FREEDOM IN KNOWLEDGE

Proverbs 14:24
The crown of the wise is their riches:
But the foolishness of fools is folly.

A crown is defined as an encircling of the head marking authority. It marks an authority which is displayed to all; riches and accomplishments we are proud of.

We will go ‘double-dip’ for this one. I always believe that the ‘Book’ provide the interpretation for the ‘Book’. Let us then compare this proverb with the following one, The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. Proverbs 14:18 I think that it is more appropriate to associate the riches of the wise with his intelligent knowledge of the Word rather than with an excess of personal abundance. The contrast of the second stanza also confirms the interpretation.

In the Revelation that Yeshua gave to John at the end of the Messianic Scriptures, it is written that we shall reign with the Messiah in the Millennium. This ‘reigning’ though is not a ‘given’. It is conditional. The Messianic Scriptures specify that it is he that ‘suffers with Him’ who shall also ‘reign’ with Him. It is those who were beheaded resisting the beast’s government who inherit that crown (Rev 20:4).

The prophet Hoseah proclaims under the inspiration of the Most High, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: He then explains what he means in the following words: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. Hoseah 4:6. Many believers today swallow an uninformed form of godliness without the power thereof while rejecting an honest and sincere form and though it, their faith is destroyed. We need to each one of us be responsible for our knowledge of Scripture. Our intelligent knowledge of Scripture is what keeps the sneaky hands of the ‘beast’ off of us, and is the crown of our ruling.

Our Master did say, Ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.

Let us therefore not be lazy, just satisfied with other’s re-ingurgitations of the Word.

Let us take responsibility to know It so we escape the oppression of bondage as well as the lies of bigotry.

THE PROOF IN THE PUDDING

Proverbs 14:23
In all labour there is profit:
But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

Therein lies one of the big differences between the Greek culture that influences our society and the Hebraic mind that permeates the Jewish Scriptures. It is easy to love and praise God, to proclaim His Name and truth, to be sorry and repentant, to confess to new life and rebirth, all with the talk of the lips. People will listen to an emotional speech and confession and cry wondering how one could express such truths and not be real. Words will lure them into false doctrines and financial scams and in the end they will wonder how they could have been so dumb.

Words are cheap! Words fool us for action. Words rob us from the reality of action.

Greek grammar, like ours, revolves around the noun of the sentence. We talk about things. Hebrew grammar revolves around the verb: the action. We actually know very little about what the Hebrew Bible heroes looked like, but we know what they did. We know that because that’s what matters.

Who cares what they looked like?

I told one of my students yesterday, “you can express repentance all you want, but until you have been faced with the same type of situation and made a different choice, it’s all just words”. The Hebrew mind believes that we praise and love God by our actions and decisions; that we proclaim His Name and Truth by our daily walk and attitudes; that we confess to new life and rebirth by showing ‘fruits meet for repentance’. Maybe this is why there was no revival in Jerusalem until Yeshua actually resurrected from the dead. Until them, as far as they were concerned, it was just words and tricks. But the resurrection was the action that sealed Yeshua’s words into Truth and verity, and that is when there was a revival in Jerusalem which eventually got flooded with disciples.

Let us not fool others, and especially not ourselves into ‘faith’ because of words easily and quickly spoken.

The ‘proof’, is in the proverbial ‘pudding’:

a life lived by His commandments:

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

2 John 1:6

WE END UP WHERE WE LEAD OTHERS

Proverbs 14:22
Do they not err that devise evil? But mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.

We live in a world where good and evil would want to blur together in a single deceitful falsity. Constantly devising evil, the spirit of antichrist has finally succeeded to deceive nation after nation, individual after individual to endorse the confusion (Confusion in Hebrew: Babel, or Babylon) of his evil ways thereby causing many to go astray as himself is astray.

Many desire to tell us what to do and what to believe. Many call us to their cause. Having no valuable truth to help them shed light, they have to try to outshine others by attempting to blow out their candle. Nothing seems to be ‘off the table’ when it comes to convincing others of the evil ways of their opponent. Oh yes by the way, they all proclaim to believe. Believe in what?

We can be thankful that we have the inspired Words of the Almighty to help us make the difference between their words and their actions. We are told in our passage today that those who devise evil err. This kingly advice does not include a motivation. It doesn’t tell us that the end justifies the means. It does not tell us that erring is a result of devising evil. It merely tells us that we err when we devise evil.

Paul, our Jewish messianic Rabbi concurs the point. Himself the victim of evil plots fomented by those who would wish to silence him he said, Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21.) This Pauline statement was not conceived from a so-called new found Christian doctrine of love as many would believe, but is simply a reflection of his training in applying the principles outlined in the following sort of Scripture: If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again (Exodus 23:4.)

It is so tempting to want to repay evil; to devise plots to the demise of those we have issues and problems with. But when we do so, we lower ourselves to their ethics; we become like them; we end up where we desire to lead them. Let us who believe therefore represent well the One in whom we believe and not stoop down to such low-blows as devising evil against our ‘should-not-be’ enemies. If we do, we will find ourselves in the same pit where we wish our enemies to fall.

THE IMAGE OF THE KING

Proverbs 14:21
He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth:
But he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

This passage is so rich I don’t know if I can give it justice in my daily few words.

We are created in the image of the Creator. We are the representation of the King on earth. Being created by the commandment of His mouth, we literally are the ‘spitting’ image of our Father. When we see out brother (sister), the fear of God should enter in us as if it were someone bearing the seal and authority of the King.

When a king of flesh and blood conquers a country he puts up portraits and statues of himself. He mints coins with his image. After a while, when the people of the country are not happy with him anymore, they overturn his portraits, break his statues and invalidate his coins. They show their contempt by breaking, spoiling and defacing anything that bears the image of the King.

We see it happen around the world. People who hate the U.S.A. vent their anger by burning ephygies (images) of the President or of our flag. That is man’s way to reduce his enemies. So, too, one who sheds blood, he reduces the image of the King as it is written (Genesis 9:6): "One who spills a man's blood... for in the image of G-d He made man."

One thing I have noticed while studying biblical history and principles is that the Father is always on the side of the victim. The conflict may involve a righteous person against another righteous person. It may involve a righteous person against an unrighteous person. Maybe it is about an unrighteous person against a righteous person. It may also involve an unrighteous person against another unrighteous persons. Whatever the elements are, the Father is always on the side of the victim.

These principles should create the fear of God in us about despising, spoiling, defacing and reducing another human being made in the image of the King in any way shape or form.

No human being is accountable to another, but we are all accountable to God.

WEALTH: A STATE OF MIND.

Proverbs 14:20
The poor is hated even of his own neighbour:
But the rich hath many friends.

This proverb is rich in perspectives. One of them, in its literal sense, is really a testament to the dark side of human nature. We should take notice of it and not give more value to the friendships of our comfortable days than is meet. We should not be surprised to see all our ‘friends’ disappear when the well is dry and the party is over. Penury is a great relationship sifter: those who stay with us through it are the real friends.

Another perspective lays in the realm of spiritual values. I have heard it said that the real true rich person is not the one who can spend a lot, but the one who has everything he needs and is satisfied. I have also heard it said that wealth is not to be counted by what a person has but by what a person gives.

Viewed in that light, I dare submit that such a person has many true friends. A person who is content and satisfied from the inside out is agreeable to be around. Such a person does not whine always wishing for more and for better days. Such a person doesn’t feel the need to hoard and is not afraid to share of themselves with others. Let us not forget that contentment and satisfaction are a state of mind, not a financial achievement.

As disciples of the Master, we claim to have found the pearl of great price. We claim that we have found that wealth that is more precious than anything else, but yet, we often seem to act like beggars or people who have been cheated of the best. Doesn’t that sound like the Children of Israel in the desert? They were fed with food from heaven; their water came from the Everlasting Rock; their clothes and shoes never wore out; they were carried on eagle’s wing and yet, they complained about their condition. Do we really value what we have? Do we really need more and better than what He, in His great wisdom has decided to give us?

They say that the worlds financial systems failed because of greed. Does our option to happiness fail because of greed? In these times of financial uncertainty we should reevaluate these things in our hearts and make sure that we don’t repeat history on our own lives.

THE WORD IS ITS OWN REWARD.

Proverbs 14:19
The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

Indeed in this scripture the just, the righteous, he who has on this side of the grave given his life to the works of the father, he who live under the atonement of the only Righteous One whose blood represents us in the sight of the Creator, finds comfort and final justice from the many woes of this world.

Finally justice is rendered. Finally the righteous is avenged. Finally things are right side up and the Righteous rules; the righteousness of Messiah is the commanding factor.

A friend of mine has for a long time been troubles as he had been taught about prosperity of the righteous in this age as part and parcel of making a decision for the Almighty. His situation is not financially as good as he thinks it befits the righteous so he wonders if these promises of righteous rule and prosperity are valid, or just poetry.

In the Gospel of Luke, the adversary reminds Yeshua that this present wold ha been given to him. Believers should do well to remember that. Jewish sages always taught that in this world there is no reward for following the Word; that the Word is its own reward. They teach that any other form of rewards for our good decisions in this world are reserved for the world to come when Messiah finally distributes rewards.

The Word, the torah, the indwelling of the Spirit should represent our only satisfaction in this world. Anything else is extra. Do we deserve more? I should say no. Our very breath is a gift we do not deserve.

In this day of financial insecurity, may we learn to keep things in the right perspective.

May we learn to be thankful.

May we learn in whatsoever state we are to be content, for contentment with godliness is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6).

FLEE SIMPLICITY

Proverbs 14:18
The simple inherit folly:
But the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

Our last three proverbs have one principle in common: careful scrutiny and meticulous self-evaluation are the characteristics of the righteous. Impulsive actions and superficiality are the mark of fools.

This Book where the Words of the Father are recorded, even before it found its way on sheep skins and parchments, was the first book to keep records of anything. It was the first book to be ever printed on Guttenberg’s press. This Book as suffered the most threats of any other book and according to logic should have been lost many times. Instead, it is today the most printed book and the yearly best seller. There are also more commentaries and information about this Book than for any other book. Yet, it is still the most misunderstood Book.

It seems that God certainly did His part in preserving the Book through the rage of the ages and in publishing it. What seems to have failed is our faithfulness to properly study it, all because of our simplicity. The answers to the most complicated issues of life are right there in front of our noses in the Book and yet, we do not see them. The word ‘simple’ in our text refers to one who is easily seduced and manipulated. He is easily seduced and manipulated because he doesn’t live consciously and prayerfully. Due to our simplicity and lack of depth, instead of true knowledge we, in the end, inherit folly and lies that sometimes we even claim come from the Book.

Let us cease from simplicity.

Let us turn off the entertaining media that lulls us into the sleep of death.

Let us walk for a change with the prudent.

Let us steer away from the glitter of popular preachers/speakers/entertainers and

let us learn from the sages; from the ancients whose spirit is matured by the prejudice of ignorant masses, and whose crown of knowledge is stained with the blood of martyrdom for the truth.

Let us leave behind the falsities of Babylon, Greece and Rome.

Let us walk with the Son Adam who died and rose, that we may with Him, die to our childish foolish simplicity, and rise in godly knowledge and maturity.

DISTINCTIONS

Proverbs 14:17
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly:
And a man of wicked devices is hated.

The great majority of these proverbs teach us principles through the development of contrasts. In this proverb, the contrast is not between good and evil, wisdom vs foolishness; it is rather between two forms of evil: between one who foolishly and thoughtlessly allows his anger to vent hastily, and one who, with all due process of though, slowly premeditate his evil. The first is just foolish and only gets the reward allotted to fools, but the second incurs the hatred of every man.

The Father in Heaven is a God of distinctions. He distinguishes between righteous and unrighteous; between good and evil, between and good and good, between evil and evil. His very nature is a nature of distinction between pure and defiled, between clean and unclean, the holy and the profane. The word ‘Holy” actually means: separated; set-aside for the use of God. If our Father, which is in Heaven, makes distinctions between one thing and the other, shouldn’t we, being His children do the same?

Many, in their attempts towards political correctness and undue tolerance want to let go of all standards. They consider their successful unity with the human race dependant on their horizontal earthly relationships styles rather than on their vertical relationship with their heavenly Father. But even then, there is a difference between the person who lets go of godly standards in a hasty frustrated angry decision that he may regret later when his spirits are leveled, and the person who premeditates his rebellion with all due consciousness of thought. The first can be forgiven with a reprimand; the second leads others astray who later hate him. The first is a sin of the head, the second a sin of the heart.

All in all though, the proverb is here to warn us. As we read and acknowledge its virtue, we should stand warned and without excuses, our eyes now being opened. When our eyes are opened with the knowledge of His truth, our Master said that we become without excuse. Let us therefore learn from this great wisdom. Even though distinction is made between foolish hasty sins and those that are premeditated, let us be guilty of neither.

AN ELECTION YEAR PRAYER

Proverbs 14:16
A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil:
But the fool rageth, and is confident.

Were we not in an election year at such a pivotal time of world history, this verse would not seem so significant. The onlooker watches world events unfold and cannot help but ask:

does history repeat itself?

About two millenniums and half ago, the kingdom of Babylon was so confident in its strength and destiny. God himself wrote on its palace’ walls. The prophet came to interpret the writing. Yet the people kept on partying and arguing over petty things. They had grown to such a state of lethargy, complacency, pride arrogance that God could have appeared in all His glory and screamed at their ears, they would not have heard.

Could this scenario describe this generation? Is the world so confident in its obviously failed and broken down systems that it does not see the handwriting on the wall? That it does not hear the prophet’s call? I have heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. In its deafness to God’s voice, the world want to heal its financial woes by using the same ‘toxic’ financial methods that caused it to be sick in the first place. It may work with human biology, but unlike the human body, financial systems do not develop anti-bodies.

Can any prayer be prayed? Yes. A prayer can always be prayed. The prayer I pray today is that God may give us the spirit of the Wise Man who fears from evil, and delivers us from the confident arrogance of the fool.

THE RULER

Proverbs 14:15
The simple believeth every word:
But the prudent man looketh well to his going.

We live in the age of information. We live in a time when many make their living through their much talking. They cater to those who, like the Greeks in the Aeropagus, spend their time browsing channels and the Internet constantly in search of a new thing. These people want to see a new show, hear a new sermon, by a new preacher, provoking a new revival. They want a new self-help program with a new idea born of a new concept. Once that novelty has tickled their heart, they fell that they are given what they need and they go on their merry way.

How many go astray? How many loose their way in the fickle glitter of the world? How many hear, see and receive without proving the length, the width and the height of what they are being offered? And most of all: what is the Bureau of Standard by which we measure all idea? What ruler should we use?

Yes my friend; you guessed it. What could be more appropriate for establishing truth and untruth than the Divine utterances of the Holy Book? But here lies our next problem: how can we measure all truth with the Word if we are not familiar with Its measuring system? Coming from Europe, I learned metrics and decimals. Until today I have difficulties with the feet, inches and yard system, but if want to be accurate in my measuring in this land, I must fully familiarize myself with this new system. The same applies to our hearts. Our hearts is God’s land. What comes into it has to be measured by the standards of God’s Word, but to be able to do so, we must have a working knowledge of It from Genesis to Revelation.

Let us not be therefore like the ‘simple’ who believes every word of doctrine, but let us be like the ‘prudent’ who looks well to his going, establishing everything by the standard of the Word of God.

THE WAY OF LIFE

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Therewith we are warned.

I had a theological discussion with a friend the other day.. I felt that my friend lacked important information on the issue at hand, and therefore was impaired in making a full intelligent judgment. When faced with that fact, as if trying to save face, he pulled out of his arsenal the only argument he had left and said, “But I know I am right because I am convinced in my heart about it.”

For millenniums, in spite of biblical evidence proving otherwise, scientists thought that the earth was at the center of the universe. They could prove it by showing the sun circling around it, but hey were wrong. Our new ability to find people’s D.N.A. continually embarrasses our judicial systems as we discover that innocent people have been falsely locked away for life and even sentenced to death. In the zeal of youth, while convinced we are so right, we are often drawn us into words and actions we often regret and have to recant at a more mature time of life. How many times does the Bible tell us the story of God’s people being so wrong, even though at the time they were led by so-called priests and prophets? Even so today, we may have learned something all of our lives, when suddenly it dawns on us that we have been taught lies (Jeremiah 16:19).

Because we are so easily deceived, whether by internal or external forces, we are not at liberty to establish what is right and what is wrong. Because of our sinful state, we are not able to define what is just and what is unjust. Because of our limited scope, we cannot understand righteousness as God understands it. Therefore to help us in our earthly walk, God gave us the Torah which is the parameter by which we establish right and wrong, just and unjust, righteous and sinful. Only the Torah gives us the right elements of judgment.

Oh, that we would return; that we would return to following the Lord; to see justice and righteousness through His eyes.

Someday soon, we will!

WATCH OUT WHAT YOU PRAY FOR

Proverbs 14:14
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways:
And a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

There is old gypsy blessing that says, “May God give you want you want’. King David, then Father of our author wrote that we are gods. Of course, he didn’t mean that we are ‘God’, but he meant that our ability to live by choice instead of by instinct like animals is a godlike faculty. Yet freedom of choice, as wonderful as it is, has its drawbacks. One of them is that it imputes us with the responsibility of our decisions, good and bad.

This proverb leaves us on a sad fatalistic note. One who has a backslider’s heart, like the proverbial prodigal son, will be filled of the perverse things which he enjoys. He will be recompensed with the things which he desires. I personally cannot think of a greatest curse. I saw a short movie recently about a gangster who died in a shoot out with police. After he died he was taken to a place where his every whim received compensation: Women that responded to his every want; food and wine to his fill; casinos where he won every game. He could even fake a bank robbery where he of course, would succeed. In the end he got bored to death with the predictability of it all and desperately wanted to leave, but couldn’t. Our gangster then asked his ‘guardian angel’ guide what in the world gave him a place in heaven instead of the ‘other place’. The guide then answered him, ‘this is the ‘other place’.

On the other hand, a good man, a man whose heart desires the things of God more than things of the world, will also receive compensation from the desires of his heart. But since his heart loves the Father, He will receive the heavenly compensation that only the father can give.

Let us be mindful of what we ask for; we might just get it!

OF JOY AND SORROW

Proverbs 14:13

Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.

Every human heart knows its own sorrow. It carries within itself the natural melancholy that comes with the knowledge of its separation from its true spiritual home. The nothingness and temporal nature of the joys of this world only add to its secret sorrows grown from infancy on. But oh how men like to hide it; yes especially men.

Even the when the heart indulges in the joys of this life, even in spite of mirth and merriment, sadness makes itself perceptible. It reveals the subconscious nature of joy: a momentary earthly tool to escape the sorrow of the soul until that day, when reunited with its Creator, it will finally experience and own the true joy that it was created to own. The German writer Euchel knowledgeably writes: “No, man is not made for joy. Why weep his eyes when in heart he laughs?”

The Father made us so. He created us unable to experiment the full nature of joy and happiness on this earth so that we would long for home, for Heaven. Just like with the Children of Israel of old, life had to become tough in Egypt for them to desire to return to their land. The twentieth century saw the purchase of the state of Israel by the British right after WWI, but it wasn’t until the tragic events of WWII that the Jewish people decided to return to their Land. It was by the river of Babylon that they hang their harps unable to sing the songs of Zion because of the sorrow that captured their hearts. They knew that their own sins kept them away from their home. Today, melancholy also reigns in our heart because of the knowledge that our own sins keep us away from the Father’s beautiful garden.

The Father has created all things for us freely to enjoy, so let us enjoy life on this earth, but as we do, let us always remember one thing. Let us always remember that we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth. That do not belong to this reality, but that our lives is merely in transit here, waiting for the day when we will enter the true joy of the Father, a joy that is ours by the covenantal blood of Messiah.

We will then experience the fullness of the Sabbath of which we today only get a weekly foreshadow.

HIS WAY/OUR WAY

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

In the very beginning, when God established the foundations of the earth and of the seas; when He established the boundaries of the cosmos, He also established the ways of righteousness. In His magnificent wisdom, the Creator of the universe imbedded the principles wherewith we are to live within the very elements and schedules of His creation; He taught us to live in rhythm and harmony with the world He created for us. According to His command, we are to live a 7-day work week; work 6 days and enjoy a rest in an appointment with Him on the seventh day. We are to start our twenty-four hour schedule at end of the day, our month with the new moon, and our year according to rain and agriculture in the place where He has set His Name. If we remember and follow this schedule, we will work in rhythm and harmony with the Creator of it all, and we would never be lost.

Sad to say, there are always people on earth who claim to know better than God. They are like immature teenagers who think they always know better than their father. Two thousand years ago, Julius Caesar, a sun-worshipper, wanted to change the calendar to honor his god. He proceeded therefore to create the solar calendar upon which our whole world depends today. A few hundred years later, a monk called Gregory, implemented this calendar for the whole Roman Empire.

God’s calendar is ruled by the stars in the cosmos. Imbedded within, we find not only the rhythm of the seasons, but alongside, we find the plan for the redemption od the world. Paul wrote to the disciples in Thessalonica that he did not need to teach them about the time of the coming of the Antichrist nor of the return of Yahoshua because he knew that they were familiar with the calendar that taught them these things. As a result he said: you are not of darkness, but of the light.

Without the light of God’s plan to lead us, we go establish our own form of righteousness in our own calendar and our own feast days. In the end, because we do not walk anymore in step with the Creator who leads us to life eternal, in our blindness, our way becomes the way of death.

May we rediscover the plan of the Almighty by rediscovering His calendar. May we be bold and courageous enough to step out of the ways of blindness leading to death through ignorance, and start walking in God’s life’ rhythm.

TENT OR HOUSE?

Proverbs 14:11
The house of the wicked shall be overthrown:
But the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.

It is interesting to see how in this saying, the wicked lives in a firmly founded house, while the righteous lives in a temporary tent (tabernacle = tent). In another one of his proverbs though, Solomon assigns the house to the just, but the term ‘house’ can also refer to ‘lineage’.

Believers should be reminded that this age is not the end. This age is the means to bring us to the end; it procures the process that brings us to our final destination. Our end, our destination, is the restoration of all things: Yeshua, living on earth with us as it was in the Garden of Eden. We should therefore not grow our foundations too deep. Even today’s present volatile geo-political and economic situations should remind us that nothing is certain in this world. We should consider ourselves like righteous Noah who saw his generation come to an end, and like Abraham who considered himself a pilgrim and stranger on this earth.

The wicked on the contrary is pleased with the present world. In his arrogance, he establishes a strong house in it, which he thinks will last forever. He doesn’t mind the confusion, the wickedness, the pollution, the dirt, and the spiritual contamination of all things. He feels right at home in it.

The strong firmly founded house of the house shall be overthrown. When the day of judgment comes, the arrogant wicked who felt right at home in the filth of this present world will see his world unravel and come apart. Dusk will take him by surprise and the wintry night will encompass and overcome him. But the just, who put his trust in the Father of the heavens, in the One who created and who holds the universe in place, will see his tent flourish and rise over the destruction of the wicked. The sun of a new day will bring him the buds and blossoms of a renewed season of life.

WHO KNOWS THE HEART OF MAN

Proverbs 14:10
The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.

This enigmatic proverb actually has a very simple meaning. The saying, “Every one knows where the shoe pinches him”, touches some on its message. Only the heart of man, the element in the center of his individuality, knows what brings bitterness to his soul. He only knows what troubles him, what brings him grief. That is why a ‘stranger’, one who is not ‘us’, cannot fully experience the joy that comes to us when these grieving elements in our life are superceded by the things that bring us joy.

This principle explains the relative properties of joy and happiness. One who has experienced hunger has a deeper appreciation for his daily bread; he is less picky about his food. One who has experienced loneliness is more grateful for the company others; he more easily overlooks their flaws. One who has seen the miseries of the world rejoices more when good news come his way; little joys are more easily found.

This principle is also true of salvation. The clearer we understand our sinful nature, the greater our joy of salvation. The better we understand the final end of our fallen spiritual state, the more we appreciate our redemption. The more, through the personal experience of persecution, we can relate to the sufferings of the Master, the more we appreciate what He has done for us.

A lonely woman recently died as her car crashed into the church of a small town in Western Oregon. She was unknown to most of the town’s people so for most, the story will quickly die as common daily news. A closer look at Linda’s life through the heart and eyes of the very few people who knew her, reveals a kind woman exposing the flaws of our spiritually broken and sick society. This woman was never noticed during her life, but now, in her death, she has made state news. Who was she? What happened? Will anyone ever know? Our appreciation of her earthly contribution in our midst can only come by knowing more about her, but we don’t know much. How many people on this earth, be they teachers, soldiers, firemen, parents, common folks like you and me are overlooked for accurate appreciation, just because we don’t know them?

GRAB HOLD OF THE SACRIFICE

Proverbs 14:9
Fools make a mock at sin:
But among the righteous there is favour.

It is the Hebrew of this verse which reveals its contrast nature. The word used for sin really is actually a word that means the ‘atoning sacrifice for sin’. In the Hebrew there is also a subject change to where it is the ‘atoning sacrifice for sin that mocks the fool’. What we have here is an instance where the sacrifice chides the fool for his carelessness disobedience towards God’s commandments to sacrifice. The commandment exposes the fool as a sinner separated from God. The commandment shows the fool he needs the sacrifice to restore him to his relationship with God. The sacrifice stands there in full view of the fool who is to foolish and proud to reach out to it so he could come again close to the peace of God. The fool is being chided through the confused emptiness of his life while the righteous, one who is straight in his relationship with God, because he cares about the commandments, finds favor meaning, and true purpose.

The sacrifice of Messiah stands near to all us ready to restore us unto the Father. But we first must let the commandment convict us as sinners. It is the Torah, the instruction erroneously called in English ‘the Law’, which teaches us the knowledge of sin and therefore reveals to us we are sinners. Through this Instruction we are meant to discover that we need the sacrifice of the ‘Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world’ to erase these sins from us so we can again find peace in the arms of the Almighty Father.

Let us stop the scoffing right now. Let us grab hold of the atoning blood of Messiah for a whole guilt and sin offering. Then we will, as the elders did at Mt Horeb, seat at the millennial bridal banquet table of the Prince of Peace for the most grandiose of peace offering feast. The we will, in the presence of the Son, find final peace for our souls.

LET US NOT BE IGNORANT

Proverbs 14:8
The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way:
But the folly of fools is deceit.

How easy it is to passively walk our life. How tempting it is to let status quo, habits, fads and flows lead our step without any understanding of our ways. After all, aren’t we supposed to walk in consensus? ‘This is the way people have believed for hundreds of years, they certainly cannot be wrong. Forget trying to dig deeper into the roots in order to uncover the true foundation of faith. Let us just continue drifting with the flow asking no question for the conscience.’

The problem with that is that we are not made as the animals who walk by instinct. The great Creator of the universe has seen fit to give us a mind and a soul so that we can walk by choice. To properly walk by choice, we must intelligently understand our way, otherwise, we can easily be deceived by smooth-tongued teachers.

It is the responsibility of each one of us to understand our faith, the things we believe and why we believe them. I was told about God’s care for me when I was 11. I received Yahoshua as my Messiah when I was 17. For a long time I learned all that others had to offer me until one day, when I was 40, I decided that I wanted to know why I believed the way I did. This research took me straight back to Mt Sinai and to the first Jewish Messianic church of first century C.E. It is there, in the Pentecost Sinaitic connection that I discovered the roots of my faith and that I understood what I believed and most essentially why.

This is wisdom beloved: to understand our way.

The folly of fool is deceit in the passivity of voluntary ignorance.

CHOOSING FRIENDS

Proverbs 14:7

Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.

The concept of excluding those who do not reflect our values from our midst is not as unpopular as the one that defines: ‘lips of knowledge’.

In our present context, ‘lips of knowledge’ refers solely to a practical and applied knowledge of the Word. Practical and applied, because whereas it is foolish enough not know the Word, it is utter foolishness to know it and not do it.

The reasons for ‘going’ from the presence of the ‘foolish man’, from the man who either does not know the Word, or knows it but doesn’t practice it, are given us in the following proverbs, let it therefore now suffice to say that wisdom demands that we do not enter intimate dependant fellowship with such people.

The application of such in this day and age certainly does have the potential of leaving us lonely, but lonely is good. Lonely brings depth as we are one on one in the presence of God. Lonely takes us away from the games we play in the presence of others and close to God as we are faced with the reality of our true self.

If anything can teach wisdom, that does.

Of course, this proverb also has to be balanced with other proverbs who tell us to utter wise words to the ‘fool’ so maybe he would repent from his foolish ways. What we are told here is not to enter intimate fellowship with such. In the old days, potential friends had to be brought home for approval.

Do we bring our friends to the Father for His approval?

LIVE CLOSE TO THE SOURCE

Proverbs 14:6
A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not:
But knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.

Life has a tendency to make us cynical. It is difficult today to believe in purity, truth, love, justice and integrity. It is much easier to become cynical and doubt all the good we see and could imagine. That is why it is of the utmost importance that we stay close to the Master in our heart, mind and Spirit.

Knowledge is easy to him that understands because he lives close to the source. Scorners do not live close to the Master. They actually doubt His presence; mock the pure goals He tries to accomplish; they laugh at His attempts to restoration of the world; they are distant to him. Because of their ‘distance’ between them and Him, they cannot find the wisdom that could bring virtue to their lives.

On the other hand, those who live close to Him have no difficulty in finding wisdom. How do we live close to Him? Ancient Jewish sages used to disciple their students. Elijah did it when he met Elishah. Prospective Torah student would often renounce all other worldly ambition in order to live close to their Rabbi; they even became part of the Rabbi’s family. We see this dynamic illustrated in the New Testament. Paul claims to have begotten the community of believers in Corinth. John calls the assembly of believers his ‘children’. This is what He referred to when Yahoshua said that those who follow and obey God’s commandments are his mother and brethren (notice he did not say ‘father’). He was defining His relationship with his followers, not that with His relatives. He was bringing his disciples to His close family circle, not distancing himself from His family in favor of His disciples. That would have been anti-contextual.

And what do we learn from that? If wisdom is to be found easily, we have to live close to the Master; to live close to the Master and be a part of His family of disciples, we have to obey God’s commandments.

There is no big secret: water, pure water, is found by living close to the source.