Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Saying 24
Whoever plots evil
    will be known as a schemer.
The schemes of folly are sin,
    and people detest a mocker.
Saying 25
If you falter in a time of trouble,
    how small is your strength!
Rescue those being led away to death;
    hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
    Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?
Saying 26
Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
    honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
Know also that wisdom is like honey for you:
    If you find it, there is a future hope for you,
    and your hope will not be cut off.

• Proverbs 24:8-14

Proverbs 24:10 ”So, we are now all celebrating Pentecost still separated, and yet in a special way it is a community festival. Then the bells sounded early today, I had a great longing for a worship service. But then I did like John on Patmos (Rev. 1:9-10) and held a service of worship for myself alone that was so beautiful that the loneliness was not felt at all, but you were all there and even the churches in which I had already celebrated Pentecost. Every few hours since last evening i have been saying to myself the Paul Gerhardt Pentecost hymn with the beautiful verses ‘You are a spirit of joy …’ and ‘Give joyfulness and strength …’ and also rejoicing in the words: ‘If you faint in the day of adversity your strength [is] small.’ Proverbs 24:10”

• Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I Want to Live These Days with You, devotional compiled from several of his writings

The Message

Saying 24 seems a bit disjointed in the NIV translation, but when you take the Proverbs to this point as a whole it flows a little better.  The one who plots evil is definitely a schemer.  Schemes of folly makes sense as the next point in a train of thought.

Here Solomon defines the act of plotting evil as a sin.  Many think that Jesus “invented” the thought and the plan of evil as sin, instead of simply the act, in the Sermon on the Mount, but the first and last commandments speak of motivation for the sins of the eight commandments in between.  Here, Solomon understands that and calls the plotting of evil as being sin.

Then the last line seems to be the disjointed part.  There is no connection between evil plans being mockery.  But mocking and mockers is mentioned 21 times in the book of Proverbs.  The three times mockery is mentioned in Proverbs 19, the false witness mocks justice and the other two references pertain to beating or flogging the mocker.  Mockery is being defined here as someone who scoffs at the notion that one thing or another is not a sin, thus, they mock the laws that God gave Moses, many of which are imprinted on our hearts from birth, until the mocker overrules the law for his/her own gain.

Saying 25 speaks of not so happy times.  Solomon knows that wars will come.  Famine and Plagues may come.  These hard times are a test of faith, and Solomon warns against the person who crumbles under pressure in those times.  He speaks of catching someone before they stumble into oblivion.  Could that mean a monarch who needlessly goes to war with a neighbor?  That forces the poor man who serves in the military to attack a foe of unknown strength, maybe as a suicide mission, for a fool’s errand perpetrated by a monarch who acted foolishly.

God knows when a war is justified.  King David preceded each military campaign with prayer.  He wanted God’s blessing, or the campaign would be called off.  We should not be tricked by a rattling of swords.  The enemy may be luring us into a trap.  That could apply to a country’s military or to a business deal with a neighbor.

Then Solomon likens wisdom to honey.  It is sweet to the taste.  We should develop a taste for wisdom, like we might develop a taste for a particular sweet treat.  If we desire wisdom, God will illuminate our minds for even greater things.

And now let us sing.

The following song is Christ Our Wisdom.  This is sung by Sovereign Grace Music.  You are God, oh, Lord, and we are not.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Help us to value wisdom.  Lord, sometimes the evil schemes that are plotted against us are ruses to make us step out into danger to defend, when no threat was really there.  It was a trick to have us make the first move.  This could be a war or a conflict among neighbors or a business venture.  But if we consult You in each decision, big or small, and learn to love and desire wisdom more than life itself, You will guide us in the right direction.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.