The Paradoxical Proverb

 

 

Proverbs 22:4 says, “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” Odd. By its very nature, humility would not only seek no reward, but one acting humbly would actively avoid being recognized or rewarded. How can there be a reward for a posture and way of being that at its essence eschews recognition?

And what a reward! Riches, honor, and life. Just a few verses prior, Proverbs 22:1, we’re told, “a good name is to be chosen rather than riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” How does one go about achieving a good name? Can one achieve a good name and still be humble? I suppose it doesn’t matter because the good name is more desirable than the payout for humility – riches and honor and life.

How are we to make sense of the word of the Lord, and specifically the different nuggets of wisdom in the book of proverbs? Understanding is the subject of the sermon preached at Hillside Church on October 6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOLTKHxTsM). Maybe that message will help the reader synthesize what all is to be gleaned in the word of God.

Humility is an important them in Proverbs, and theologically, humility is at the core of the messaging at Hillside Church for the next month. On October 13, we will have Don Harvey from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina leading us in a discussion on different possible pathways forward for our congregation.

October 20, we’ll have our final message in the Proverbs series. Read Proverbs chapter 7. Verses 4-5 tell us to call wisdom our sister and insight our “intimate friend.” We need these close relationships because they will help us fend off the temptress. What tempts you to walk paths other than the one God lays before you? How do you resist temptation? Only in humility can acknowledge that we need help in being who God calls us to be. Proverbs 7, though couched in misogynist mythologies, offers a warning we must heed: the world with tempt us. Yielding to temptation, we walk the path of destruction.

October 27, Daynette Snead Perez will be our preacher. Please pray for Sheemoo Tatataw, our youth group, and me as head to the beach for a weekend of spiritual growth. And pray that God would speak to our church through the powerful, beautiful witness of Rev. Snead Perez.

Finally, in the first two Sundays of Novembers, we will look to the Gospel of Mark (10:35-45) and to the Psalms (146) to be reminded that real leadership is service and the only true king is our God. Those messages will reject a bipolar politics of division and winning-losing, and instead turn to the politics of the Gospel of Jesus. Yes, those messages are intentionally situated before and after the first Tuesday of November. Yes, the only to participate in either politics or faith, as a follower of Jesus, is to do so humbly.