Post Sunday August 31 2008

Proverbs 30:24 “There are four things which are little on the earth, But they are exceedingly wise: The ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their food in the summer; The rock badgers are a feeble folk, Yet they make their homes in the crags; The locusts have no king, Yet they all advance in ranks; The spider (lizard) skillfully grasps with its hands, And it is in kings' palaces.”
The animals that we spent time with on Sunday were deemed exceedingly wise because they instinctively applied themselves to certain behaviors in order to “live well.” If Dr. Doolittle could interview them for us I would imagine they would all be surprised that we are amazed at their behavior. To them it is a matter of life or death. Of course they are going to do the things that provide life. Built into an animal’s mechanism is the instinctive ability to “choose life.”

We however are a bit different. We have the ability to choose life or death. Few of us of course purposely choose things that bring about “death” like things to our lives. For example few of us purposely procrastinate. Few of us purposely do not spend time planning for our futures. Few of us purposely avoid God. Few of us purposely engage in talk with others that hurts other individuals. Few of us purposely withhold kindness. I hope the list I have started sparks some other similar thoughts. For when we procrastinate, when we do not make plans for our futures, when we ignore God, when we gossip, when we withhold kindness we are engaging in actions that wield the power of “death.” God knows this and proclaimed this to the Israelites many years ago:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days;”

How do we instinctively begin to choose life? Do we robotically like the ant go back and forth between a piece of bread and the ant hill taking one crumb at a time? Do we live among the rocks like the rock badger making quick darts out into the open to grab a quick bite to eat and drink and then get back into our shelter? Do we stay under the protection of the many like the locusts? Do we stay within the kings’ palace and never go out into the streets? Which one are we supposed to do and be? Are we supposed to do all of them? Isn’t the way we are being called to live impossible? One would have to be a robot to do all of the wisdom that is contained within Proverbs and it even seems contradictory at times? So is this the answer? Is this really what we are supposed to do?

Yes……and no.

King Solomon the author of a majority of Proverbs provides us with this wisdom after years of discovery. Read the book of Ecclesiastes for a brutally honest view of how this wisdom was obtained. We are fortunate to have it all laid out before us, but that doesn’t mean that we apply it all in each and every situation of life. We must learn it and then begin to practice it and as we practice it we will begin to understand how and why it actually works, when we actually know how it works we will then know the right times to apply it. The Wisdom of Proverbs can be spoken in an illustration that C.S. Lewis once used for a different purpose. Lewis made a statement that there are no wrong notes on a piano. Each note is of itself the right note. The issue is not that the particular key on the piano is right or wrong, for each note is of course right. It becomes the wrong note when say a work by Beethoven is being played and one of the keys is hit at the wrong time. It then is the wrong note. That right key becomes wrong because it was played at the wrong time or inappropriately.

You and I have been given a wealth of wisdom in the book of Proverbs. We have been given a wealth of “right notes.” The ant, the rock badger, the locust, and the lizard are all notes contained within our grand piano. It is our role to learn how to read the sheet music that God is writing for our lives and begin to play(live) that. As we become more familiar with these notes we will know when and where to strike them and our lives will begin to be a beautiful symphony, reverberating through our homes, workplaces, schools, relationships and churches.

Like any pianist we at times will strike the wrong key and yes even at times we will sadly leave the piano all together. This being the case of course comes back to God’s basic question to us. I have set before you life and death. He sent His Son for us. His Son asked us to follow Him that we would learn from Him. Learn what? Life. We learn life from the Son and we learn life from what He learned life from. He learned life from His Father in heaven of course and guess what else He learned from? The Old Testament. The only reason we have a New Testament is because of Him. The only “Bible” Jesus had was the Old Testament which happened to contain the book of Proverbs. Some of the notes that Jesus would have us play are contained within this wonderful book of wisdom that we only partially covered this summer.

If you’ve walked away from the piano, come on back there is a beautiful composition awaiting you. If you’ve grown frustrated hitting the wrong notes maybe you need to stop trying to play Beethoven’s 5th for now and pick up Mary Had a Little Lamb, master that and then move on to another song, maybe Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.” Just a suggestion. You find the music that God desires for you because the music He wants for your life is music that will echo beautifully throughout eternity.

Questions to Think About

1. What animal’s actions in Proverbs 30:24-28 struck you most on Sunday? Why? So what are you going to do about it now?
2. What does your life sound like right now? What kind of notes are you playing?
3. Read Philippians 4:8-9. What kind of music would a life lived playing out these things sound like?