Morrison’s Song of Solomon is a beautiful, painful, well-crafted narrative of, well, dark times in America’s past. I am not quite through with it yet, but I cannot praise it quite enough.

I laid it down on the table beside my reading chair and took Ladybug out to do her thing before our bedtime.

When I did, she and I remained outside for a few moments. As she went off under the trees to do her thing, I gazed at the moon high above the oaks.

And Psalm 8 ran through my soul.

Introduction: Ever realized this reality, namely, that we humans have a ‘superpower’? It’s the power of being able to lie. We sinners, dear ones, can do something God cannot: lie.

Why This Matters: There’s a passage in Numbers 23 that is so encouraging to Christians. It’s this: God cannot lie.

Text: God is not man, that he should lie,
    or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
    Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)

Teaching: Balaam finally started to get his life right. He finally started to serve God rather than Satan. The truth is freeing. That’s what Jesus was teaching:

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

Encouragement: The Christ-follower will be known via his transparency, his veracity, his truthfulness. Sinners’ ‘superpower’ (the ability to lie) is not one to cultivate; it is one to see for the evil it is. Balaam was finally figuring this out in Numbers 23, and we do well to learn as he did.

Text: “Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me” (Proverbs 30:7-8).

Context, Context, Context: Proverbs is part of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. It’s practical wisdom for everyday life. And the recurring pattern in Proverbs is that of “Not this but that.” Not folly but wisdom. Not lies but truth. Not deception but transparency. Not evil but good, etc.

Teaching: In Proverbs 30:7-8 Agur asks God for two things: 1) to be shaped into an honest man/be removed from false men and 2) to have his daily bread.

Connection to Christ: Remember Jesus’s sermon from Matthew 6:11? It’s part of his Sermon on the Mount: “Give us this day our daily bread . . .” It’s the same principle as you find in Proverbs 30:7-8, written centuries before. It’s all connected; it’s one coherent story.

Two Things:

• Honesty (one’s own and to not associate with liars)
• Provision

Encouragement: The wisdom literature is called that for a reason. Agur’s words are part of the canon of Scripture. He is teaching the same things Jesus taught, namely, that God’s people are to be known via their integrity and the company they keep and that God is our provider.

Text: “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions” (Romans 14:1).

Context, Context, Context: Paul was the sherherding leader. Paul knew the Lord more intimately than those he led. Why? Because how can you be qualified to lead and teach if you’re a neophyte? Pride precedes the fall, that is bromidic. Thus, it is essential for us to listen to wisdom, to inculcate it in our ministries.

You need some scars. You need some experience. You need God’s wisdom. And Paul, sinner though he was, was God’s man. And he, too, had to learn patience. And if there’s a hard lesson to learn when you’re trying to lead, that’s it: patience. Be patient with others, because they might not be as biblically mature.

Encouragement: Ever battle the temptation to just say, “Oh my goodness! How can you not understand this? This is so basic! I certainly have. But God is patient with us, dear ones, and we are to emulate that patience by being patient with others. It’s easy to win an argument but lose the person. Let us aim not to do that. Let us recognize that it’s people we are about, not just about appearing to win a temporal argument.

Text: “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1).

Context, Context, Context: Solomon is penning part of what’s known in Scripture as the wisdom literature. The book of Proverbs is, well, just that–a collection of aphorisms. And one of Solomon’s preferred literary techniques is the use of antithetical parallelism. All that means is that the first half of a verse demonstrates one quality, whereas the second half of the verse demonstrates its opposite via contrast.

Two Types of People:

• The wicked person
• The righteous person

The first half of the verse pictures the wicked person as evasive, on the run, fleeing. Why? Because he is up to no good. He is crafty and shady.

The second half of the verse pictures the contrast of a good and righteous man. He is “bold as a lion.” Why? Because he has nothing to hide. He values transparency and his life is an open book.

Encouragement: Christ commands his people to be salt and what else? Light. “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5:13).

And light, too: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house” (Matthew 5:14-15).

Jesus’ teaching is the same as Solomon’s. Why? Because all of Scripture is one coherent story. And what Proverbs 28:1 teaches is straightforward, namely, that God’s people are to be righteous, a people of the light.

An Instructive Ditty: “Be careful, little lips, what you say. Be careful, little ears, what you hear.” Those are some of the lyrics to a children’s ditty I recall from my church-saturated childhood. If you were reared in church, you may remember them, too.

Text: “You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:16).

Teaching: Per Scripture, the tongue is a dangerous creation:

 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell (James 3:5-6).

Ever been slandered? Ever been gossiped about? Of course, we all have. If you haven’t, count yourself lucky.

But God’s people are to be better than that. We are to remember the Lord, that the Lord sees, and that we will answer. “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).

Encouragement: There’s a lot of biblical wisdom in that children’s ditty, isn’t there?

“And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with all the portion which has been given to thee.”

Encouragement: In modern parlance, do first things, first. Have the right priorities and act on them, not worrying about getting the credit.

Well said, Aurelius; well said.