Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—
    the Lord detests them both.
Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom,
    when they are not able to understand it?
A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is born for a time of adversity.
One who has no sense shakes hands in pledge
    and puts up security for a neighbor.
Whoever loves a quarrel loves sin;
    whoever builds a high gate invites destruction.
One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper;
    one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble.
To have a fool for a child brings grief;
    there is no joy for the parent of a godless fool.

• Proverbs 17:15-21

Proverbs 17:17 present. ”One gets the impression that to John, Jesus was above all a loyal companion. Messiah? Yes. Son of God? Indeed. Miracle worker? That, too. But more than anything Iesus was a pal. Someone you could go camping with or bowling with or count the stars with …
“Now what do you do with a friend? (Well, that’s rather simple too.) You stick by him.
“Maybe that is why John is the only one of the twelve who was at the cross. He came to say good-bye. By his own admission he hadn’t quite put the pieces together yet. But that didn’t really matter. As far as he was concerned, his closest friend was in trouble and he came to help.
“ ‘Can you take care of my mother?’
“Of course. That’s what friends are for.

• Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him the Savior

God hates injustice of all kinds: acquitting the guilty, condemning the innocent, unjust scales, etc.

When I think of Proverbs 17:16, I think of all these business gurus and their books.  The new and greatest ideas in business are the old ideas with a fresh coat of paint.  They change a few words.  They add a cute, but impotent catch phrase.  And voila, or is it abracadabra, they claim to be a guru and people flock to their presentations.  But the old book was outdated because it only worked in a perfect society.  What you have running companies are people who are ill-suited to run a bathroom schedule.  They see bullies and brutes in their ranks and promote them to managers, perceiving their aggressiveness as leadership.  And then the book says to play nice, but managers in business got where they are by not playing nice.  They cannot spell the word.  Thus, a fool buying a book about wisdom cannot understand what he is reading.

Note: The previous paragraph was the sum total of almost my entire career, working for knuckle draggers who were great at bossing people around.  Maybe you were blessed with the one nice boss out of the hundred.

The Max Lucado quote talks about John and Jesus, but in reference to Proverbs 17:17, the quote describes a relationship that illustrates the true friend.

Jesus said to take no oaths.  When I joined the Army, I had to do that, and I still stand by it.  I guess there are still comments on social media that the oath has no expiration.  But then that is why Jesus said to not take an oath if you can avoid it.  If a friend is borrowing money, it is more likely that they will borrow money again instead of paying you back.  I could double my assets if family had paid me back, but … They are family.

The next two proverbs go together.  They all boil down to the corrupt heart.  Loving quarrels reminds me of a liberal pastor.  He singled me out to ask me how he did with his sermon, goading me into saying what was biblically wrong with it.  The point was that he loved arguments, and he had such a low opinion of everyone else in the church, he picked me as a worthy adversary.  When I saw a crowd form, just to hear my reply, I quit going to that church.  My wife was chairman of the board of deacons.  She continued until her term was up, but she agreed with my assessment of his sermons.  They were quarrelsome and with a perverse tongue.

As for the high gate, consider all these politicians in their gated communities, a high gate and wall, who enact legislation that impoverishes everyone except themselves.  They feel safe inside their walls.  And even though they enact laws on gun control, they have a small army of armed bodyguards when they leave their gated communities.

The last one is one I would prefer to not talk about.  I have one son who loves Jesus.  His family attends church.  The kids love Jesus.  Saying anything more brings great pain.

And now let us sing.

The following song is By Faith.  This is sung by Kristyn and Keith Getty.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Help us control our tongues.  Our tongues were created to worship You and You alone.  We may not be on a jury, but remind us that injustice happens every day and we should have our hearts ache.  If we are in a position to fix the problem, let us not sleep until we have righted the wrong.  And, Lord, blessed are those who have close friends, and please bless those who have none.
In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.