Proverbs 15:8-17
A Life of Obedient Simplicity

The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked,
but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

The LORD detests the way of the wicked
but he loves those who pursue righteousness.

Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path;
he who hates correction will die.

Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD -
how much more the hearts of men!

A mocker resents correction;
he will not consult the wise.

A happy heart makes the face cheerful,
but heartache crushes the spirit.

The discerning heart seeks knowledge,
but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

All the days of the oppressed are wretched,
but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

Better a little with the fear of the LORD
than great wealth with turmoil.

Better a meal of vegetables where there is love
than a fattened calf with hatred.

New International Version

I have several friends who threaten to place an epitaph on my tombstone that will read:

"Never use a long word when a diminutive one will suffice."

They all enjoy laughing at that, and I'm sure I would find it funnier, too, if their subtle sarcasm didn't describe me so well. I hope over the years I have toned down my writing style from the bombastic pomposity of my youth. But the truth of that barb isn't so much in my use of English, as it is my overly complicated approach to life.

I had a business advisor once tell me, in complete seriousness, that I could argue six sides to any issue -- and I naively thanked him, until he explained why that was deadly to my managerial effectiveness. It didn't take me long to see how such complexity and ambiguity could damage the rest of my life as well.

There are no such things in Proverbs as too much wisdom and too much knowledge. However, Proverbs does say we can be too smart for our own good, when it leads to self-righteousness.

This section of Proverbs seems to illustrate that point in this sequence of two-line sayings. However, I don't know, when grouping these verses together, if I am reading them in a way the author intended when he was inspired to write them. There is little agreement among Biblical scholars that there is a structure and order to the verses of Proverbs at all. Most scholars instead treat each of the verses as its own nugget of wisdom, so I am concerned that I am reading something into this sequence of verses that may not be there.

At the same time, these verses hit home with me as I read through it, and they spoke more strongly to me as I re-read them several times this week.

Notice the starting two verses repeat a similar theme, contrasting those who oppose God's ways with those who follow God's ways. The Hebrew word used is strong, but nonspecific, about the kind of evil at work in their lives. I want these words to refer to hateful felons, because I can be certain that I am not one of "them," but the context doesn't allow such obvious evil. The first verse has the wicked person in the temple offering sacrifices to God, but God rejects the offerings because they are intended for manipulation instead of worship. This wicked person is playing an angle, paying off God so he can continue in sinfulness. In contrast, upright persons don't have to bring a sacrifice to get God's attention. Instead, they simply offer up themselves in prayer.

When we are so smart that we have God figured out, we don't want to be told we might be wrong. We have given up humility, and as Paul Simon wrote, "we think we're riding down the highway when in fact we're slip-sliding away." The good news, which won't feel like good news at the time, is that God will respond with discipline to pull us back, many times if needed, to save us from slip-sliding into eternal death.

Then comes the contrast. Those who are not smart have hearts (literally, "inner selves" not emotional centers) that seek knowledge, hearts that are humble before God and open to instruction, where smart folks don't think they need instruction. Because they are open to God's wisdom, their hearts are happy and enjoy freedom, while the closed hearts suffer in folly, oppression, and wretchedness. The smart guy connives to buy, beg, or steal his freedom, but wise people give themselves over to God to be blessed with freedom.

Wicked people will have their successes! Their "smarts" often result in wealth and power, very frequently earned honestly (in worldly terms) rather than by cheating and stealing. But even at its wealthy, powerful best, human smarts are empty and without value. "Vanity of vanities," says the Teacher in Ecclesiastes, to the best that humanity alone can achieve.

It was the final two verses that brought this truth home to me. Now, I could dodge that last verse, figuring the writer was merely being poetic in contrasting prime rib with a vegetable plate. I can't dodge the verse before it. The opposite of vain wealth is "fear," the Hebrew yirah, which has nothing to do with being scared and everything to do with a reverence and awe for God that shakes us to our foundations and is completely alien to our modern culture.

This deep, awe-filled, reverent fear knows that "God is God, and I am not," as Steven Curtis Chapman sings. This fear knows there are no rituals or incantations that can sway God to our way, and that we cannot be whole without giving ourselves to God's Way. This fear senses that what we want more than anything else is peace and joy, and we cannot control peace and joy, even with a limitless abundance of wealth, power, or "smarts."

Instead, God often finds we can more easily be led to peace and joy when we aren't as distracted. We can trust God more completely when we give up the complexities we create to protect and assist ourselves. There is a holy simplicity waiting for us, and it may be disguised as a plate of vegetables.

There's a bumper sticker my mother threatened to put on my car when I was in high school that read:

"Those of you who think you're so smart irritate those of us who are."

But there is only One who truly is wise, One that is the source of all knowledge, and those of us who think we're so smart need to think again.