Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone,
    but the righteous stand firm forever.
As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
    so are sluggards to those who send them.
The fear of the Lord adds length to life,
    but the years of the wicked are cut short.
The prospect of the righteous is joy,
    but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.
The way of the Lord is a refuge for the blameless,
    but it is the ruin of those who do evil.
The righteous will never be uprooted,
    but the wicked will not remain in the land.
From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom,
    but a perverse tongue will be silenced.
The lips of the righteous know what finds favor,
    but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.

• Proverbs 10:25-32

“Proverbs 10:29 The way of the Lord ”This is the spiritual path on which God directs man to walk.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

It was John Heywood, in a collection of “proverbs” or old sayings, who said, “It is an ill wind that blows no one any good.”  The point is that someone will profit by each disaster that comes along.  But I remember a church in Biloxi, Mississippi that survived Hurricane Camille.  It was said there was no damage to the church, but there might have been minor things wrong.  Yet, during Hurricane Katrina, there was extensive damage to the church.  They even created YouTube videos to try to get donations from across the globe.  You could claim Proverbs 10:25 for the first hurricane, but in those 36 years, had the church lost its way?  Had they watered down the gospel?  I don’t know the answer, but sometimes, that ill wind knocks over everyone’s house, and from firsthand information, puts clothes dryers stuck twenty feet off the ground in a tree.  This proverb is a wise saying that sometimes works, but it is a wise saying, not a guarantee.

Vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes are irritants.  Someone who does not do any work due to laziness is an irritant to anyone who calls for them to help.

Honoring one’s father and mother is a Commandment with a promise for long life on this earth, but the point of this Commandment is that God is our Heavenly Father and we should honor our earthly parents as practice in honoring our Heavenly Father, in Proverbs 10:27 giving the same promise.

Those that think we simply die and there is no afterlife have no hope, no purpose outside this life, but the righteous have hope in the future and Joy right now.

Proverbs 10:29, from my experience, can be interpreted in a few ways.  The wicked would never dare go the way of the Lord, thus whatever other path that they take is a path to ruin.  But if a wicked person pretended to follow the way of the Lord for personal gain, this could result in ruin in the next life.  But for those who are truly God’s children, they find refuge in the way of the Lord.

In this present world, Proverbs 10:30 seems odd.  For Israel, the combined kingdom of Solomon’s day, having your plot of land and never being uprooted is a wonderful idea.  But I have moved 21 times in my lifetime.  No place that I have ever lived seems like home today.  My wife passed away less than a year ago, and my son in Tennessee wants me to move yet again.  But do I want to do so?  Again, this is a wise saying and not a guarantee.  Wicked have gathered land illegally ever since the days of Solomon, only giving up that land when they die.  And I do not call myself horribly upright, but I have seen saintly people lose everything they had.  This kind of ties into Proverbs 10:25, that is if it was an ill wind.

As for the perverse tongue, I am awaiting the silencing of the present perverse tongue of today.  The world seems upside down at the moment.  But the righteous, with a kind word, find favor with God while the wicked, with their perversity, will not.  Proverbs 10:31-32 go together.

And now let us sing.

The following song is This Land is Your Land.  It is sung by the Gaither Homecoming Crowd, and featuring Terry Blackwood, Sue Dodge, Ernie Haase, and the Talley Trio.  I had another video with a lot of scenery, but then they added extra verses for social injustice protest.  Woodie’s words are good enough, even though this video only has a few of the verses.  And when it says that This land is Your Land, regardless of the country being talked about, it is all God’s land and if we truly love our neighbor, it is made for you and me to live in harmony.

“This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
And I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me

I roamed and rambled, and I’ve followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
All around me, a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

There was a big, high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said “Private Property”
But on the backside, it didn’t say nothing
This land was made for you and me

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting
This land was made for you and me

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me”

• Woodie Guthrie, This Land is Your Land

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Many of us never have a chance to establish our roots in one place or another.  The perverse tongue reigns in this present world.  The wicked prosper, but You, God, You are in control.  All things will one day be righted.
In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.