Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“Do not slander a servant to their master,
    or they will curse you, and you will pay for it.
“There are those who curse their fathers
    and do not bless their mothers;
those who are pure in their own eyes
    and yet are not cleansed of their filth;
those whose eyes are ever so haughty,
    whose glances are so disdainful;
those whose teeth are swords
    and whose jaws are set with knives
to devour the poor from the earth
    and the needy from among mankind.
“The leech has two daughters.
    ‘Give! Give!’ they cry.
“There are three things that are never satisfied,
    four that never say, ‘Enough!’:
the grave, the barren womb,
    land, which is never satisfied with water,
    and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’
“The eye that mocks a father,
    that scorns an aged mother,
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley,
    will be eaten by the vultures.

• Proverbs 30:10-17

Proverbs 30:11-14  ‘There is a generation’ ”These proverbs condemn various forms of unwise behavior and are connected with this common phrase which points to the fact that certain sins can uniquely permeate a whole society or time period.”

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

The Message

Proverbs 30:10 seems in some ways the story of my life.  When I first got out of the military, I was told that I had some very powerful enemies, and I should find a new line of work.  I had done nothing wrong.  It was slander that I only learned about after people were convinced it to be true.  I changed my job within the plant a couple of times and established a good reputation, but the old lies caught up with me.  When I finally left the organization, it was for short-ranged jobs for a while, and then when I finally got a job that nearly lasted twenty years, the slander started again.  My saving grace at that time was that no one else wanted to do what I did.

But I am still looking for the payments that the slanderer receives.  That may be in the next life.

This next proverb, Proverbs 30:11-14, is something even closer to home.  This is why God does not like arrogance.  Sure, we have nothing to be arrogant at best, for our success grows from things God created anyway.  But the arrogant person does not see his own issues.  If anyone is offended by what they say, it is their problem.  If he is confronted with someone that is undeniably wrong, dear old Mom and Dad are blamed.  And his stuff never stinks.  And whether his victims are poor or not, the victims are always people whose defense is down and are weaker.  In other words, this type of arrogant bully sets the stage to always win.  This bolsters the ego even more.

As for the Rev. MacArthur interpretation of these verses, he makes a great point.  Whatever the new bandwagon is, and the sins that it carries with it, these arrogant people brag about how they think independently, but they latch onto the latest bandwagon, no matter how crazy it might be.  With many people doing it or espousing that certain viewpoint, they become stronger with numbers, which increases their chance of always being the victor.  After all, they are wonderful.  And again, if someone else is hurt, it’s their problem.

Yet, God does not like the proud.  They will fall.

The next point is on greed.  The leeches say give, give, but you are giving to the leech.  Then the rest of verse 15 and verse 16 speak of four things that never have enough.  The grave will take us all at some point.  Some women might use fertility treatments if they could afford to do so, but many never have children.  I have seen families that had constant troubles.  First the infertility was a strain on the family.  Then, there was resistance from the grandparents to accept an adopted child.  Sometimes that works great, but the mother will know that the child did not come from her womb.  But moving on, land is never something that is enough.  You could have all the land in the world, and it does you no good in a drought.  When our church doubled the square footage, the custodian care doubled, and it was twice as much that needed maintaining.  But did the giving double?  And fire…  Fire simply consumes.  If you do not put the fire out, the fire will consume all flammable materials until it puts itself out.

Agur is saying that greed is like these things.

The mocking son or daughter will be consumed at some point.  Again, like the slanderers earlier, we echo what others have prayed, “When, Lord?”

But in some cases, God is giving them time for repentance.  And for us, we need to forgive, whether we see repentance or not.

And now let us sing.

The following song is The Truth.  This is sung by Megan Woods.  We do not belong to the lies and slander, we belong to God, we are our Father’s child.

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Help us to value wisdom.  Lord, this group of proverbs are like a sandwich.  The meat and cheese are arrogance and greed.  They both go together, because when one loves one, they will love the other.  It is all about self.  And the bread that holds arrogance and greed together is slander and mockery, especially against authority figures like the parents.  When you are too arrogant to see your own faults, the easiest way to stand on top is to put the other person down.  Lord, forgive us if we ever thought of doing such a thing.  Remind us that this type of sin needs to be corrected by us if we committed it.  We need to fix the mess we have caused, not just feel sorry that we did it.  And for those who have suffered due to this kind of thing done to them, may they forgive.  We cannot hold onto such burdens and still progress on our road to sanctification.  In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.