Proverbs 17:16, NRSV: “Why should fools have a price in hand to buy wisdom, when they have no mind to learn?”
Passed the class
Category Archives: Proverbs
Polarized thinking: your friend is my enemy
“It is to one’s honor to avoid strife,
but every fool is quick to quarrel” (Proverbs 20:3, NIV)
While on some issues there may be just two sides (e.g., Luke 9:50), people often hold a range of views on different subjects, so classifying everyone in terms of their view on a single issue doesn’t always work.
On a popular level, though, we often think in binary terms, often “us” versus “them.” It’s the easiest way to think, since it can go with the flow and not have to juggle multiple issues or questions.
Thus in the church and in society, conversations can quickly become polarized. My country (the U.S.) has a two-party system, so many people gravitate toward one party’s platform or the other, rather than thinking issue by issue. In a two-party system with winner-take-all, this approach may well be politically effective. Ideally, however, those with biblically- and socially-informed ethics should not simply buy a party line on every point without prior consideration. They may want to help shape their party’s platform for greater justice and/or bring reasonable arguments to the public forum (whichever party or person dominates). They can find common ground on various issues with people with whom they may disagree on other issues, showing mutual respect and kindness.
That’s not quite what society looks like right now, but it’s something that we as Christians can model. The temptation when slammed is to slam someone back, but Jesus teaches, “if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also … Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:39, 44, NRSV) Paul apparently knew and certainly endorsed Jesus’s teaching: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Rom 12:14, NASB); “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone” (Rom 12:17, NASB). And Jesus modeled this: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps … When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats” (1 Pet 2:21, 23, NIV).
In places where Christians suffer persecution and have to stick together, they may be surprised to learn that in places with too much leisure on their hands even the church can become polarized. On the internet today one finds those who regard as theological enemies those who don’t check all the right boxes. They may, for example, regard with suspicion all charismatics, those who affirm women in ministry, those who believe the universe is billions of years old, and the like. Others have different, and sometimes opposite checklists. For someone who feels marginalized for one of these issues, that may become for them the dividing issue, and unless they resist the pressure to think in binary terms, they may struggle not to regard as enemies those who marginalized them. It feels much harder to stay in the conversation once you are deemed the “enemy.” Yet the way of Jesus is always the best way for us his followers, and humbling ourselves before one another, and thus before the sovereign Lord (1 Pet 5:5-6), becomes a spiritual discipline.
Similarly, there was a time when I thought that theological conservatives affirmed Jesus’s bodily resurrection, the reality of miracles, and that Moses wrote Deuteronomy and Paul wrote Ephesians. I assumed that liberals were those who denied such matters. When I studied with scholars who denied those authorship claims yet affirmed Jesus’s resurrection and the reality of miracles, my binary mental chart required adjustment.
We should avoid foolish arguments, and normally we should be gentle even with those who oppose the gospel:
“But refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife. The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle towards all, able to teach, patient, in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim 2:23-25, WEB)
Unless we belong to a church that sees itself as the only true church and way of salvation, we recognize that we have brothers and sisters in Christ with some different beliefs in some different Christian movements. The ideal of agreeing on every point will surely be achieved when our faith becomes sight and we see the Lord face to face, but in the meantime, unity in Christ should take precedence over our differences.
We can disagree, but on ordinary issues it should not be in a hostile, polarized way. Unless Christ alone is the defining issue, we will have far more than two sides to choose among, for there are far more than two issues being debated. Obviously allegiance to Christ has additional implications, but we need to think those through clearly. And when another believer assaults us verbally for something we believe, in ordinary situations it seems best to seek to “deescalate” the anger (cf. Prov 15:1). Who knows: a conversation with give and take might actually get somewhere.
Exaltation from the Lord
Exaltation comes from the Lord (Ps 75:6-7). We should always keep it in perspective. By the world’s standards, you can be king of Israel, but you’re still king of a puny kingdom that is a miniscule proportion of the world’s population. More importantly, before the living God, any of us is but dust and ashes. Also, whether one is a king of Israel like David or an apostle like Paul, there are many enemies.
But if we think of exaltation relative to where we started, it is important to keep this feature in mind. God exalts the humble; he raises up the lowly. There may be those who climb to the top with vicious competition; that’s a rough way to try to live (and ultimately die). But blessed are those who humble themselves, serving where they are called, and letting God exalt as he wills. Blessed are those who, when exalted far beyond what they learned to expect through their earlier times of testing, recognize the Hand that has done this.
Blessed are those who recognize that, in the end, the Lord alone will be exalted (Isa 2:11, 17), and the honor will be his for what he has done for us. Pride leads to humiliation and ultimately destruction (Prov 11:2; 16:18; 29:23), but the fear of the Lord is wisdom (Prov 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; 19:23; 22:4). God preserves those who trust in him rather than human opinion (Prov 29:25). May we seek praise not from others but from the Lord (Rom 2:7, 10, 29).
Genocides
When brothers and sisters in Christ complain about how their people have been treated, we should listen.
“Weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15)
“If one member of Christ’s body suffers, then every other part suffers with it” (1 Cor 12:26)
In the past, U.S. crimes against humanity include the slaughter and displacement of Native American peoples and participation in the African slave trade that decimated cultures and in which perhaps a third of the captives died on the transatlantic voyage. Thank God for those who stood up against it.
Most people today say, “We would have stood against such abuses.” But how often do we look the other way today?
“If we had lived back when our ancestors did, we wouldn’t have killed the prophets like they did” (Matt 23:30)
The twentieth century witnessed genocide after genocide: the German genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples (1904-1908), the Ottoman extermination of Armenians in the next decade, the subsequent Nazi extermination of millions of Jews (along with others, including Roma people), mass murders under Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin and Pol Pot. The world cried, “Never again!” after the genocide in Rwanda, even though many people knew very well that it had simply spilled over into Congo, eventually leading to millions more deaths. (Cf. my article https://www.evangelicalsforsocialaction.org/foreign-policy/we-cannot-say-we-did-not-know/.)
If we had lived back when our ancestors did, would we have spoken for justice? We do live in a time like our ancestors. Documented ethnic and religious cleansing is going on today, for example in parts of Nigeria and Central Africa, in multiple countries.
Proverbs 24:11-12 (NRSV):
“If you hold back from rescuing those taken away to death,
those who go staggering to the slaughter;
if you say, “Look, we did not know this”—
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it?
And will he not repay all according to their deeds?”
God have mercy.
Conflict part 3: conflict within families
Sometimes conflict arises even in one’s family. And here I am not thinking just of extremely dysfunctional families like Joseph’s (yes, your brothers selling you into slavery is certainly dysfunctional). Who is closer, and to whom is one more vulnerable, than a person whom one loves deeply and whose words matter most? The biblical patriarchs sometimes experienced passionate marital disagreements:
Gen 16:5 (ESV): “Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!’”
Gen 21:10-11 (NIV): Sarah “said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.” (But God told him to listen to Sarah.)
Or Gen 30:1-2 (NIV): “When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Jacob became angry with her and said, “Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?””
Avoiding open conflict, Rebekah simply accomplished her plan for Jacob behind Isaac’s back, since he did not listen more directly to her revelation about the elder serving the younger.
The ideal, of course, is 1 Pet 3:7: husbands be sensitive to your wives so that nothing hinders your prayers (for God heeds the righteous, not the evil, 3:12).
Again, divine wisdom warns us about harmful words:
Prov 12:18: “Rash words are like thrusts from a sword, but the wise person’s tongue brings healing.”
Prov 18:21 NIV: “The tongue has the power of life and death …”
What about needless conflict in the family and its health consequences? Although framed from the man’s perspective in Proverbs, the principles should apply both directions.
Prov. 12:4, NRSV: “A good wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.”
14:1, NRSV: “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.”
17:1, NRSV: “Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.”
21:9, NRSV: “It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious wife.”
Parent-child relationships can also be stressful (although as parents it may help work some spiritual maturation in us!):
Prov 10:1 (NASB): “A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother.”
Prov 15:20 (NRSV): “A wise child makes a glad father, but the foolish despise their mothers.”
Prov 17:25 (NRSV): “Foolish children are a grief to their father and bitterness to her who bore them.”
Prov 23:24 (NRSV): “The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him.”
Prov 27:11 (NRSV): “Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad, so that I may answer whoever reproaches me.”
Prov 28:7 (NRSV): “Those who keep the law are wise children, but companions of gluttons shame their parents.”
Eph 6:4: “Fathers, do not stir up/stoke your children’s anger …”
The Bible shows us that conflict happens within families. But it also invites us to a higher ideal of resolving differences with mutual love, respect, and servanthood. For example:
Prov 31:28 (ESV): “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her”
Eph 4:26-27 (NIV): “… Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.”
Eph 4:29: “Don’t speak what harms others. Instead speak what is good for them, building them up and meeting their needs …”
Eph 4:32 (NIV): “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Eph 5:2, 21: “Act in love … submitting to one another out of respect for Christ”
Eph 5:25 (NRSV): “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Mark 10:43-44 (NRSV): “… whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
John 13:14 (NRSV): “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”
(P.S., on an anticlimactic note about these lists of verses, I mix and match some translations on my computer more based on ease of access than based on recommending one translation over another.)
Conflict part 2: other conflict
The previous post addressed necessary conflict to stand for justice or truth on behalf of the Lord or others. But that post was mostly to qualify what I planned to write in this one. It was recent studies of conflict being bad for health that motivated me to think right now about some biblical teaching about conflict.
The sort of conflict addressed in these studies seems to be especially interpersonal conflict with those with whom we are in relationship—family members, coworkers, employers or employees, etc. It often has to do with simply personal ways of seeing things, or miscommunication or misunderstanding that need to be clarified.
Even so, conflict can be defined more than one way. Constructive dialogue over disagreement, with a high level of trust that makes unnecessary feelings of being threatened, seems healthy. (That’s what we’re supposed to do in academia, though sometimes disagreements get personal.)
Hostile conflict, by contrast, seems toxic. (This would be especially true for those of us who, as children, sometimes experienced violence in a context of hostility and anger. It my case that at least got me readier for subsequent experiences of being beaten for my faith, sometimes with apparently lethal intent.) Sometimes even such direct conflict with those close to us becomes unavoidable, when some challenge our faith or matters of justice and truth with hostility (e.g., Matt 10:34-37). Even in such situations, though, Jesus exhorts us not to take it personally (Luke 10:16).
When possible, it is ideal to deescalate conflict, control one’s anger, and calm another’s anger (though not at the expense of simply avoiding addressing something important that must be addressed). Scripture often addresses this issue. For example,
Prov 10:12 (NRSV): “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses”
Prov 12:16 (NRSV): “Fools show their anger at once, but the prudent ignore an insult”
Prov 13:10 (ESV): “By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom”
Prov. 14:29 (NRSV): “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly”
Prov 15:1 (NRSV): “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”
Prov 15:18 (NRSV): “Those who are hot-tempered stir up strife, but those who are slow to anger calm contention.”
Prov 16:28 (NRSV): “A perverse person spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends”
Prov 16:32 (NRSV): “One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled than one who captures a city.”
Prov 17:14 (ESV): “The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out”
Prov 18:6 (ESV): “A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating”
Prov 19:11: “Those with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense”
Prov 20:3 (NRSV): “It is honorable to refrain from strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.”
Prov 22:10 (NRSV): “Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out; quarreling and abuse will cease.”
Prov 26:21 (ESV): “As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife”
Prov 29:8 (NIV): “Mockers stir up a city, but the wise turn away anger”
Prov 29:11 (NRSV): “A fool gives full vent to anger, but the wise quietly holds it back”
Prov 29:22 (ESV): “A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression”
Prov 30:33 (ESV): “For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.”
Rom 12:18 (NIV): “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (even further, cf. 12:14: bless those who persecute you)
Among fellow believers (Col 3:12-15, NRSV): “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful”
After all (Matt 5:9), “It will be well with those who make peace!” And (James 3:18, NIV), “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness!”
If studies are right, conflict might raise levels of stress that harm the other person’s well-being. Sometimes that is the point of the spirit behind it:
Matt 5:21-22: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
1 John 3:15: “All who hate a brother or sister are murderers”
Prov 15:4 (NIV): “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.”
Yet counselors warn that hostile attitudes hurt especially those who hold them. Negative attitudes we hold inside hurt; Proverbs speaks of the pain of wounded hearts. Prov 15:13 (NIV): “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.” Prov 18:14 (NRSV): “a broken spirit—who can bear?”
Forgiveness and grace toward others releases our own hearts as well, though that is not the primary biblical point of forgiveness. Angry words or actions can cause long-term harm in more tenuous relationships:
Prov 12:18 (NIV): “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
Prov 13:3 (NRSV): “Those who guard their mouths preserve their lives; those who open wide their lips come to ruin.”
Prov 18:19 (NIV): “A brother wronged is more unyielding than a fortified city”
Prov 20:2 (NIV): “A king’s wrath strikes terror like the roar of a lion; those who anger him forfeit their lives.” (It may not be a good idea to offend bosses, either …)
Part 3 will look briefly at conflict within families.
Conflict part 1: conflict when needed
Current research shows that conflict is bad for our health (presumably especially for us sensitive people). Recently I have read that marital conflict even correlates with earlier mortality in men.
Of course, there is conflict and then there is conflict. Some conflict is inevitable, or at least necessary. Although we want to avoid conflict when possible, conflict is sometimes forced on us, and we have to deal with it. This first post deals with that sort of conflict; the next will deal with the sort that we should avoid or resolve as quickly as possible.
If Jesus wanted to bring grace to people who felt oppressed, he was going to have to confront religious and political elites. Paul was ready to dialogue with people, but when some proved more interested in winning a point than being open to truth, he was ready to call their bluff and move on.
We all respond differently to conflict. Some of my friends (such as Michael Brown) are skillful debaters and enjoy good give-and-take. Me: not so much (though I relish intellectual dialogue when it is friendly). I am shaped more by my background of learning to stay on the ground when being beaten, since the most frequent abusers typically got tired after awhile and quit. I do not like conflict, but neither do I care to see truth neglected or justice disregarded. Some conflicts become inevitable:
Prov 25:26, NRSV: Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain, are the righteous who give way before the wicked.
Prov 24:10-12, NRSV: If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength being small; if you hold back from rescuing those taken away to death, those who go staggering to the slaughter; if you say, “Look, we did not know this”— does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it? And will he not repay all according to their deeds?”
John the Baptist was certainly no reed shaken by the wind (Matt 11:7//Luke 7:24).
In the Gospels, no sooner has the Spirit descended on Jesus than the Spirit propels Jesus into the wilderness to face testing by the devil. The Spirit does not equip us for a life of continual ease, but to do God’s work and endure any opposition that it may require.
Still, graciousness is ideal even in important conflicts, when possible (2 Tim 2:23-25, NRSV):
“Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth”
Prov 15:1 (NIV): “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
Rom 12:14, 17-18 (NIV): “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse … Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
Sometimes the conflict isn’t worth it.
Prov 23:9 (NASB): “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.”
Prov 29:9 (NIV): “If a wise person goes to court with a fool, the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace”
Prov 17:10 (NRSV): “A rebuke strikes deeper into a discerning person than a hundred blows into a fool.”
We have to discern whether it is worth it or not (Prov 26:4-5, NRSV):
“Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes.”
Civil discourse on the internet?–Proverbs 18:2
Sometimes the comments people append to articles tell us more about the commenters than about anything else. Trolling betrays the antinomian spirit of the trolls.
Proverbs 18:2, NRSV:
“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion.”
NIV:
“Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.”
NASB:
“A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind.”
Comments on Comments
Comments sections are good for free speech and good to invite readers to engage ideas. Unfortunately, sometimes the engagement is at a level of intellectual discourse that requires very little cerebral capacity.
For laughs, on the few occasions when I used to have some spare time, I sometimes would read comments sections. Such sections often reveal more about the commenters than the articles on which they comment, since the articles may be labeled either too conservative or too liberal depending on the commentator.
Some have been surprisingly well-reasoned (including some with whom I disagreed), and in these cases I often learned to consider angles I had not thought about. Those who offer thoughtful comments should by no means be discouraged from doing so. Some comments, however, reflect astonishing immaturity. I would complain how many appear to be written by adolescents, but I don’t want to offend my daughter or other positive representatives of that age group.
On one YouTube video, where a young woman was simply trying to share a song, a comment below said something like, “You’re ugly. You should kill yourself.” If an adolescent mind gets away with such a comment because it is anonymous, one still is left to wonder what kind of person thinks and speaks this way. For those of us with kids in high school, it is scary to think that some such people may lurk their halls.
Civil Discourse
Candy Gunther Brown, a leading expert on prayer studies, wrote a balanced, concise article for a major outlet. Some suggested that she was ignorant because such-and-such a study had demonstrated the opposite of her conclusion. In a book published by Harvard University Press, she had shown the error of the study that this person cited, but apparently it was the only study with which her critic was familiar, so he assumed that he knew more than she did. Meanwhile, she was concisely synthesizing material from hundreds or thousands of sources, as I also often do.
Academic discourse at its best allows a range of interpretations on the table and then uses evidence to seek to find the interpretation(s) that best fit the data. At least in its ideal form (often observed in the breach), academic discourse refuses dismiss others’ positions without consideration; it also refuses to denounce its interlocutors with ad hominem labeling or with guilt by association. It explores evidence, weighs various options, and (again, ideally) respectfully engages those with whom the author disagrees.
Partisan political discourse, however, has seeped into everything else. Even in academia, discourse is often coarsened today, and every discipline has its share of rude and arrogant voices. But the ideal gives us something to strive for, even if some circles (say, British academia, minus, say, Richard Dawkins) tend to do it better than some others.
Free speech provides the right to say (almost) anything (explicit exceptions include yelling, “Fire!” in a crowded theater). But one can exercise rights responsibly and intelligently, or not. Just because one is allowed to say (almost) anything does not mean that it reflects well on one’s intellectual character. (I do not have in mind here comments that are simply playful or humorous, but those that are dismissive.) Just because one can speak anonymously, without fear of personal consequences, does not mean that one is making a helpful contribution. We live in a society, and if we contribute to the coarsening of public discourse, we ultimately share in the larger consequences.
Proverbs 18:2 remains all too relevant today.
Believe whatever you want, but—what if it’s wrong?
I might sound like a grumpy sourpuss in this post, but please feel free to balance it with my more upbeat ones.
Too often we believe things because they are things we simply want to believe. That does not make them wrong, but it does mean that we don’t know whether they’re right. Most people know better than to drink something labeled poison just because they want it to believe that it might be Diet Sprite. Here are some doctrines some people like to believe that merit further investigation. I note just a couple verses for consideration after each, though these could be multiplied.
- Sufficient faith can keep us from experiencing persecution (contrast 2 Tim 3:12, though of course God does deliver)
- Everyone will always get healed if we have enough faith (contrast 2 Kgs 13:14; 2 Tim 4:20; though of course God does heal)
- Everyone will always become materially prosperous if we have enough faith (contrast Luke 6:20; James 2:5; though of course God does provide)
- God sends only pleasant prophecies about society, never judgment (contrast Jer 6:14; 8:11; James 5:1-6; Rev 17—18; though of course prophecies can also comfort)
- God sends only pleasant prophecies to the church, never reproofs (contrast Rev 2:4-5, 14-16, 20-23; 3:1-3, 15-19; though of course prophecies can also comfort, including in Rev 2—3; plus a culture of honor, gentleness and sensitivity should be privileged, especially by those just starting in prophecy and correction; even for severe circumstances, cf. 2 Tim 2:23-26)
- God would never reprove our behavior through teaching in the church (contrast 2 Tim 3:16; 4:3; though his reproof, when needed, is gentle for the humble)
- A person who has professed Christ can never turn away from the faith and be lost (contrast Gal 5:4; Heb 6:4-8; though of course God helps believers persevere)
- Everything in the Bible about grace is for the church, whereas everything about obedience or judgment is only for Israel (contrast 1 Cor 10:1-11; Gal 5:13—6:10; though of course grace preempts judgment and also enables obedience through faith)
- Christians will be raptured before suffering great tribulation (contrast 2 Thess 1:5—2:4; 2 Pet 3:9-13; though of course God often protects his children, as in Goshen)
- The world will get nicer and nicer until Jesus comes back (contrast 2 Thess 2:8-12; Rev 16:12-16; 20:4; though of course God can use us to make many things better)
- God expects us to write our own destinies (contrast Prov 16:1, 9; 19:21; though of course we should embrace God’s vision for us in faith)
- Everybody will be saved (contrast Matt 25:46; Jude 10-13; Rev 3:5; 14:9-11; 20:15; though the gospel saves hundreds of millions of people—may we make it available to everyone, no matter what it costs us)
That’s probably enough for now—I don’t want to get anyone in a bad mood. And I confess that some of the above, such as everyone getting healed in this life and everyone getting saved, I wish with all my heart to be true. But it’s better to know what’s really true so we can make some things better than to go into trouble blindly (Prov 22:3; 27:12). If a tornado’s coming, I’d rather believe it and take shelter than simply confess, “That tornado is not coming.” The odds usually favor it missing you, but the stakes are quite high if you’re wrong.
Of course, there are some things that seem too good to believe and yet are true—especially the good news that our creator died for us and guarantees us eternal life with him if we trust him. Before I met God, when I was an atheist but starting to question my certainty about that, I thought that the most wonderful thing in the world would be if there was an infinite being who was not only infinite but even cared about us (and especially me, messed up as I was). That seemed too much to hope for … until I met him and discovered that he does care about us. (Otherwise he wouldn’t have bothered to make us.) How true is the phrase, “amazing grace”!
We need to search Scripture with an open mind and heart. We need to read with the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, so that we find the message that God really has to communicate to us. That means hearing the message that God inspired, rather than just what we want to find.
How do you trust God yet fear him?
Biblical humility is closely related to the fear of the Lord (Prov 15:33; 22:4). Recognizing how great God is devastates our own pretensions to greatness. Then we cannot depend on our merit or status but depend solely on God and what He has done for us in Christ.