Proverbs 15:18-33

Proverbs 15:18-33

Many years ago there was a young lady who occasionally attended the church I served. Her childhood was bad beyond decent conversation. At this point she was a 22-year-old single mom with one angelic little girl making between $60,000 and $90,000 a year as an adult entertainer, i.e., stripper. She was perpetually broke and would occasionally ask for food help from the church. Being a stripper, according to her, was expensive. You had to buy drinks and drugs for those in the club where you worked in order to get profitable shifts and customers. She was still a stunning beauty but looked closer to 35 years old than her actual 22. That life is hard on a person. 

One day she called and asked for food for her daughter. I was losing patience with her, and when I took over a small bag of groceries, I said to her, “Where are you going with your life? You are still pretty, but when your looks fade, what are you going to do? Will you start turning tricks for a living?” She answered, “A friend of mine tried to pimp me out this week.” I told her, “You need better friends. You need to think and see where your life will take you. If you don't like where you are going, choose a new path.” Thankfully, with the help of a godly lady in our church, who happened to be a former stripper, she made some course corrections. The moral of the story is found in verses 24-25.

The general destination of our lives is not a hidden secret. At some level we can see that our path will either lead us to life or lead us to ruin. By definition the person who is wise chooses the upward path. By doing so they gain real life and avoid Sheol, or ruin. When we are motivated by pride and determined to chart our own foolish course, God himself will bring ruin on our lives. (v. 25) How could a person making $90,000 a year live on the verge of poverty? Because the path of ruin begins to ruin life long before life ends. Once this girl chose the right path, including respectable work as a waitress, she had enough to live on even if she only made about a third of her former income.

“Lord, help me choose the path of life. AMEN.”

Proverbs 15:1-17

Proverbs 15:1-17

As human beings we want to live in an echo chamber, the place where we hear only our own opinions from others. We spout our opinions in hope that others will agree with us. Then we can cite their voice as evidence and proof that we were right all along. Social media has exacerbated this ancient proclivity. Within this text we have wisdom for dealing with our own misguided love for an echo chamber.

First we see two ways we can talk and teach people in verse 1. The question is not one of truth; it is how to present and how we respond. This is expressed in verse 2. Sometimes we need to say uncomfortable things, but it is possible to do this in such a way as to be about the underlying issue so that it does not seem like a personal attack. In contrast, what a fool says is provocative and is designed to bring others into a heated exchange that is foolish.

In verse 4 we see the underlying motivation of the fool's talk. Whereas words from the wise are about healing, the harshness of the fool's comments has its root in an inner perversion. If we provoke for the sake of provoking, there is something perverse in us.

Even if we, with the right motives and the most judicious and proper tones and words, find that someone rejects righteous counsel, the issue is theirs. We must not take responsibility for the behaviors and attitudes of others. In verse 12 we see that the scoffer will not love the one who gives correction. A scoffer is the one who mocks or derides. Interestingly, the word can be used for an ambassador. The one who is the representative of a position may mock those with whom they disagree but will not actually engage them or even go near them.

We see the reason in verse 14: while an intelligent person is seeking to understand even those positions with which they may disagree, the fool only wants to be in their echo chamber—to have their ideas, no matter how foolish, fed back.

“Lord, help me be humble in what I say and hear. AMEN.”