Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - PROVERBS

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
(Proverbs 1:7) 

Solomon was considered to be the wisest of men due to the favour granted to him by God. “…I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you,”(1 Kings 3:12).  If you look at what Solomon wrote, it would appear that wisdom encompasses three main factors: seeing, hearing, and feeling. It’s really not complicated but usually these problems arise: we see but do not observe, we hear but do not listen, and we have feelings but without the empathy and concern that true character implies. This often leads, in turn, to a degree of pride and hypocrisy.

An example is the story of Teodorin Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, who expressed his love for country and his concern for the people, taking only a meagre salary when he became Minister of Agriculture. He said and appeared to do the right things for the good of everyone, only to be found later to have amassed a large fortune in property and goods using the money supposedly meant for the good of the people for himself.* 

How often do politicians operate more for their good than for the people they are supposed to serve? How often do we hear of churches and leaders becoming wealthy in deference to the flocks they are supposed to lead?  How do such actions belie any “Fear of the Lord” and how often do all of us become Sunday-only Christians, behaving differently on that day compared to other days of the week?

Perhaps it’s for reasons such as these that the church no longer seems to be thriving, at least in the West, as it once did. Perhaps, for the same reasons prayers no longer seem to be answered in the same way as before. If we defer to God only one day of the week, then doesn’t a form of pride and hypocrisy really determine our lives? Perhaps we should hear and listen to the words of Samuel “…to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…”(1 Samuel 15:22-23).  If “[t]he sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord…” (Proverbs 15:8) then perhaps the prayers of the proud and hypocritical meet the same fate. “One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination…”(Proverbs 28:9). In addition, we are told “whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard…” (Proverbs 21:13).

Perhaps the church has not done as well in the West as it could have because we, as a whole, have become Sunday-only Christians.  If we only think about God on Sundays and special days, and not throughout the week as a whole, then are we not doing as those to whom Isaiah spoke about 2900 years ago?  The Lord said through him:

Bring no more futile sacrifices;

Incense is an abomination to Me.

The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies-

I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.

Your New Moons and your appointed feasts

My soul hates;

They are a trouble to Me,

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands,

I will hide My eyes from you;

Even though you make many prayers,

I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; 

Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.

Cease to do evil,

Learn to do good;

Seek justice,

Rebuke the oppressor,

Defend the fatherless,

Plead for the widow.” 

(Isaiah 1:13-17)

If we are to really do such, then we must look and really observe, listen and really hear, and feel with empathy and compassion. Perhaps then, we would all have more involvement in the church and more prayers answered. Just something to think about.

*Taken from Straight to the Heart of Solomon by Phil Moore pg 179