do people see the way of the Lord, or the way of the evil one in how you speak and interact with the world?

Perhaps there’s some conversations I need to have in a different way. Perhaps there’s some “friends” I need to remove from my feed. Perhaps there are some voices I need to stop listening to, and some influencers I need to stop allowing to influence me.

Just some thoughts that have been floating through my mind this morning.

“With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them.” – Psalm 109:30-31

Tov Meod No More

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Genesis, Life, Scripture

Eden was a handcrafted dwelling place for both God and humans. In this perfect space, both the Creator and the created could exist together. Since God created everything tov meod (Hebrew for very good), this would include his creation of, and decision to place the tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden. 

I have heard it taught humans should be ignorant of evil, that we should avoid knowledge of it. This seems contrary to God’s design, because he specifically put these trees in the Garden in proximity to humans. To take it a step further, Eve and Adam did have at least some knowledge of good and evil before eating from the tree. What I mean is they understood anything in the Garden was good to eat and enjoy, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So where did they get this basic knowledge of good and evil? From God! God never says they should have no knowlege of evil (afterall he told them what evil would be in this case). And there was nothing evil or sinful about the tree itself, after all, God deemed it tov meod. What God did, however, was govern the use and access to these trees. They are not evil, but interacting with them can only be done on God’s terms.

It seems to me that this illustration in the Garden teaches us that we should not seek to determine good and evil for ourselves. It seems God had a plan for the trees and the humans, but the desire of the humans to bypass God is the ultimate sin. Rather than submit to God’s wisdom and knowledge, functioning in their created role, they chose to usurp God by attempting to become like him. The saddest part is the humans were already like God, created in his image. Had they walked with God and obeyed him, perhaps those trees could have been used for their proper purpose. Unfortunately, we will never know this side of eternity.

It strikes me as spiritually significant that God has created tools that are useful for his purposes, and has placed these tools within our reach. But these tools can be catastrophic to us if we misuse them. Life is full of objects that can be simultaneously tov, but harmful.

Let’s use an oversimplified example. God created humans with speech abilities. God created this “tool” for humans because he wanted us to speak. But if misused, our speech can cause catastrophic damage to others and ourselves.

Scripture repeatedly calls us to gain wisdom! But wisdom by itself isn’t enough. Simply having wisdom can have catastrophic results (just look at the story of Solomon!) What is important is where we find our wisdom, and how we apply it. Sex is a beautiful gift from God, but when it occurs beyond God’s intended purpose, it no longer functions in a good way.

We must rely upon God’s wisdom and trust his leading in navigating life. If we rely on our own abilities, or lean on our own knowledge and reasoning, we too will fall victim to the sin of the Garden.