Introduction: No, it’s not the Robert Frost poem I have in mind here. It’s instead Solomon’s writing in Proverbs: “Do not envy a man of violence/and do not choose any of his ways,/for the devious person is an abomination to the LORD,/but the upright are in his confidence” (Proverbs 3:31-32).

Questions:

• Why might the Lord speak through Solomon’s pen that Christians are not to envy a man of violence?
• Why is wisdom rooted in not choosing any of the violent and devious person’s ways?

Answers:

• True to the form of Hebrew literary parallelism, the second half of the construct answers the first section’s question. As to why might the Lord speak through Solomon’s pen on whom not to envy, it’s because we’re mimetic by nature. We all look to examples. I have certain men I esteem more than others. And those men had their men whom they emulated. We’re all imitators. Anyone who says he/she isn’t is dishonest. Imitation is not bad in and of itself. It’s about imitating the proper role models.
• As to why we’re not to envy the man of violence or the devious person, it’s because the moral character of such people is that of rottenness. God calls them an abomination in verse 32 of Proverbs 3.

Encouragement/takeaway: In Scripture, we are told by the apostle Paul not only whom to imitate, but also why: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). We’re to have wise, proper, godly paradigms, the ultimate of whom is Christ for the believer. In the same way that Solomon taught whom not to emulate (and also why not to emulate certain types of people), Paul taught the same thing, but in positive language. The wisdom should be clear: those we choose to emulate reveals a lot about our own values and what we deem important. Are those values wise, biblical, and redemptive or are they foolish, anti-biblical, and corrupting? This is the issue, or, to return to the title, the matter of the road taken.

Introduction: We live in a world of simulacra, emojis, and memes. Depth can be hard to find. It’s the age of shallowness, that’s certain. But there is at least one emoji I admit to relishing: it’s the one of having one’s mind blown. It looks like this:

I use it often when, paradoxically, something is mind-numbingly stupid. I just shake my head and go, “Lord, have mercy.” Or as older generations were wont to say, “Bless your heart,” a genteel way of saying you’re less than bright.

Questions: Have you ever heard folks say, “God is love”? Sure. Some folks might even allude to the actual text from 1 John 4. The entire verse 8 reads, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” But the first part of that verse, much less the larger context of the entire passage, is usually dropped, and all we hear is the “God is love” part, clipped from the rest of the context.

But when’s the last time you heard that God hates, too? I’d wager it’s not often, if ever. But guess what? God does hate. His hatred pervades Scripture, in fact. Here’s just a small sample:

• Proverbs 6:16-19 lists more than half a dozen things God hates:

There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.

• In Psalm 5, David writes, “You [God] destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man” (Psalm 5:6).

Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil/Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”

Encouragement/takeaway: Here’s the point, dear ones. It’s a good thing that God hates because it’s hatred of evil that reveals God’s utter holiness. If He did not abhor what is evil, He would not be good. Hell, therefore, is a good thing, because it demonstrates God’s holiness and hatred of evil and His love of righteousness.

To return to the above reference to the emoji of having one’s mind blown, that’s why I appreciate that particular simulacrum. It reveals how utterly shallow it is when people say utter “God is love, love, love” bromides divorced from the biblical witness. God is love, yes; but God loves holiness and abhors sin. That’s why God’s hatred is a good hatred. “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (1 Corinthians 14:20).

Bottom line up front: Confidence in the Unchanging God

Intro: This morning I was reading Psalm 4. It is one of the many poems David penned. Psalm 4 hinges upon the issue of confidence, of where the wise person places his confidence. Is it in himself/herself? Is it in government? Is it in fellow sinners?

Great Question: “How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?” (Psalm 4:2b) That’s just one more thing to love about Scripture. It shows us as we really are, not as we would like to think we are. What do I mean? Here David is lamenting the undiscerning sheeple who mock the godly. David is saying that even though he (as God’s man) is mocked, his confidence is in God, not in the undiscerning masses, the sheeple, those who lack discernment and wisdom.

And in verses 4-5, David writes, “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the LORD.” In other words, look to the Lord. Why? Because God is the fount of all wisdom.

It’s why the half-brother of the Lord Jesus penned his wisdom: “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good, fruits, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17).

Encouragement/takeaway: Where do you find in the world system that kind of fruit? We don’t. That’s because the world system largely rejects biblical wisdom, opting instead for headlines, power, and pride. But David, a forerunner of the Christ of God, knew the fount of all wisdom. He wisely put his confidence not in the fickleness of men, but in the unchanging holiness and wisdom of God. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Bottom line up front: Context, context, context.

Introduction: This morning, I was in Romans 8 as part of my reading. Romans 8 is one of those chapters that is often quoted. To be more precise, one verse of Romans 8 is often quoted. It is, of course, Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” That’s a line packed with solace and encouragement for believers. But verses are to be read in their proper context. Paul didn’t just plop that one line down in sacred Scripture devoid of context.

The Big Picture: The big picture of Romans 8 hinges on the work of God the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians. That life is contrasted with the lives of unbelievers who are, by definition, devoid of the Holy Spirit. As Paul writes earlier in the same chapter, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:6-8).

The Holy Spirit in Context: Like countless believers throughout the history of the Christian faith, I, too, love Romans 8. But the context is crucial if we’re to have an accurate hermeneutic, an accurate understanding of what is being taught. This is so vital when it comes to our prayer lives. Have you ever struggled to pray? Asked another way, have you struggled to articulate your heart’s cry properly? Here’s why I ask: the underlying assumption in this text is that even Paul struggled in this area. Why do I say that? Let us listen to Paul’s words again from Romans 8: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom 8:26-27). 

Encouragement/takeaway: Over the next few days, families will gather across the table, will perhaps see the people most precious to them. But there will also likely be loneliness and emptiness felt over the holidays, too. For the Christian, he has God the Holy Spirit that is interceding for him. If there’s an empty chair at the table, if there’s a family ripped apart by divorce, if there’s been a death, hospitalization, or incarceration, etc. you may struggle to articulate what’s deep within your soul. But God is with you if you’re a believer. “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18). It can be so easy to say “Happy Thanksgiving,” but yet have sadness deep in your spirit, but let us remember the context of Romans 8 and what Paul was teaching: the believer is not alone and God the Holy Spirit intercedes for us to the God who came to seek and to save, even and especially when we cannot express what we so viscerally feel.