BIBLE PROVERBS; RIPE FOR MODERN LIVING

This is very different from the material I normally post here on my blog, but I enjoyed researching this piece so much while writing it for another forum, that I thought it would be good to share it here. It also doubles up as a break from the norm, which can sometimes be a pleasant surprise.

I’ve always loved the book of proverbs. However, because it’s tucked away so neatly in the midst of other books in the Old Testament, I think that many people believe that the message of this book is old fashioned and not relative to today’s high-tech, blog-obsessed societies.



On reading the book of Proverbs (NIV version) again recently, I came across many verses which are pertinent to our modern, hectic lives, but as there were too many to include here, I’ve just copied some of my favourites.

DISCIPLINE

Chapter 3; verses 11 and 12 - My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
Chapter 12; verse 1 - Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.
Thought: Our earthly fathers sometimes take disciplinary measures to encourage us to behave when we step out of line, and this is because they love us. It’s worth focusing on God’s love for us in times of hardship and pain, because it’s then that He may be trying to teach us the life’s lesson that we wouldn’t have otherwise learned.

CHARITY

Chapter 3; verses 27 and 28 - Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbour, "Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow" when you now have it with you.
Chapter 17; verse 5 - He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.
Chapter 19; verse 17 - He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done.
Thought: There will always be the poor among us. We ask ourselves why God allows people to starve, but what we haven’t considered is that God has already provided enough food, natural resource and wealth for every last living person on earth. The reason why some go without is because many people have coveted way too much for themselves. Individually, we would never be able to feed every hungry person in the world, but if we all decide on giving a bit more, this could very easily be achieved.
For example, it costs £25.00 to help one farmer rent a piece of land in the Philippines on which he could plant, then sell his product, and have enough to take care of his family for one whole year. From this very amount, he could save enough to rent the land for the following year, thus needing no more financial help. It costs £15.00 a month to send a Malawian orphan to private school, (40 children in one class as opposed to more than a hundred in the public schools) clothe and feed her for one whole year.


WISDOM

Chapter 4; verses 7, 8 and 9 -Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honour you. She will set a garland of grace on your head and present you with a crown of splendour.
Chapter 9; verses 8 and 9 - Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Instruct a wise man and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.
Chapter 13; verse 20 - He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.
Chapter 17; verse 28 - Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.
Thought: It’s hard to leave friends behind, but there comes a time when life presents us with a choice – continue in the stubbornness of youth or advance hand in hand with wisdom to achieve greater things. Unfortunately, if we choose to advance, it may mean leaving some people in our lives behind, people who aren’t ready to take that step. Are we surrounding ourselves with wise people who encourage us to take on more important duties in our lives, or foolish people who sap our energies always wanting more and more from us? In the book of James, God promises us that if we pray for wisdom, we’ll get it.


HARD WORK

Chapter 6; verses 6 – 11 - Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest- and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.
Thought: No matter what our job is, earning money from working gives us pride in ourselves. If we desire any sort of true respect for ourselves, work and honesty will deliver it. No matter how much money we inherit, self-respect and contentment is born out of achievement and service to mankind. If we like and respect ourselves, external adversity would never leave us in a state of complete devastation and hopelessness.

RELATIONSHIPS

Chapter 12; verse 4 - A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.
.Chapter 15; verse 1 - A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Chapter 26; verse 17 - Like one who seizes a dog by the ears, is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.
Chapter 27; verse 5 - Better is open rebuke, than hidden love.
Thought: Getting older does not only bring grey hairs and aching bones, it matures character. I suppose it takes a lot of mistakes in life to really learn how to live peaceably with other people. It takes a lot of strength to resist spewing the contents of our minds, but mistakes have thought us that this seldom encourages the other person to listen to our side. Correcting someone who’s gone astray should be done in the mildest way possible. It helps to take a step back into the other person’s shoes and not until you can understand their point of view, should you open your mouth to state your side of the story.
Being able to see from a person’s perspective, of course comes with practise, but this means that our argument would be sympathetic to them thus, inoffensive.

It’s worth reading the book of Proverbs even if you aren’t religiously inclined, as it offers solid principles which we all could do well to live by.

Rock-a-bye Auntie, Your Bough Did Break - Excerpt 12

Mammy left earlier tonight to go to her friend’s house. As soon as she was out the door, Theresa, Franc and I stole our rare chance to play and sing songs. Because of Theresa’s hearing problems, she needs to make up her own tunes to the songs we sing. You see, she can’t possibly know what the right tune is, since she can’t ever hear them like people with normal hearing can.

This is how we were playing when the next disaster happened.

We have a little book that Rafza, Aunty Meena’s daughter, had left for us. It’s an old book with a picture on the cover of a little blonde girl and her toddler brother, looking up into a star-lit, peaceful sky. We usually look at the pictures of the children in the book and wonder at their lovely new shoes and white socks, things we could only hope we’ll have some day. The book is filled with poems and a few children’s songs. One of my favourites is, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world . . .”

Theresa opens it to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” her own favourite, and starts to sing, in her own tune, to Franc and me. I try to sing it in the way it was meant to be sung, but that’s hard for Theresa to follow, so I join in with her way. That special way she sings every single song she ever sings. It puts a smile on her face, and I like that.

Suddenly she gets up, looks around as if she’s listening to someone in another room, then slowly gets a chair from the kitchen. She puts it in the middle of the polished living room floor, points to it, and says to Franc and me, “Sit there.”
Franc is only two or so, she thinks it’s a game so she climbs unto it, sits down, looks up at us and asks, “Wot nex?”
I don’t sit down.
I know something’s not right, but all the time, Theresa seems to be listening, listening. Listening to what?
This makes me a little scared of Theresa, but I don’t know why.

She picks Franc up off the chair, her lean, muscular arms wrap themselves gently around her chest, then she sits down herself. Her eyes are two still, dark marbles in her slightly cocked head. Listening . . .
She’s turning the book quickly, too quickly for me to see the nice pictures of the children in their pretty shoes, in their big houses. But she seems to know what to do, because she’s singing lots of different songs - all of the songs in the book. One tune - her tune.

“Sit here,” she says to me again, placing the baby on one knee. This time she points to her lap. I don’t want to, but how can I refuse her. I sit down and she hugs us both.
And rocks. And rocks. And sings.
All the songs . . . her tune.
I feel very uncomfortable because she’s never allowed to hug us. Mammy says that you spoil children if you hug them.
“I’ll come back,” I say, and get up to open the front window to look out for Mammy. It’s very dark outside, I can’t see very far.
I don’t know what to do. I walk back and forth to the window and to Theresa’s lap. She starts to cry.
“My children, my children,” she cries. “I will protect you and keep you. I will protect you from evil and keep you safe.”
And she rocks - and Franc rocks.
And I’m a little scared of Theresa, but I don’t know why.

She starts to wail as the tears stream down her face. I know that something is very wrong, I don’t know what though, I’m only a child, but I know that whatever is wrong, is something big and terrible, something I can’t fix. Franc starts to cry and me too, but I have to keep strong to save Franc if something worse happens.

We all cry.
And we rock.
Rock.
We cry, abundant tears, all leaking out from tiny holes in the corners of our young, aged, tired eyes.
I am a little scared of Theresa, but I’m not sure why.

Maybe it’s because of that marble look in her eyes. I keep praying for Mammy to come home. She’ll know what to do because she’s a grown-up. I keep looking at the clock, but then remember that it’s telling the wrong time because we’d run out of batteries for it ages ago, and didn’t have any money to replace them.
I try to sing with Theresa, she is praying a lot too. I try to say the prayers with her and when she cries again, Franc and I cry with her.
And we rock too.
I am a bit scared to leave Franc on her lap. Again I don’t know why, she will never hurt us, but I am still scared, so I try not to go to the window anymore. I stay and rock and cry and pray.


More than an hour later Mammy comes back, she makes sure that Theresa isn’t just putting on and then she sends me to get Cecil’s mother. She calls this lady ‘Cecil’s mother’ because she has a son named Cecil who came to her nursery school a long time ago. Cecil’s family has four dogs, and one time when Mammy had sent me over there to get ice, all four of them jumped on me and mauled my skinny little frame. That’s not because they’re bad though, because dogs always jump me. Theresa says it is because they can smell that I am scared of them. They never tie the dogs up, no one ever does. But it’s late now so maybe the dogs would be asleep.

It takes about five minutes for me to walk to Cecil’s mother’s house. I walk alone, shivering in the total darkness. No, it isn’t cold, quite warm in fact, warm and humid.
I shiver from the fear I feel of knowing that something is desperately wrong with my auntie. I wish, I wish upon that twinkle, twinkle little star, that it would all be fine when I get back home.
For my sake, I think.
For the first time in my short life of eleven years, I’m a little scared of Theresa, but I don’t know why.

I know that if something bad happens to Theresa, I would die of the fright of us being left alone with ‘Her.’
When I get to Cecil’s house, his dad’s on the veranda. He has a good job at Bermine. I think he is a foreman or something because he wears one of those big, important white helmets to work. He sends down two of his four sons to hold the dogs so I could go upstairs.

Cecil’s mother and I walk quickly back home. She’s short and fat and is puffing by the time we get up the long stairs to our house. We could hear Theresa crying from the front yard, through our house, which was made of thin slats of timber - just like all the other houses in the street.
Between them, Mammy and Cecil’s mother decide that Theresa needs to go to the hospital. Cecil’s mother volunteers to stay with us so that Mammy could take Theresa there, but first she had to go home to call an ambulance (which she paid for) because we’d never had a phone.