No Guarantees

Proverbs 1:33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Sometimes we want guarantees in life. We want investments that will only increase in value, and the greater the increase the better! We want relationships that won’t fail. We want an auto repair that is cheaper than projected, but better than the expensive alternative. We want all prayers to be answered our way, and we want quick cures for terminal illnesses.

We often hear Scriptures quoted as though they were nice sayings on a flip calendar or wall plaque. Some people even believe those sayings apply to them!

But sometimes the best meaning people miss the full meaning by ripping a verse out of its context. Just like our language only makes full sense when you know when, how, to whom, and for what reason the words were spoken. There is more to life than soundbites.

Take our verse for instance. The first thing we need to know is that the literary genre of proverb is not contract language used by a lawyer. Proverbs speak about the majority of cases, not individual cases. They are statements meant to direct the way we live, but not guarantees that the outcome will be as written in any particular case.

This can be hard for us who live in the West. We like statements of fact, not best practices. But proverbs are the LORD’s “Best Practices” for holy living. If we want to live godly in Christ Jesus, then Proverbs can provide so much practical help.

The verse right before our text reads, “For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.” If we read this verse and looked around our world we were certainly know that this is not an ironclad promise on our timeframe. There would be a lot of dead people around if this were true.

But we can see the general principle, can’t we. Those who lack godly wisdom often do end up on the bottom end of life. The natural consequences of neglecting a relationship with the LORD are trouble and heartache. I hear it every day as a therapist. People are creative in the ways they can shipwreck their lives.

But by contrast, those who are willing to listen to wisdom in all its forms tend to do better in life. Even simple wisdom like “Don’t play in the street” can provide a level of safety that might be missed if the wisdom is ignored.

So when we are willing to hear proverbs for what they are, “Best Practices for Life”, then we get much more out of them than a plaque or a meme. They can guide and direct, care and protect. They offer the wisdom of the holy boiled down and concentrated for our meditation.

Proverbs are meant to be chewed again and again. Our circumstances will bring different flavors to them at different moments in our life. So they provide a lifetime of nutrition.