Proverbs chapter 24 and Rhema
Raw Word
Above is a link just to the pure Scriptures - raw Word! However, below is some commentary that I add in the hope that the reader may find it comforting and even inspiring as they see how powerfully relevant I find the daily bread of the Word. After all, we don't live on natural bread alone but on every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Logos and Rhema
The full text is included below for your ease of reading, however, I'd like to draw attention today to a distinction some Christians make. "All Scripture is God-Breathed," Paul wrote to Timothy. All Scripture is thus inspired. However, there is a 'quickening' of certain Scriptures to each of us individually at specific times to face a specific challenge or to assign a specific mission. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 "Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.")
Some describe this as the difference between 'Logos' and 'Rhema' - where Rhema is God's Word to you, today, to meet your specific needs. Logos is the general inspired Word of God, but Rhema is God's Word to you right here, right now - your manna, your bread for today.
This can be a life-defining distinction. Jesus walked on the water. Peter walked on the water. But if you try to walk on the water without God's specific command to you, I suggest you may get wet, and even drown. I'd love a wine-business but if I set up storage jars full of water and then start marketing, "The Best Wine Ever," based on bravado centred on Jesus' first miracle, this is closer akin to putting God to the test. Not a wise move. It is not faith, it is bravado.
Today's Rhema for Me Personally
As an illustration of how 'real' God is to me, I want to share what He has 'said' to me or 'quickened' to me today. I do not hear God's audible voice, but God does 'speak' through a reliable Source: the Scriptures made personal by my Counsellor and Comforter, The Holy Spirit.
There were several stand-out words to me today that I'd like to share as an example of the 'quickening'. This, I hope, is similar to the Emmaus Road experience where Jesus 'opened' the Scriptures to two disciples on a specific occasion and their hearts 'burned' within them. Such is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit for us today too.
Luke 24:32
They said to one another, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us, while he spoke to us along the way, and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
For me then,
1) Wisdom is the Builder of My House
Through wisdom a house is built;
by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all rare and beautiful treasure.
I have never owned my own house, and I'm nearly 60. It is tempting to give up hope of ever having my own place and space to create without interruption. However, this was a reminder today that, nevertheless, my focus should be on wisdom and understanding and knowledge - not the house or the promised treasure - rare and beautiful treasure!
I am fascinated to discover what the rare and beautiful treasure would be. For me, there is nothing rarer or more beautiful than flowers in bloom, so perhaps my house will come with an orangery.
This continues in...
2) Enterprise or Ministry First
Prepare your work outside,
and get your fields ready.
Afterwards, build your house.
God's and Wisdom's priorities are clear - first, do the work necessary to get the harvest flowing into your life at a later date. Then think about building your house. Jesus delivered His ministry first... and even said that the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head. God seems to have preferred the Tabernacle days - with no permanent dwelling on Earth. In fact, one could argue that much trial came through the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Honestly, we are supposed to live here as if we had no permanent dwelling place. It is wise to not become too attached. But equally frankly, while I've still got creative potential to write, record, and create video, I'd like my own 'sacred' space to do that in undisturbed.
I am hoping I get a home of my own before I go to my heavenly home, but I still 'receive' the rebalancing of priorities this morning. First the kingdom...
3) Wisdom first...
A wise man has great power;
and a knowledgeable man increases strength;
for by wise guidance you wage your war;
and victory is in many advisors.
Notice that this is 'distributed wisdom' too - you don't have to seek all the answers on your own. As Royalty in Christ, we still need advisors like Earthly Governors and Rulers do. However, the message is bold: in wisdom lies the power and the strength, coupled always with our trust in God. The Spirit of Wisdom is The Holy Spirit.
4) Resilience flows from Wisdom
If you falter in the time of trouble,
your strength is small.
If Wisdom brings power and knowledge increases strength, faltering in the time of trouble can be addressed by increasing wisdom and knowledge.
Get a better mental model - a map of how the world is seen through Divine eyes, and you'll find the strength you need in 'the time of trouble'.
5) Hope and Reward
My son, eat honey, for it is good,
the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste;
so you shall know wisdom to be to your soul.
If you have found it, then there will be a reward:
Your hope will not be cut off.
Wisdom brings to the soul the hope and reward we need.
6) Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls.
Proverbs 13:12 says,
Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but when longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.
In my experience, this 'sickness of the heart' is deadly. It too easily turns to bitterness and then resentment of others who have what we can only dream of and aspire to. That's why the Scriptures so often exhort us not to envy the wicked, and the psalms are full of confusion over why the wicked prosper.
If you start down the slippery slope of bitterness, there's a huge danger of literally being happy, glad, and rejoicing when bad things happen to people we would judge as 'bad' or 'wicked' or our 'enemy'. Don't go there brothers and sisters!
Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls.
Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown,
lest Yahweh see it, and it displease him,
and he turn away his wrath from him.
Don’t fret yourself because of evildoers,
neither be envious of the wicked;
for there will be no reward to the evil man.
The lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.
There is almost no (human) righteous anger. Revenge is folly. Wrapping revenge in a pretence at justice is also folly. We MUST learn to let God overthrow the wicked, and we certainly must not be glad when we see the so-called 'wicked' corrected. I don't have to look too deeply to find wickedness in my own heart. The righteous choose good but that doesn't mean that they are not capable of evil.
Give God the space and time to be God.
7) Don't Pervert the Golden Rule
The worldly-mind almost likes what Jesus said, "Do unto others as you would have them do to you." But they misread this as, "Do to others what they have done to you."
Proverbs, here, thousands of years earlier, puts the Golden Rule on a firmly proactive foundation.
Don’t say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will repay the man according to his work.”
Yes, the truth is that we are to proactively 'do' to others the acts of kindness, mercy, and compassion, that we'd like someone to do to us! Furthermore, repaying evil for evil is off the menu.
8) Diligence or Poverty - it's our call.
The chapter ends with a sober warning and a buoyant encouragement not to be like the Sluggard.
I went by the field of the sluggard,
by the vineyard of the man void of understanding:
Behold, it was all grown over with thorns.
Its surface was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw, and considered well.
I saw, and received instruction:
a little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep,
so your poverty will come as a robber
and your want as an armed man.
CONCLUSION
We must put the Kingdom first and make sure our 'ministry' comes before our own plans for domestic bliss and permanence. Sow first, reap later. We must sow good seed, and not the seed of vengeance. We must remain diligent - unceasingly so. And, according to the book of Proverbs, God is to be found in Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. These should be our life's quest.
Here, for your own inspiration, is the full passage. May your heart burn within you as God speaks to YOU personally. Amen.
Proverbs 24 World English Bible (WEB)
Don’t be envious of evil men,
neither desire to be with them;
for their hearts plot violence
and their lips talk about mischief.
Through wisdom a house is built;
by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all rare and beautiful treasure.
A wise man has great power;
and a knowledgeable man increases strength;
for by wise guidance you wage your war;
and victory is in many advisors.
Wisdom is too high for a fool.
He doesn’t open his mouth in the gate.
One who plots to do evil
will be called a schemer.
The schemes of folly are sin.
The mocker is detested by men.
If you falter in the time of trouble,
your strength is small.
Rescue those who are being led away to death!
Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter!
If you say, “Behold, we didn’t know this,”
doesn’t he who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, doesn’t he know it?
Shall he not render to every man according to his work?
My son, eat honey, for it is good,
the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste;
so you shall know wisdom to be to your soul.
If you have found it, then there will be a reward:
Your hope will not be cut off.
Don’t lay in wait, wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous.
Don’t destroy his resting place;
for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again;
but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls.
Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown,
lest Yahweh see it, and it displease him,
and he turn away his wrath from him.
Don’t fret yourself because of evildoers,
neither be envious of the wicked;
for there will be no reward to the evil man.
The lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.
My son, fear Yahweh and the king.
Don’t join those who are rebellious;
for their calamity will rise suddenly.
Who knows what destruction may come from them both?
These also are sayings of the wise.
To show partiality in judgment is not good.
He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,”
peoples will curse him, and nations will abhor him—
but it will go well with those who convict the guilty,
and a rich blessing will come on them.
An honest answer
is like a kiss on the lips.
Prepare your work outside,
and get your fields ready.
Afterwards, build your house.
Don’t be a witness against your neighbour without cause.
Don’t deceive with your lips.
Don’t say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will repay the man according to his work.”
I went by the field of the sluggard,
by the vineyard of the man void of understanding:
Behold, it was all grown over with thorns.
Its surface was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw, and considered well.
I saw, and received instruction:
a little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to sleep,
so your poverty will come as a robber
and your want as an armed man.
World English Bible (WEB)
by Public Domain. The name "World English Bible" is trademarked.
The Podcast
If you'd like to join me for Daily Bread, there is a purely Scripture podcast I produce that can be found here:
https://renewthemind.buzzsprout.com
And, transparently, this work is not currently fueled by anybody's resources but my own efforts with God's help and grace. It would be delightful to have some of those who benefit from it help to grow the outreach. If this could be you, kindly drop me a private message.