My First Proverbs Follow Up
Last night we began our long trek through the book of Proverbs. It’s Ancient Wisdom for our modern world. I was asked some great questions afterwards that I thought I would address on here in case you wondered the same things.
Let’s begin here…
The author continually calls us PETI, translated “simple,” “ignorant” or “naive.” He invites us — the simple, ignorant and naive ones — to the path of wisdom and warns us away from the path of folly. God is gracious and no matter how long we’ve traveled down the wrong path, and no matter how continuously we choose the wrong path, every day he invites us to back to His path.
Prov. 1:2 says, “(the Proverbs were given) to give prudence to the simple (PETI), knowledge and discretion to the youth.” The same idea is said in Proverbs 1:22, 32; 7:7; 8:5; 9:4, 6, 16. The Proverbs are written so that the PETI — people like us — will turn towards the path of righteousness.
This word PETI means “one who is open” — someone who wants to keep their options open, someone who wants to be uncommitted, someone who stands apart from the Lord and feels superior. Someone who determines their steps without a thought towards God.
This rubs up against the dominant narrative of our world which says freedom and joy is found in paving your own path — that salvation comes from being open-minded. And this was at the root of the questions I received afterwards.
The fear is that this idea of “one right path” limits our freedom and creative power. Open-mindedness keeps us from being a robot in God’s world. And I think that’s legitimate (though I don’t agree), and worth a brief response…
What I tried to communicate last night is not this idea that the Proverbs — and the Scripture as a whole — detail the specifics of a path forward. Sometimes we get “burning bush moments” like Moses, where it is really clear where God is leading us, but most of the time, this path is a path God prepares us for and lets us choose. As we grow in wisdom and stature we more often than not, choose the path that is “right, just and fair.” (Prov. 1:3) In short, God speaks through the Proverbs not by telling us what to DO but by telling us what sort of person to BE.
We become a person — as we grow in wisdom, (1) who is able to see more and more of the moral implications baked into our decision making. The more we submit ourselves under God’s moral teaching (like the Sermon on the Mount and the 10 Commandments), the more we are prepared to make the right, just and fair choice. Additionally, as we grow in wisdom (2) we become more aware of the motivations of our heart. Like we read from James 3 last night, we begin to notice where jealousy and selfish ambition is driving our pursuit of wisdom.
So the Bible really rejects this idea of freedom coming from open-mindedness, because open-mindedness is really a disguise for self-judge. To be open-minded is to be the one who sets standards for what is right, just and fair (or as others put it: good, true and beautiful). And this is the root of our world’s problems: people do evil, but always believing it is “for the good.” (and that is not just a non-christian problem — that is a human being problem) The Bible says that true freedom comes from submitting ourselves to the True-Judge of real beauty, goodness and truth. We are trained in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16), and our tastes and desires become His — and that is the key to a life of freedom and joy. (Prov. 4:23)
Listen, there are many people out there offering us wisdom, but wisdom pursued apart from God is meaningless. Wisdom pursued for personal achievement will end with frustration and futility. If you devote yourself to becoming wise, and bad things still happen to you, you will grow bitter and frustrated. Or on the other side of things, if you devote yourself to wisdom and life is full of achievements, you’ll get to the end of your life and still be faced with the question of what it was all for, which is futility.
This is why our pursuit of wisdom is done under the shadow of two important truths, guarding us from frustration and futility.
First, Solomon — the author of Proverbs and Ecclessiastes, realized that from a worldly perspective the wise and the fool are no different:
15 Then I said in my heart, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. 16 For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind. (Eccles. 4:15–17)
Second, I ended last night with the reminder that we can “build up our horse for battle” and become wise and disciplined and do things the right way, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the fact that God is the one with authority, and His is the victory. In other words, wisdom apart from God will end in defeat.
30 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord. 31 The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord. (Prov. 21:30–31)
I enjoy your questions — and I hope as the semester continues we will see Jesus as more trustworthy, and His life as more desirable. The Proverbs point us to our deeper need for Help. We are PETI people needing direction for the path that brings true life.
