Folk and Biblical Wisdom

What’s the difference between common folk wisdom and biblical wisdom? Some of the sayings below are from Scripture and some are not. 

While the phrases may sound the same, meanings are changed when placed in a context of an ongoing faith journey with God. 

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Waste not- want not.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

The race is not to the swift, but time and chance happen to us all.

Never say never.

It’s love that makes the world go round.

What goes around comes around.

Early to bed, early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.

Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

Salt and pepper are married.

When everyone walks out, a friend walks in.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Don’t cry over spilt milk.

The early bird gets the worm.

Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky in morning, sailors to warning.

Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.

When I study, God speaks to me; when I pray, I speak to God.

God helps those who help themselves.

Don’t teach a pig to sing; it frustrates you plus it annoys the pig.

Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved.

It is never too late to have a good relationship with yourself.

It’s not the gift that counts- it’s the intention. 

The Lord loves a cheerful giver.

Silence is God’s first language.

A friend is someone with whom I may think aloud.

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

All is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Laughter is the only respite from grief.

Don’t burn any bridges.

Better late than never.

Flattery will get you nowhere.

Pride goes before a fall.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Go eat your bread in gladness.

Not to decide is to decide.

Wisdom is the better part of valor. 

Patience is a virtue.

Kick a dog and it’ll bark.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

You can’t judge a book by its cover.

Beauty is only skin deep-

but ugliness goes all the way to the bone.

A live dog is better than a dead lion.

All you need is love.

The love you make is equal to the love you take.

Observe the ant, you lazy bones.

I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then.

I never was what I used to be.

Wisdom is vindicated by her children.

Those who live by the sword will perish by the sword.

You reap what you sow.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Love your enemies.

Make love not war.

The Art of Biblical Paradox: Is God Loving or Punitive? (5)

Throughout Scripture, covenant with God is an act of God's initiation. It's a free and undeserved gift of God, celebrated in the Psalms with thanksgiving and rejoicing: We are God's people and the sheep of God's pasture. Psalm 100:3 There is no one good enough, strong enough, fast enough, or smart enough to first choose God. It is God who first chooses and sends us. John 15:15-16 

John's Gospel, the most unique of the Four Gospels, is the fruit of two full generations of church life. Its focus is not on the limited judgments of Christians or church leaders.* Only in John does Jesus make clear that judgment belongs to the Holy Spirit. It does not belong to any Christian or church, or,  amazingly, even to God or Jesus. **It is the Spirit giving the wisdom, discernment, and redirection to the disciples and consequently, God's people. We choose, with the Spirit’s help, to move toward what is promising or what is fruitless, what makes for consolation or desolation. 

This speaks to a forgotten theme in New Testament study and in the discipleship of Christians. It is about my communion with God when I am faithful or unfaithful. The Spirit is the One who walks beside me, step by step. The Spirit is comforter and counselor. As I grow in love, I can even lose all fear of punishment. (See I John 4: 16-19)  I choose my spiritual reality and state of mind, my actions or neglect of action. While God's love and grace are always present, I do not always choose to live in God's love and grace.***

God does not have a hidden agenda, does not devise trap doors so that we will lose our way. The witness of John is clear: while we don't choose the right, the Spirit is present to redirect and to encourage, not to punish. 

* See Matthew 18:16-18

**See John 8:15, 22; John 16:8-11

***Attributed to Julian of Norwich, 14th Century mystic and spiritual guide. She is credited as the first woman to write a book in the English language, Revelations of Divine Love. The second edition called the Longer text came decades later.

 

The Art of Biblical Paradox: Is God Loving or Punitive? (4)

How can the God of the universe be loving but also a punisher? The question makes for challenging teaching and preaching. Yet, both themes are there as clearly as Exodus states: 20:5-6: "... for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."

This passage incapsulates a paradox of Scripture. God is faithful to those who are faithful to God. God blesses those who bless God and God curses those who are unfaithful to God. God loves those who love God. Lest we relegate this theology to the Old Testament, the theme continues through much of the New Testament, and, to us, the church. 

Is God's patience really exhausted like ours? Is it our job to placate God so that God won't lose his temper? This is hard to teach and preach, and very difficult to hear among those who see the paradox. Those for whom love is a stranger or the word "love" is used as a cover for guilt, shame, or control. For example, God surely knows about those who are children of family violence, those of dysfunctional or alcoholic families, and victims sexual abuse. God knows about those with the stored trauma of life-threatening circumstances. Given this, how can people  really trust God, a Higher Power, who has an angry streak? 

It matters how we frame it. Really. The Lord's discipline is mentioned throughout the Old Testament and in the New Testament, several times in Hebrews: ‘My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.’ (1) God reproves those whom God loves. (2) 

One of the sharp critiques of this view is in Job. Job's so-called friends enter the scene of Job's losses of house, business, home, family, health, etc. They all spout their views of why God is allowing Job, a faithful servant of God, to suffer such loss and grief. In the end, they repent of speaking wrongly for God, and are commanded to make sacrifices to ask for Job's prayers to forgive their folly. (3)

In Luke 11, Jesus makes the most direct and sharpest contrast between the love of human fathers and the love of the heavenly Father: "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’ (Luke 11:9-13)

It is a matter of emphasis, framed by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ and his story. The good news of the incarnation is not that God is thinking up new ways to to harden and hurt us, but that God is with us, taking the blows that life dishes up. God is with us in the hell and heaven of human existence. God's living and loving presence- the Holy Spirit is given to us.  God chooses to dwell among us, literally, God pitches tent with us. (4) 

Life is really hard enough. The life of Jesus Christ invites me to transformation, which is a shop-worn term, often used without real content. The loss of ego, the false self, the non-enduring, changes me. That's inevitable the longer I live. I will lose my place, my status, career, health, friendships and family. All will happen, sometimes sooner than I expect. 

The question is, how can I reframe and relocate myself in the incarnation of God's love in Jesus Christ?  

1) Proverbs 3:11.

(2) Revelation 3:19

(3) See Job 42.

(4) John 1:14