Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict,
    but the one who is patient calms a quarrel.
The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,
    but the path of the upright is a highway.
A wise son brings joy to his father,
    but a foolish man despises his mother.
Folly brings joy to one who has no sense,
    but whoever has understanding keeps a straight course.
Plans fail for lack of counsel,
    but with many advisers they succeed.
A person finds joy in giving an apt reply—
    and how good is a timely word!
The path of life leads upward for the prudent
    to keep them from going down to the realm of the dead.
The Lord tears down the house of the proud,
    but he sets the widow’s boundary stones in place.

• Proverbs 15:18-25

Proverbs 15:25 ”The humble heart honors others.
“ls Jesus not our example? Content to be known as a carpenter. Happy to be mistaken for the gardener. He served his followers by washing their feet. He serves us by doing the same. Each morning he gifts us with beauty. Each Sunday he calls us to his table. Each moment he dwells in our hearts. And does he not speak of the day when he as ‘the master will dress himself to serve and tell the servants to sit at the table, and he will serve them (Luke 12:37)?
“If Jesus is so willing to honor us, can we not do the same for others? Make people a priority.  Accept your part in his plan. Be quick to share the applause. And, most of all, regard others more important than yourself. Love does. For love ‘does not brag, and it is not proud’ (Corinthians 13:4).”

• Max Lucado, A Love Worth Giving

I get angry too easily, but I try to bite my tongue instead of instigating trouble.  The best memory I have when I read Proverb 15:18 was this:  There were two majors in our Battalion, the XO (Executive Officer) and the S3 (Operations Officer).  The S3 was a stickler for the rules.  Everyone feared his angry responses to even saying that they had a “problem.”  You had an “issue” that you were in the process of fixing instead, and you better have a workable fix or part of your hide would be added to the S3 trophy case.  That word, “problem”, threw him into a rage.  The XO never raised his voice.  He rarely was seen without a smile on his face.  His office was at the far end of the battalion headquarters office hallway from the S3.  The XO had a sign on his door, “At the other end of the hall, they do not have problems.  At this end of the hall, we fix problems.”  I think that sign, given the background that prompted it, paraphrases Proverbs 15:18 quite well.

Another old Army story to illustrate the next proverb, verse 19.  At the Engineer Officer’s Basic Course, we took a night orienteering class.  We were paired off to work as nearly twenty individual two-man teams to go from one checkpoint to the next.  Most of the tasks were to travel for so many meters at a particular azimuth (compass direction).  The moon was shrouded in clouds, but I had the amazing ability to see fairly well in the dark.  When we reached our destination, we were allowed to use the flashlight attached to a pole to charge the glow of our compass and to get the next instruction.  The last instruction was to go about 200 meters, roughly due west.  We went to the edge of the road, and we saw that to take that azimuth put us through the worst brier patch that I had ever seen, and I had picked blackberries and such growing up.  With our little bit of light, I plotted the course on the map.  It corresponded with about a 120-meter hike down a road.  We ran to the intersection and paced 120 meters up the road, but we both ended up between two markers.  My partner said that we were close to the marker we had just passed, but I explained that we were exhausted, and our pace was shorter than it had been at the start.  We chose the next marker as our finish line, and we won the competition.  Our victory allowed us to go back to quarters to our own beds, while everyone else had to wait on the bus until the last team could be “found”.  I think the lost duo tried to hack their way through the thorns.  The sun came up as the bus unloaded the stragglers, just in time for morning formation and another day of classes.

I think Proverbs 15:20 could be gender neutral and work quite well, but Solomon was trying to personalize the wise saying.  Our parents are proud when their child uses wise judgment, and they are ashamed, like their child hates them, when their child acts foolishly, especially when they had worked so hard to teach that particular warning.

The “joy” in Proverbs 15:21 is fleeting and leads to disaster.  Taking the straight course avoids the “side effects” of foolish behavior.

In the military and afterwards in civilian life, even teaching adult Cub Scout leaders, there was a saying: Prior Planning Prevents a Pitifully Poor Performance.  The lesson of the six “P’s”.  If you heard a similar one with a cussword, it was the wrong six “P’s”.  But Proverbs 15:22 is talking about using advisers to help in the planning.

We come back to “Joy” in Proverbs 15:23 and this is lasting Joy when you make or receive an apt reply or timely word.

The phrase “forever upward” may come from Proverbs 15:24.  Our focus in advancement is to achieve a higher rank, higher pay raise, etc.  In focusing on higher goals, we stretch our limits and succeed.  Taking a lower path leads to death in that once we accept failure as a way of life, death is all that remains.

And the last verse in this set points to the teachings of Jesus in that we are to help the widows and orphans.  The Old Testament uses widows and fatherless instead of orphans (NIV).  The concept of helping those less fortunate, especially the helpless, is a common thread throughout the Bible.

And now let us sing.

The following song is We Will Stand.  It is sung by the composer Russ Taff.  The verses might not be as recognizable as the chorus.

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to understand
Why we pull away from each other so easily
Even though we’re all walking the same road
Yet we build dividing walls between
Our brothers and our selves
But I, I don’t care what label you may wear if you believe in
Jesus you belong with me
The bond we share is all I care to see
And we can change this world forever if you will join with me
Join and sing, sing
You’re my brother, you’re my sister
So take me by the hand
Together we will work until
He comesThere’s no foe that can defeat us
When we’re walking side by side
As long as there is love
We will stand
The day will come when we will be as one
And with a mighty voice together
We will proclaim that Jesus
Jesus is King And it will echo through the earth
It will shake the nations
And the world will see
See that
You’re my brother, you’re my sister
So take me by the hand
Together we will work until He comes
There’s no foe that can defeat us
When we’re walking side by side
As long as there is love
We will stand
The time is here, the time is now
To take a stand, to make a vow I won’t let go, you’re not alone
Now and forever we’ll sing together
You’re my brother, you’re my sister
So take me by the hand
Together we will work until He comes
There’s no foe that can defeat us
When we’re walking side by side
As long as there is love
We will stand”

• Russ Taff, We Will Stand

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Help us to love Your wisdom.  Help us to seek Your wisdom.  And help us as we help those less fortunate.  For all are our brother and our sister, so we must take them by the hand.
In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.