Category Archives: Parental Tools

Spiritfire- Proverbs 21:21, “Beyond the Tales of Fairies”

“He who pursues righteousness and love
     finds life, prosperity, and honor.”
 
Such a wonderfully put if/then proverb.  If one pursues this, then one receives even more.  The path could not be clearer, and as we described it to our kids, the movie ‘Princess Bride’ came to mind.  The scene was at Miracle Max’s:  Fezzik and Inigo Montoya had just brought a lifeless Westley to Max’s door in need of a miracle.  When Max asked for payment, they only had 65 and the noble cause of ‘true love’ to offer.  Even though this ultimately became a game of denial to Max who, as explained by his wife Valerie, had his confidence to perform miracles shattered by Prince Humperdinck, it was only after he heard that the Prince would suffer if Westley was healed that he agreed to work for them.  Even though the promise of revenge would be enough to inspire Max’s aid, it remained clear that the pursuit of true love was the ‘noblest of causes’.
 
And yet when I invited my kids to look beyond Hollywood, where the story is scripted and the fairy tale ending exists, we were confronted with what happens when life, prosperity, and honor do not accompany the pursuit of righteousness and love.  We found the story of Job to be unshakably clear.  His was a story that matched the beginning of the proverb, but found death, poverty, and shame instead.  His misery of losing everyone and everything was topped with his health, Job 2:7-8, as it reads that Satan covered his body with boils.
 
My kids already have a ‘real life’, though thankfully lesser, example in watching me with my health and already intimately understood the failings of this proverb.  They already saw the gaping hole in its logic and heard its cry that begged to be fulfilled.  We then looked to the only One who can and has fulfilled it, Jesus, the Son of God.
 
This life was broken in the lives and actions of Adam and Eve, Genesis 3, but was fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 15.  Not only that, but we found that we are the ones pursued by God, John 3:16.  And we are the ones who become His righteousness through our faith in Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
 
Our salvation by God’s true love is the ’noblest of causes’.  Jesus fulfilled it and creates us anew free from sin to live eternally with Him beyond the tales of fairies.

Spiritfire- Proverbs 21:20, “The Keeper of Tomorrow”

“In the house of the wise are stores of
          choice food and oil, but a foolish man
     devours all he has.”
 
Initially, we began to explain what ‘choice food and oil’ was in this coin proverb.  For our kids, we simply called it ‘the good stuff’.  Once again, the two sides of this proverb spoke about the same thing:  time.  Those who live at Wisdom’s house concern themselves with tomorrow, while those who live at Folly’s house only think of today.  If one eats all he has what will he eat tomorrow?  This made sense to them as one of my kids, when he was younger, brought a piece of pizza to bed.  When I asked him why he did that and not just eat the piece before bedtime, he simply said, “When I wake up, I’m hungry.”
 
We then asked, “Where’s Jesus?”  Our kids answered, “At Wisdom’s house!”  Yes, but when we looked at Matthew 6:25-34, we saw something that the proverb failed to mention, “do not worry”.  The proverb pointed out that it’s better to store than to devour, and while that is true, Jesus told us to look at the birds.  “They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” 6:26.  We stayed there for a bit.  We thought about how eventually even Wisdom’s house will run out of food.  It was just a matter of time.  Instead of worrying about it, which doesn’t even add an hour, v.27, Jesus helped us to consider how much more valuable are we to His Father than the birds.
 
Now, Jesus didn’t advocate Folly’s house and devour everything, ‘for tomorrow we die’, type of thinking.  He took the worry out of tomorrow by looking to the Father.  For if/when it is time, He will guide us as He did Joseph, in Genesis 41.  Our trust in Him is what guides us as ‘new creations’, Philippians 4:6-7, for only He is the Keeper of tomorrow and knows what it holds.

Spiritfire- Proverbs 21:19, “Merely A Walkway”

“Better to live in a desert than with a
          quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.”
 
Leave it to the book of Proverbs to tell it like it is.  For my kids, we again spent some time talking about the benefits of marrying wisely as we did for 21:9.  Defining terms while role-playing them was fun, but as my kids say to us that they need our help to choose wisely whom they will marry, the dead-end of this proverb was revealed.  Proverbs, at times like this verse and just recently in 21:16, offer little to no hope.  If you did marry ‘her’ because of her looks, or ‘him’ because of his charm, only to find they were coverings for their ‘quarrelsome and ill-tempered’ hearts, then sorry, but you are stuck.  And yes, though this is true for many who have made that mistake, when we looked at how Jesus fulfilled this verse, we saw an opening.
 
In the book of John, chapter 4, we find Jesus asking a Samaritan woman for a drink.  She was a Samaritan and He was a Jew.  Samaritans and Jews did not get along.  She was drawing water in the heat of the day at a time when most people were inside.  She had a checkered past, which most people do who try to avoid others.  Jesus revealed she has had 5 husbands and the guy she’s living with now wasn’t even her husband. With a few words,  Jesus simply walked over many cultural roadblocks and issues.  Suffice to say, if such things were to be adhered to, Jesus should not have been talking with her.
 
Other than some spite that we can read into her comments to Jesus, v. 9-25, we do not read of her having a quarrelsome or ill-tempered heart, but it’s not hard to imagine her having one on a bad day.  However, her checkered past put her in a similar boat to avoid.  Jesus did not avoid her but was in fact there for her, and He did not leave her as the proverb did with no hope for change.  He opened the door for her to have Living Water which led her to become a new creation who sought the people she was trying to avoid to tell them about her talk with Jesus, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” v. 29.
 
So, from my children to yours, yes, marrying wisely will be a jewel in their crown for generations to come, but even then life and unforeseen circumstances can change things.  It is of little value or consequence to do things out of fear when even the best-laid plans come to naught.  The closed-door of our heats is not closed to Him.  The rocky seas of cultural disputes and our checkered pasts are merely a walkway for Jesus.

Spiritfire- Proverbs 21:18, “The Plan of the Lord”

“The wicked become a ransom for the righteous,
     and the unfaithful for the upright.”
 
There is an understanding of a ‘line for judgment’.  Romans 3:23 helps us understand ‘why’ we are in line to begin with.  However, as our turn is next to enter into the judgment stored up for us, this proverb tells us that the wicked take our place.  Isaiah 43:3 gives us an Old Testament example of how this was worked out in Israel’s story.  Egypt, that ‘splintering reed’, Isaiah 36:6, became the ransom for Israel.  I understand that Israel needed a ransom and that the sacrificial system was given to minister to them, but even then, it was the spotless lamb for the transgression.  How the wicked became a suitable replacement for the righteous was beyond me, and though I find myself in a similar seat as Habakkuk, who complained to God about His use of wicked Babylon to correct Israel, Habakkuk 1, I found my thoughts were drawn to Jesus.  If it was God’s way to ransom the righteous with the wicked, what about Jesus, Mark 10:45?
 
Basically, I really had no idea how to explain this to my kids, except to say that before Jesus, this was it.  Before, as the apostle Paul described it in Romans 3:21-26, our redemption was either by the substitution of the wicked or by the blood of lambs, but now because of Jesus a better hope has been revealed, because of Him, a better way was made known, Colossians 1:27.  Needless to say, this was where we should have ended up, because, before the ‘mercy-seat’ of Jesus is where our hope is found.
 
My thoughts now travel to Jesus’ death on the cross for us.  His sacrifice was better than that of Abel’s to cover his brother’s sin, Hebrews 12:24, though he did not willingly offer it as Jesus did.  Sin made Cain take it in gory as a replacement for his glory, much like how his parents took the leaves to cover their nakedness and shame.  However, as I reflect on Jesus, how am I to consider Judas’ death in light of His?  Was Judas a ransom for Jesus?  Jesus knew no sin, Hebrews 4:15, so He needed no ransom for He was not a prisoner, but He came to set the prisoner free, Luke 4:18/Isaiah 61:1.  Judas’ deeds, like Cain’s, sought for him a covering.  He thought taking his own life would provide it, but only Jesus’ sinless life could.
 
This Proverb revealed the plan of the Lord to provide for our need to be ransomed.  Like Judas, we can’t accomplish it.  It is only through Wisdom’s fulfillment in Jesus that we may be ransomed from sin and become new creations in His glorious Light, 1 Timothy 2:6.

Spiritfire Proverbs 21:16, “One Who Strays”

“A man who strays from the path of understanding
     comes to rest in the company of the dead.”
 
Recently, my family read a kids version of Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan as retold by Gary D. Schmidt & illustrated by Barry Moser.  It helped my kids to better understand the ‘path’ and why anyone would stray from it.  First, we spoke of the “Path of Understanding” as that of the discernment between right and wrong.  When I asked my kids what they thought could be a reason why someone would stray from it, we talked it over and flushed out a few: “Distractions”, “disobedience”, and “following the crowd”.  
 
I then described how a rock rolls down the ravine and eventually “comes to rest” when it is done.  Often times our momentum needs to run its course, like the rolling rock, before we can come to our senses and realize we are lost.  The many times I’ve misled our family on road trips comes to mind.  The “company of the dead”, we discussed was no place they wanted to be and reminded us of those who dwell at Folly’s House.
 
When I asked my kids “Where is Jesus?”  They spoke about how Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life” as in John 14:6.  We then unpacked the judgment of the Proverb.  Once you stray, sorry, you are with the dead.  Then I asked, “How does Jesus make the ‘one who strayed’ into a new creation?”  Repentance, grace, and forgiveness was the response.  Matthew 18:12-14 tells us how there is rejoicing when the sheep who was lost is found.  The Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:11-32 brought this proverb to its fulfillment by telling the journey of a son who went astray and finally returned to his father, who was filled with joy to receive him.

Spiritfire Proverbs 21:12 “The Ruining of Salvation”

“The Righteous One takes note of the
              house of the wicked
     and brings the wicked to ruin.”
 
At the outset of our dive into the depths of this proverb, we sat for a spell in the heritage and traditional teaching of the ‘Righteous One’.  No, I didn’t give an exhaustive account filled with Old Testament Scriptures, no, but I said as a culture, their expectation was of a deliverer who will ‘make things right’.  Return Israel to its political position of favor, not conquered, oppressed, and scattered.  The focus was still on an earthly kingdom.  A Righteous One who will restore God’s justice by destroying the wicked, or as the proverb states, “brings the wicked to ruin.”  Here we see the ‘plan’ explained of the expectation, the ‘hope’, of a people lost from their position.  He would “take note,”  “bring to ruin”, and return to Wisdom’s house its preeminence among the houses.
 
When I asked my kids, “Where is Jesus?  How did He fulfill this one?”  The bottom dropped out beneath us and we were cast into the mysteries of Christ.  “Surely He is the Righteous One, Dad.  That’s easy!” my kids declared.  “Yes, He is.  I agree.  But look closer, and stop calling me Surely.  When we read of Jesus and His mission, did He take note like Santa and keep a list?  Did He bring the wicked to ruin?”  This was the ‘true’ depth of the wisdom of God.  Here we witnessed the fulfillment of His plan, the Kingdom of God.  The writer of Proverbs only saw in part, as we do, but not the whole.  
 
Jesus was and is ‘the Righteous One’ so that part is fulfilled, but what did He ruin?  He ruined the entire matrix of the houses!  We’ve already seen how Jesus ‘stole’ from the Imposter’s House to fill His roster of disciples.  And we witnessed how quickly and immediately the process of becoming a new creation took as Jesus’ neighbor on the cross found mercy.  
 
Jesus is the Wisdom of God fulfilled.  The veil was torn, that separation paid for in His death, the hope of a new creation raised in His resurrection.  Jesus brought ruin to the House of the Wicked not by their blood, but by His.  The old way was made new.  Now we are brought in beyond our ability to obey.  We get His righteousness and our salvation brought ruin to everything.
 
Merry Christmas!  He is born!

Spiritfire, Proverbs 21:10, “Cravings”

“The wicked man craves evil;
his neighbor gets no mercy from him.”
 
As has been our practice for Spiritfire- our family devotion time with God, we began with prayer, gave our intros, and then looked at the wisdom inherent in the verse for that night.  Proverb 21:10 has the form of a ‘this-and-more’ proverb.  In this case, it made a statement and then furthered the point with an example.  What one craves is what makes them.  Why would a neighbor of Folly’s house seek from them the fruit of Wisdom’s?  If mercy is what they seek why would they live next to the wicked?  Maybe it wasn’t on purpose.

When I asked my family, “Where is Jesus in this proverb and how does He fulfill it that we may be made into new creations?”  They saw Him in the proverb’s reflection on the pools of Living Water below, and Betsy said:
 
“To imagine what Jesus went through: the false testimonies, the whipping and beatings from the soldiers, the mockery of the crowds, the shameful stripping of his clothes, his criminal crucifixion… He was surrounded by those who were craving evil against Him in every possible way.  Even His closest “neighbors,” His disciples, showed no mercy and abandoned Him.
 
Then to think of Jesus, as an earthly man – He was a righteous man who craved Love.  When dying for us, He called out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:35).  When Jesus’ neighbor who was hanging on the cross beside Him asked for mercy, Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43).  Jesus craves love and His neighbor gets ultimate mercy from Him.”

Spiritfire Proverbs 21:9 “Avoidance or Breakthrough”

“Better to live on a corner of the roof
     than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.”
 
When I read this proverb to my kids, my wife and I tried to explain to them about the need to choose their spouse wisely.  That led to an interesting conversation 10+ years in the making.  What is it like to be married to a quarrelsome spouse?  This proverb says it all.
 
Now, when I asked “Where’s Jesus?” for this one, my wife (who is awesome!) was the first to speak:
 
“In Proverbs, it talks about a wife that is so quarrelsome in their home that her husband is better off living away from her on the roof.  But with Jesus, it’s just the opposite.  People wanted to be with him so desperately that they tore the roof open to lower their crippled friend into the home that Jesus was in (Luke 5:19).  Instead of a wife that the husband wants to avoid, Jesus is the husband that the church bride wants to be with.”
 
The Spirit spoke through her to me again about Wisdom’s theme of ‘avoidance’ that we saw in 20:19.  Again we saw how Jesus fulfilled wisdom’s call and flipped it to be an invitation.  Jesus didn’t avoid.  He draws us in.  Or as my wife concluded:
 
“In another way, just as the husband is escaping from his argumentative wife, more-so Jesus is the husband who “stands at the door and knocks” (Rev. 3:20) and He will come in and eat with us.”

Spiritfire- Proverbs 20:30, Scourging of Evil

“Stripes that wound scour away evil,
And strokes reach the innermost parts.”

Some scriptures seem to be written to be a stumbling block to those who, like Satan himself, would misuse them to justify their wicked and oppressive hearts.  When I spoke with my kids about this verse, I told them how this was the thought and goal of discipline.  “Back in the day, parents used to give their wayward kids a whooping, and it was considered love!”  We then spent some time talking about how ‘lucky’ they were that they were such good kids, otherwise…, and then I slapped my hands together- Whap!!!  I said all this in humor, of course, but in my heart I was thanking God for my kids.
 
When we thought of Jesus, the Spirit opened our eyes to a deeper love that was shown to us on the cross.  This proverb was revealed to be more than a ‘core’ or ‘this and more’ proverb.  This one was found to be a ‘key’, of sorts, to understand the price that was paid for us.  Why should the sinless One get what we in our disobedience deserved?  For all have sinned, Romans 3:23-24.
 
Afterward, as I thought more on this, another passage came to mind:
 
Isaiah 53:5 NASB
 
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging, we are healed.”
 
Or again by another version KJV
 
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
 
The scourging of Jesus purged us from evil.  Our inmost parts were purified by His piercing.  Jesus fulfilled this proverb to make us a spotless bride, a holy people, a new creation clothed in His righteousness, 1 Peter 2:19-25.
 
Thank You Jesus!  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

Spiritfire- Proverbs 20:29, Glory and Splendor

“The glory of young men is their strength,
gray hair the splendor of the old.”
 
It was difficult to impress upon my children how strength will not always be available as they age.  Whenever I heard about it as a kid, I always ignored it because I had no context to understand it.  In my teenage years, I enjoyed pushing my limits mentally and physically.  I remember purposely going outside during weather that normally kept people inside.  I enjoyed being alone during the wind, and rain, and cold.  I would mentally estimate how long I could survive and though I’d never fully try, I’d attempt enough for a taste.
 
Now, things are vastly different.  I have even begun to get gray hair in my beard.  The change from glory to splendor may not have been one I ever fully contemplated, but like the changing of the seasons, I knew it would come.
 
The fading of the glory of physical abilities from illness, disease, accident, war, or age, can be sudden or agonizingly slow.  Some may even experience a roller coaster of gains and losses day by day due to whatever.  The process can push people into a weird mode of survival which makes sense of the various strategies they employ to accomplish what used to be simple tasks.
 
Though many try to continue to matter before the fading takes a more permanent hold, we looked at Jesus’ fulfillment and witnessed how He is both the glory and splendor of God forevermore, Hebrews 1:1-3.  His strategy for all things, both great and small, was and is to love.