Three passages struck me in today's Proverbs reading:
Wealth gathered hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.
--One can't help but think of the speed with which so many lottery winners lose their windfall, and how often this happens to many others who pine after money. Meanwhile, there are those individuals who simply save a little at a time and go about life quite unconcerned, generous to a fault, and who end up leaving a boatload to some charity or other. Practical wisdom there in Proverbs, but it also goes deeper to the true riches in Christ. These are assimilated not in huge chunks, but in little bits, as we day by day seek to put into practice what we learn and so be transformed by it. We end up rich before we even realize it happened - rich in the life that is in God!
Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.
--And this is so because the Word, the instruction and commandment of the Lord, is the Holy Spirit's chosen instrument to shape within us the mind of Christ and to destroy within us the way of thinking of the old Adam.
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.
--And certainly living with the Sacred Scripture is to "walk with the wise" together with living with those in whom that Scripture has shaped the life of Christ! A gift of the Treasury itself is allowing us to walk with the wise - the writings of Sacred Scripture and the wisdom of those across the many centuries who have learned to live in and from the faith of Christ - and it does much to counteract the "companion of fools" that we make ourselves when we immerse ourselves in the "media" offerings of the day.
We despise the word when we do not trust Christ's words of forgiveness to us. Despising is unbelief, which is the root of all sin. We revere the commandment when we trust in Christ who fulfilled the Law on our behalf. These are the things which Christ spoke to his disciples who spoke them to the entire world after the Holy Spirit came and taught them all things and reminded them of Jesus' words.
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Matt
Thank you for teaching on this! I am also reading Proverbs in the Treasury and am aware that it calls for some preaching. It is not easy to see Christ in a book that reads very much like a compendium of ordinary common wisdom. It takes a pastor to keep us reminded that the point of all scripture is Christ crucified and resurrected for us. Also, when proverbs promise rewards to the righteous person, we should not put ourselves in the place of the righteous, but put the Only Righteous Man in this place.
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