Shaped By The Word —Proverbs 3:1-6

 My son, do not forget my teaching,

But let your heart keep my commandments; 

For length of days and years of life,

And peace they will add to you. 

Do not let kindness and truth leave you; 

Bind them around your neck, 

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good repute 

In the sight of God and man. 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart 

And do not lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways acknowledge Him, 

And He will make your paths straight. (NASB)

There are certainly things in man’s heart that cause him to zigzag in his course. Yet we are in the presence of a verse that promises God can make them straight. Very good. But when traveling, the first order of business is to determine one’s destination. If we were to take this passage alone, we might conclude our destination is a long and peaceful life, one in which we end up finding favor with both God and man. But this is not the whole council of scripture. Solomon had not yet met Jesus and Paul, who added to Scripture’s more complete council:

 Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17:33

 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. Acts 20:24

It puts a terrible strain on the whole council of scripture to interpret the New Testament through the lens of the Old. The Old Testament, as an inferior covenant, must be interpreted through the New. An eye unaided by New Testament lenses will read our passage and conclude with glee: “It is as I had hoped; life is all about me! All I have to do is live in compliance—retaining and honoring his commandments.” If this is our course we have zigged.

As a new Christian in 1976, I was the prodigal, “Born To Be Wild” child, firing all of my guns at once and exploding into space. (If you were born between 1950 and 1960, you are likely hearing Steppenwolf’s raucous and awesome melody in your brain. It was the hymn of my generation.) In my zeal I aimed my guns at God and pulled the trigger. At high velocity I hit a cross roads right away. Do I do ministry or business? I chose ministry because I wanted to serve God and that was the road for zealots like me (or so I concluded).

Something very interesting happened next. Two people from the house group I was attached to came to me privately and asked me to pray about my choice and reconsider. They simply said, “We have individually had a check in our spirits about your decision.” While I pondered a “get thee behind me (along with with thy checks) reply,” I decided to follow their council. I ended up withdrawing my enrollment papers to Bible school and have been on the construction trades and business path ever since.

It was only years later that I understood the council of these two people. In those years that followed my first crossroads, I met people who had graduated from this same Bible school. There was a common theme to their ministries: they knew how to get God’s stuff. If you did this and said that, God’s health, wealth, and blessing would be yours. I was stunned. Their revelation had exceeded that of both Jesus and Paul. While they zigged, I zagged. And Jesus said to both of us:

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

My zag led me on a different course. I took the road I believed Jesus described as discipleship—a path available even to the likes of a tradesman/businessman like me. To those on this track (and all tracks for that matter), he says:

 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? Luke 9:23-25 ESV

Only the Lord knows where and how frequently I have strayed (or am straying) off this path, but I maintain steadfastly that the only authentic windfall for a disciple is Jesus Christ himself. His stuff may come and go (I’ve seen it), but he never leaves nor forsakes us. If we are holding out for a material or financial windfall, let me blunt, our hearts are not on a straight path; we have not chosen the most important thing. Our hearts were created for one thing. When that one thing is not in place, we have lost sight altogether of our destination.

If we shoot for the world, we will miss God. If we aim at God, he adds precisely what we need in the way of material. Solomon’s wisdom in today’s passage of scripture is valid, but it is amplified eternally by Jesus’ spin. He’s very straightforward:

 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 ESV

Father, thank you that you are our life and that our years, however many, will be swallowed by eternity. Thank you that you are our peace. Thank you that even if this world hates us, we have kingdom favor. Thank you that as we walk in your Spirit, we are not dependent solely on our own understanding. Thank you that as we live with You as the One with whom we have to do, our paths are straight. May our every word and deed be flavored in kindness and truth. Amen.

 

 

 

 

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