The King’s English

Ecclesiastes 8

“A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.”  (Ecclesiastes 8:15)

This seems like good advice.  There is nothing better in life than to eat, drink and be merry.  But this is true only if we are considering life “under the sun.”  Notice how that phrase bookends our saying for today.  Life under the sun is best lived by enjoying what pleasure this world affords.

Solomon does not recommend wasting much time on religion or moral strivings.  His lust for life leads him to the harem, the banquet hall, the university, the building site and the palace… but never the temple.  He mentions God here and there but he never recommends the paraphernalia of religious devotion.  His advice?  If you want to live life well “under the sun”, attend dinner parties, and laugh loud.

It’s good advice, except that the grave makes a mockery of it all.

Centuries later the inhabitants of Jerusalem tried to follow Solomon’s advice when an invading army besieged the city.  At that time God called them to fasting and prayer.  The people responded with “joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine.  [They said] “let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.”  (Isaiah 22:13)  It ends badly for these merry makers.

In the face of coming judgement, Solomon’s advice doesn’t work.

That’s the point of Jesus’ story: the Rich Fool.  Jesus imagines a man who follows Solomon’s philosophy.  He lives for wealth and pleasure and when he gets rich he says to himself,

“take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said unto him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee”.  (Luke 12:19-20)

It’s a wonderful life philosophy… except for the one eventuality that strikes us all.  In the face of death it’s utterly bankrupt.

Paul makes the same point from the other direction in 1 Corinthians 15:

if the dead rise not, let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.  (1 Corinthians 15:32)

If the grave is the end, we should follow Solomon’s advice – invest in parties.  But if Christ rose from the dead, then there’s a bigger feast to come, and therefore a greater goal to live for.

Paul invests himself in the gospel of resurrection – pointing people to the Messianic banquet.  It was a hope that shaped who he dined with and why.  He ate and drank “to the glory of God… that all men… may be saved.”   (1 Corinthians 10:31-33)

To the Christian it’s not “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”  Instead it’s, “Tomorrow we will eat, drink and be merry, so today let’s invest in the gospel of the coming feast.”

Ecclesiastes 3

Aside from the title – “Turn, Turn, Turn” – Pete Seeger wrote 6 words.   Solomon wrote the other 173.  Yet today, it’s probably the the Byrds’ cover version that’s more famous than either!

No chart-topper has older lyrics than this song.  So why have these words from Ecclesiastes 3 found such enduring and universal appeal?

“1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

There is a sorrowful beauty to life under the sun.  A kind of tragic loveliness.  It looks like a protest song.  The six added words from Seeger are these:

“A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late”

Yet it’s not a protest at all.  Neither Solomon nor Seeger are railing against the natural order.  Theirs is a blanket acceptance of all the turning seasons of life.  Instead of protesting death, the song asks us to give up and enjoy the ride.

Solomon resigns himself to the circle of life (which is ultimately a circle of death), and contents himself with the thought that God “hath made every thing beautiful in his time.”  (Ecclesiastes 3:12)

And why wouldn’t the world sing along with Solomon?  Here is the ultimate philosophy for those bound within the turning seasons.  Embrace it all – love and hate, peace and war, birth and death.  Acknowledge its inevitability.  Enjoy what you can.  Accept it as your lot.  And sing.

But there are other songs to sing.  Isaiah envisages a world transformed by the Messiah.  His chapter 35 is the true protest song.  He even rails against the final enemy, death.  He dares to hope that, through the victory of the Messiah, the natural order will be overturned and the captives set free.  Through Christ, the wilderness blossoms, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap. The natural world is turned right-side-up.

⁴ Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. ⁵ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. ⁶ Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. ⁷ And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.   (Isaiah 35:4-7)

When we merely exist for life “under the sun” we may sing beautiful laments.  But they are fleeting.  This is the song of one with eyes fixed on the Messiah:

The ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)

Ecclesiastes 2

–  “History repeats itself.”

–  “What goes around comes around.”

–  “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Anyone who lives long enough will observe a relentless circularity to life.  That was certainly Solomon’s experience.  And it bred in him a desperate world-weariness.

Here’s how he began his spiritual journal:

“4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. 5 The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. 6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. 7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. 8 All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. 11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.”  (Ecclesiastes 1:4-11)

Solomon’s father saw the heavens declaring the glory of God. For David it was a daily proclamation of the Light of the world conquering darkness.  With his eyes opened by the law of the LORD (Psalm 19:7-14), he saw sunrise and sunset as a sermon.  It proclaims the Bridegroom Champion taking us from estrangement and into the presence of God. (Psalm 19:4-6).  Therefore, with Scripture in hand, the world is seen to be heading somewhere.  It is not a closed circle but an arrow pointing to glory.

Yet when Solomon looks at those same patterns he sees futile repetition.  He seems blind to the daily proclamation of gospel events.  Instead it’s a meaningless cycle.

This is because Solomon is speaking of the world “under the sun.”  Solomon’s perspective is purely the horizontal.  He is viewing life as though the here and now are all that count.

In the 17th century, Descartes climbed into a stove and embarked on a philosophical method of doubt.  Solomon does something similar in the spiritual realm.  He shuts himself off from divine revelation.  He’s not viewing things through the lens of “the law of the LORD.”  Instead he determines to work only with the raw materials he can see, hear, taste and touch.  And when you close yourself off from divine in-breaking “there is nothing new under the sun.”

But another son of David stood on the earth.  He stood within that cycle of birth and death which imprisons us all.  Yet Jesus did something utterly new.  He didn’t rot.  And He didn’t simply come back from the dead, like Lazarus.  He went through death and out the other side into immortal life.  He broke through the cycle and opened it out to resurrection life.  That is utterly new.  And He offers this new life to all.

Life under the sun can only be a relentless burden.  But allow the Word to crash down from on high.  And allow it to speak of One who came to set captives free.  Because of His resurrection He says:

“Behold, I make all things new”.  (Revelation 21:5)

Ecclesiastes 1

In Proverbs we heard the wisdom of Solomon.  But here in Ecclesiastes, we eavesdrop on his despair.

“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.  Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2)

Thus begins the spiritual journal of the richest, wisest and most famous man of his time.  And yet Solomon’s project is to tell us about “life under the sun” (a phrase we will consider shortly).  But for now let’s note that Solomon’s perspective is limited to the present.  If all we have is the ‘here and now’ then life is “vanity of vanities.”

Interestingly, the word for “vanity” is actually the name Abel.  We met him very early in the bible.  He was the first righteous offspring of Adam and Eve.  There would have been great expectations for this offspring of the woman.  And yet, instead of bringing life to the world, he is the first to die – slain by Cain, his brother.

What a picture of this fallen world!  High hopes cruelly dashed.  Life under the sun promises much but delivers death.  And so the name “Abel” becomes synonymous with “vanity”, with “meaninglessness.”  When things go wrong, we might cite “Murphy’s law”, but a Hebrew would say “Abel.”  And if things were really rough it would be “Abel of Abels!”  This is the outlook of Solomon.

Here is a sobering thought – if anyone was going to find purpose in “life under the sun” it would be Solomon.  He had all the wealth, power, sex, wisdom and achievements he could possibly pursue.  And pursue them he did.  First he tried wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18).  Then came pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11).  Then work (Ecclesiastes 2:17-26).  Then riches (Ecclesiastes 5:8-20).  Then family (Ecclesiastes 6:1-12).  Nothing satisfied.

What else do you think Solomon should have tried?

I remember hearing a sermon on Ecclesiastes as a younger man and commenting to my friend “That man just needed a girlfriend.”  I wonder what that revealed about me?  Whatever we think Solomon needed, that’s where we think life is found.

Well I was wrong about Solomon needing a girlfriend.  1 Kings 11:3 tells us he had 700 wives and 300 concubines!  Solomon never did anything in halves.  And after sucking the marrow from all of life, his conclusion was this:

“all is vanity and vexation of spirit.  (Ecclesiastes 1:14; 2:11,17,26; 4:4,16; 6:9)

Both “vanity” and “spirit” can mean “breath or wind”.  A more modern translation calls Solomon’s pursuits “a chasing after the wind.”  It’s like trying to catch your shadow.   The goal is always out of reach and the ending is always empty.

This is life under the sun.  And Solomon lays bare its pointlessness.  Every time we are tempted to say “Yes, but what about this?”  Solomon replies “Been there.  Done that.  Got the T-shirt.  Vanity!”  The reader is brought to despair along with Solomon and yearns with him for a life that is not just “under the sun.”

But for that to be a real hope and not just wishful thinking there will have to be an answer to Abel.

Such fulfilment is exactly what Jesus brings.  As the Offspring of the woman, He is the true Righteous One.  Though He too was slain, He rose again to bring hope to our death-bound world.  He is filled with the Spirit of Wisdom (as we saw in Proverbs).  And He will give His Spirit to all who seek Him.

Life is not found in sex, money, power, fame, family or accomplishments.  Such things are a chasing after the wind.  Yet Jesus stands as the Fulfilled Man – Filled Full with the Life-Giving Spirit and overflowing to us.  To those weary of “life under the sun” He says:

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  But this spake he of the Spirit”.  (John 7:37-39)

Proverbs 15

Why doesn’t God simply forgive us our sins?  Why do we need the mess and the agony of the cross?  Why is  atonement so elaborate: prefigured through millions of animal deaths, and then purchased with the blood of God?

Surely Jesus could go to our sin folder, hit “Select all” and drag it into the Recycle Bin?  That way, the whole sorry mess could be quickly and clinically deleted forever.

Yet if we think that’s how forgiveness works, we’ve clearly never tried it for ourselves.  Forgiveness is always deeply sacrificial – painful, costly and messy.  As Proverbs observes:

A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.  (Proverbs 15:1)

Have you ever been in an argument where you’re exchanging grievous words with another?  As this verse describes it, anger is being “stirred up”… and stirred up… and stirred up.  A vicious cycle develops as you both descend into increasing harshness.  In this situation, what does it mean to answer the other person with genuine gentleness?  If they have spoken “grievous words” which Proverbs 12:18 says are “like piercings of a sword” – what is it like to make “a soft answer”?

It is painful and hard. This is not like dragging some “sin files” into the Recycle Bin.  It is not a simple matter of forgiving and forgetting – it involves heart-wrenching sacrifice.

And that’s exactly how this proverb describes it.  You see ‘turneth away wrath’ is a phrase in the Bible that’s always associated with sacrifices.  It is blood sacrifices that ‘turn away wrath’.  That’s how atonement works.  Anger is turned away from you because it’s turned on the sacrifice instead.

And Proverbs says: if you’re in an argument and you answer someone gently it’s like being a human sacrifice!  If we’ve ever tried it, we know that’s how it feels.  Forgiveness is always sacrificial.

And nowhere is this more true, than at the cross. In the Bible,  the cross is described as the place where Jesus turns away God’s wrath (Romans 3:25; 1 John 4:10).  At the cross the wrath of God is turned away from us and turned onto Jesus.

So here’s a way of thinking about the cross.  Imagine all our harsh words against heaven.  Imagine our grievous rebellion, like sword-thrusts that pierce the heart.  And now think of the “soft answer” of Jesus.  He receives the blow, He refuses to lash back, He opens wide His arms and absorbs our hatred.  In this way He turns away wrath.

Christ’s grace heals and restores us.  But it’s so costly to Him.  To give us peace, He takes wrath.

There no such thing as simple forgiveness.  It is always sacrificial.  So it is with the ultimate atonement – and so it will be with every reconciliation we seek.

Are there ‘soft answers’ you need to make?  As we look to Christ crucified we can make peace in His strength.  Our soft answers will hurt but they have incredible power to redeem:

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.  (Romans 12:21)

Proverbs 13

This phrase is biblical in origin, but distilled through the poetry of Samuel Butler:

“Love is a Boy,
by Poets styl’d,
Then Spare the Rod,
and spill the Child.”

In 1662 “spill” was an alternative spelling for “spoil.”  But it seems that Butler relied on a yet more ancient poet.  In 1377 William Langland wrote:

“Who-so spareth ye sprynge, spilleth his children.”

Both of these drew on the book of Proverbs which often speaks of disciplining “thy son” with “the rod” (see verses here).  Perhaps the closest that Proverbs gets to this actual phrase is Proverbs 13:24:

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Why this emphasis on the “rod” of discipline?

Well, let’s remember that Proverbs is a fire-side chat between the King and his son, the crown prince.  The son who will face “the rod” is no ordinary son!

Second, think of how the word “rod” is used throughout the bible.

The word appears first in Genesis 49:10 (though the King James translation renders it as “sceptre”).  It’s a wonderful prophecy of Christ’s coming as universal King:

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Here the rod (or sceptre) is being passed from king to king to king “until Shiloh come” – and He will be a universal Ruler.  That’s interesting, because generally in the Bible if someone comes at you with a “rod” you are about to get a beating.  But here, when the dying king comes at his son with the rod, he is passing on the rule.

And so the “rod” combines glory and suffering.  We see the glory of the “sceptre” and the suffering of the “rod”.  The Crown Prince experience both.

The theme continues.  In Exodus the rod is the staff by which Moses rules.  But it’s also used to “strike” Egypt with plagues, to “strike” the Red Sea and to “strike” the rock so that water will flow for the people.  Again we see how the rod is both sceptre and club!

When we come to 2 Samuel 7, David is given a prophecy about the Future King – “Shiloh” – to Whom the sceptre will be handed:

12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.  (2 Samuel 7:12-16)

Even for Jesus – in fact, especially for Jesus – the sceptre will mean a rod.  Verse 14 is not referring to Christ having committed iniquities.  The word “commit” is not there in the Hebrew.  But Jesus did take our sins to Himself and was punished with the rod on our behalf.

So then here’s what this means: Even for Christ the sceptre means suffering.  The Crown Prince of Heaven inherits His rule only through the cross.  He would hold the rod because first He was struck by it!

Now that we are in Him, we cannot expect to enter glory via any other route:

Jesus [was] crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death (Hebrews 2:9)

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;  (Hebrews 5:8-9)

Not even the Eternal Son is spared the rod.  Therefore…

My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?   (Hebrews 12:5-7)

When hardship comes, remember: your Father in heaven loves you.  That’s why He does not spare the rod!

Proverbs 3:1-35

This is many people’s favourite Scripture.  In fact, it was the verse written by my mother into my confirmation bible:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:4-5)

What’s your approach to the question of guidance?

Some people approach guidance like a tight-rope walker.  They think life is all about making the right choices.  There’s one best path for them and if they miss it, they’ve fallen off God’s will for their life.  Is that how you see guidance?

Or perhaps you’re a boundary keeper.  For this person, life is all about cutting loose.  Yes, there are some boundaries.  But as long as I’m not breaking any major commandments, I can get on as I please.

Which are you: a tightrope walker or a boundary keeper?

Both are wrong. And Proverbs explains why.  Listen to how the verse begins:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart.

This is about confidence – not the fear of the tightrope-walker.  And it’s about love – not the detachment of the boundary-keeper.  Neither the tight-rope walker nor the boundary-keeper are thinking in personal terms.  They’re too busy “getting it right” or “doing their own thing” to bother with relationship.  But as we saw yesterday – the essence of wise living is to be joined to a Person called Wisdom.  We’re not on a tight-rope, nor in a wide-open plain.  We’re in a relationship – a trusting, heart-to-heart relationship.  This is the context for guidance.

Once we’re clear on this, Solomon continues with a note of wonderful freedom:

In all thy ways acknowledge him.

The verse doesn’t say “As you travel along God’s one and only path…”  It says “In all thy ways…”

You see we do have different ways that we can travel.  And they are truly our ways.  Jesus lets us own our own decisions.  He entrusts us with wonderful freedom.  And he presents to us a glorious opportunity:

“In all thy ways acknowledge him.”

Literally, “acknowledge” means “to know” him.  Whatever path we take we are to walk it with the LORD in order to know Him better.

So, whether I take the job or turn it down.  Whether I marry or stay single – whatever I do, I am to know the LORD.  The point is not so much to make “the right decision”.  The point in all our decisions is to know Jesus!

So much of our tightrope-walking is about wanting to be right – this is why we reject relationship. But boundary-keeping is also a rejection of relationship – in this case, in order to be free. Yet the Christian makes decisions not to be right and not to be free, but to enjoy their close walk with the LORD.  He is the point.

In that context, Solomon gives us a promise: “and he shall direct thy paths.”  Some doors will open as others close.  He will redeem old mistakes and unfold new options for the future.  He directs our steps.  We are simply to keep our eyes on Him.

No wonder these verses are precious to so many:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:4-5)

Proverbs 1:1-33

We’ve looked at Job and the Psalms.  Now we turn to Proverbs, the next book in the category of “wisdom literature.”

Here we have a long and colourful fireside chat.  It’s the words of a father to his son.  Verse 1 introduces us to the father:

“The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel”

We are already familiar with “the wisdom of Solomon”.  Verse 8 reminds us who he’s addressing:

“My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.”

Solomon repeats “my son” over twenty times in this book .  The King is addressing the crown prince.  He is offering “the words of the wise and their dark sayings” (Proverbs 1:6).  This isn’t a philosophical treatise.  Instead, these “dark sayings” are riddles to be chewed over and reflected upon.

Sometimes we dip into Proverbs the way we might sample “pick and mix” sweets.  Those bite-sized proverbs – especially of chapters 10-31 – seem like a handy snack for Christians on the go.  We think we can open the book for an apt aphorism.  But proverbs are not the “fortune cookies” of the bible.  These are “dark sayings” – riddles – given from the King to his son.

This means that,

1) They must be chewed over thoughtfully, not gobbled in a hurry,

2) They are  words which are addressed first to the crown prince, and then to us, and

3) The last twenty chapters (where the bite-sized proverbs appear) must be read in the light of the first ten.

In the first ten chapters there is one message which the King drums into his son above all others: Watch out for the ladies!

In particular there are two ladies the son needs to watch.

There’s a lady called Wisdom.  She is everything you need: captivating beautiful, more precious than rubies, and she brings the “favour of the LORD”.

“Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.  Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom”:  (Proverbs 4:5-7)

Throughout the book, Wisdom and the good wife are spoken of almost interchangeably.  A good wife is also “more precious than rubies” (Proverbs 31:10).  She also brings “the favour of the LORD” (Proverbs 18:22).  The young prince needs to marry Wisdom.

But she’s not the only lady on the scene.  The other is described like this,

“A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing”.  (Proverbs 9:13)

This woman is folly itself.  She is loud, flashy, deceptive, seductive and deadly.  She’s the original femme fatale and if you get her you will lose everything.  Therefore, counsels Proverbs, avoid her, ignore her, resist her seductions, and don’t let her ensnare you.

And so folly is spoken of, almost interchangeably, as an adulterous woman.  Chapters 5-7 weave together warnings against folly with warnings against adultery.

So this is the message of the King:  My son, watch out for the ladies.  Embrace Wisdom, shun Folly.

According to Proverbs, success in life is not ultimately a matter of the intellect.  Nor is success about the will.  No, Wisdom and Folly are matters of the heart.

Solomon says to the prince in Proverbs 4:23:

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”.

The heart is our wellspring.  What – or rather, who – we love will flow out into every area of life.

We say “who” because Wisdom is very definitely a Person.  She is Lady Wisdom.

Chapter 1 introduces her like this:

“Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you”.  (Proverbs 1:20-23)

She has words to speak, a reproof to give and the spirit of Wisdom to offer. She’s very attractive to the crown prince.  But who is she?

Well she will be very attractive to the crown prince.  In Proverbs 8 she says,

By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.  (Proverbs 8:15)

She empowers kings.  But she is not just the Wisdom of rulers: she’s the Wisdom of the entire cosmos.  In chapter 8 she speaks of her role in creation:

30 “Then I was by [the LORD], as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.  But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death”.  (Proverbs 8:30-36)

As the crown prince hears these words, Wisdom wins his heart .  Wisdom will be his true partner, the one by whom he will rule.

If we imagine ourselves listening to this Father-Son fireside chat, it’s obvious who Wisdom represents.  Wisdom is the eternal Spirit, the Son’s true Partner, the One by Whom He will rule.

But what about us?  We’re not the crown prince.  Can we expect to know Wisdom for ourselves?  And how?  The Apostle Paul tells us:

[Ye are] in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom  (1 Corinthians 1:30)

The Spirit belongs to Christ.  But if we belong to Christ, we get Wisdom.  So as we read Proverbs, we read it in Christ.  Therefore Christ is made unto us Wisdom.

This means that the Christian hears Proverbs 8:35 from Christ’s lips – and here is the key lesson for the book, in fact for the whole bible:

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.

Forget “fortune cookie” aphorisms.  These are the most fundamental “words of the wise.”  Come to Christ and share in His Spirit.  Whatever else you get in life, get Wisdom!

Psalm 150

The book of Psalms concludes as all things will – with noisy, joyful praise.  Psalm 150:

“Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.  Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.  Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.  Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.  Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.  Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.  (Psalm 150)

In Hebrew, “praise the LORD” is a single word: “Hallelujah”!  And here the Psalmist invites the whole world – everything with breath! – to praise God.  It’s not a request.  It’s a command:“Praise ye the LORD!”

How do we feel about such heavenly dictates? One person who struggled was CS Lewis.  In “A word about praise” (from his Reflections on the Psalms), he wrote:

“When I first began to draw near to belief in God and even for some time after it had been given to me, I found a stumbling block in the demand so clamorously made by all religious people that we should ‘praise’ God; still more in the suggestion that God Himself demanded it. We all despise the man who demands continued assurance of his own virtue, intelligence or delightfulness; we despise still more the crowd of people round every dictator, every millionaire, every celebrity, who gratify that demand. Thus a picture, at once ludicrous and horrible, both of God and His worshippers, threatened to appear in my mind. The Psalms were especially troublesome in this way”.

Lewis found an answer in the universality of worship:

“The world rings with praise — lovers praising their mistresses, readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game…  [And] just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: ‘Isn’t she lovely? Wasn’t it glorious? Don’t you think that magnificent?’”

So then, praise is not alien to us at all.  In fact, we are worshippers.  Why?  Lewis answers:

“…I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; …to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. . . ”

Here’s what Lewis is saying this:  When I declare that “I love you”, I’m not simply updating you on the status of my affections.  The expression of my love is a part of it.  Love overflows into expression.  It would be less than true love if it remained unexpressed.

And so it is with God.  To know God must mean praise.  This ‘must’ is not written in stone – it’s written into the nature of reality.  A smiling grandchild, a gorgeous sunset, a spine-tingling performance naturally provokes a joyful, heart-felt response.  We can’t help but praise the praiseworthy.

Lewis continues…

“If it were possible for a created soul fully… to ‘appreciate’, that is to love and delight in, the worthiest object of all, and simultaneously at every moment to give this delight perfect expression, then that soul would be in supreme beatitude…  To see what the doctrine really means, we must suppose ourselves to be in perfect love with God — drunk with, drowned in, dissolved by, that delight which, far from remaining pent up within ourselves as incommunicable, hence hardly tolerable, bliss, flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and perfect expression, our joy is no more separable from the praise in which it liberates and utters itself than the brightness a mirror receives is separable from the brightness it sheds”.

I find it promising but ultimately disappointing.  You see, I am not a “drunk… drowned… dissolved” worshipper.  I’m not in “supreme beatitude” and I can’t really imagine being so either. I’m left feeling that “praising the LORD” seems a really good idea for someone.  But I can’t imagine that person being me.  Not, at least, given the current state of my sluggish heart.

Well there’s good news for me and others like me.  There is Someone “in supreme beatitude” – a Blessed Man.  And in Psalm 22:22 He speaks to God as our Vicarious Worshipper:

“I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”.  (Psalm 22:22)

Calvin, commenting on this verse, calls Christ ‘our heavenly Choirmaster’ who tunes our hearts to sing God’s praises.  He is the King who truly praises the LORD.

What a relief!  Because, left to myself I do not, I cannot, praise God as I ought.  I am not a white-hot worshipper like the Psalmist.  And I can’t whip up such intense passion.

But first I need to see that the Psalmist is my Priest and King.  He is “drunk… drowned… dissolved” in love for God.  He has always been the Man after God’s heart.  For now I will say my Amen to His worship, even before I feel it.  Though the Praise-Worthy might not elicit my praise, I allow the Praise-Giver to offer my response.  And I watch as He shows the way.

Christ is like the first Dancer onto the floor, moved by the Music, laughing and clapping and dancing as we never could.  The more we watch Him dance, the more our foot starts to tap, then we begin to clap.  Pretty soon we’ll link arms and join in.  The Music itself should get us on the dance floor.  But in fact the Music never does – not really.  It’s the Dancer who inspires, who links arms and who leads.

“Hallelujah!” He cries.  And if this command came merely from the prayer diary of an ancient poet it could only judge my apathy.  But it’s not.  The Psalmist is my King.   This is Christ my Substitute, my Priest, my Vicarious Worshipper.  He bears my name on His heart as He praises the LORD in joyful abandon.  And as I watch Him, I might just find an Hallelujah rising of my own.  As I’m led by Christ, I’ll soon find myself joining in with all of creation: Praise the LORD!