Thirty-Three Proverbs for the Faithful. Summer, 2024.
my stab at writing a few modern-day proverbs
The past summer I spent a fair amount of time in the book of Proverbs; I did a sermon series on it, and in preparing for that I engaged with that part of scripture in a way I never had before. Maybe it’s a sign that my hair is getting a bit grayer, but the wisdom of scripture’s wisdom literature is being proved more and more true in my own experience. I’m seeing that this wisdom is a gift from God, wisdom we should memorize and ponder and have in our bones, like we would a favorite poem or song lyric. There were depths there, of beauty and truth, that I had somewhat overlooked in my study of scripture.
I appreciated the blunt truth-telling of Proverbs, because I feel like we are living in pretty confusing (or maybe foolish) times—orthodox Christians in the West are feeling a lot of cultural and political pressure to conform, to be “squeezed into the world's mold,”1 and it’s so easy to succumb to the binary, tribal, idolatrous thinking of our world.
To press against that, what we need more of is godly wisdom: the ability to discern right from wrong, truth from falsehood, and to then act decisively based on that discernment.
And so, as I was mulling over the book, I decided to sit and write some proverbs myself as a bit of a spiritual exercise. I thought it would be fun to think through what Solomon might say to the people of God, as well as the other contributors to Proverbs, if they were here today trying to give the Church some wisdom about how to navigate our current cultural moment. What proverbs might there be for a world of screens, gender and sexual confusion, culture wars, actual wars, growing anti-semitism and racial animosity, church divisions, and political turmoil?
Here’s my stab at it, in the form of a kind of poem. What’s fun about Substack is you can basically post whatever you’d like; and while this is a bit different than what I normally post, I thought you all might get something out of these. So enjoy them, ignore them, do what you will with them. Hope you are having a lovely Monday:
Thirty-Three Proverbs for the Faithful. Summer, 2024.
You are allowed to exist. Speak up, speak loudly, love silence.
Beware those who are never willing to fight. Beware those who are in love with the fight.
Beware those who are always on, who never relax—what are they fighting for?
Beware a person without a pastor; beware a Christian without a church; beware a pastor without a friend.
Whoever has your eyes, has your heart. Pay attention to who you pay attention to.
The ironic, the cynical; those fools never achieve victory. But faith wins many a strange battle.
Refuse to harden your heart; fail at this, and you’ve lost everything.
Prefer to die before you lie. What costs more than the truth?
If you give up an inch of land, you will certainly lose a mile.
Believe what your eyes see and what your ears hear. Believe the man at your local pub, believe your neighbor, believe your mother, those creatures of flesh and blood—your screen does not know you and will never hear you.
Pray every day when you wake up, with the birds.
Pray every night when you go to sleep, with the shadows.
Pray before you eat a meal, with your kinsmen.
Pray before you post, trembling; prefer silence.
Pray in your car and on your walk, with the angels.
Pray before you fight, for your enemy.
Only pray to the Holy Trinity; only pray with the saints.
Never fear the truth; never hide from the evidence; always trust the Bible.
Always side with children; always oppose the youth.
Always side with beauty; always oppose vanity.
Always side with women; always oppose murder.
Always side with the poor; always oppose sin.
Men and women are beautiful and different; only fools believe otherwise.
Procreation, promise, pleasure; one without the others is the way to death.
Trust the people who tend your animals and grow your food; run from those who buy your time.
The Jews are not safe, and yet you think you are? Only a fool could believe it.
Beware those who delight in war; beware those who justify, rather than lament, the bodies.
Memorize scripture and poetry; forget everything else.
Organize and campaign and write profusely; but you will certainly not be remembered.
The people at your deathbed; will they know what songs to sing?
Refuse to bow down to idols, one especially: novelty.
Never be ashamed, child of God, though they and all the world want you to be.
Sing with your spouse and dance with children, and you will never cease from worshipping.
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from J.B. Phillips’ translation of Romans 12:2: “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”"