The Chapter 30 Diner (8)

 

 

Three questions (Proverbs 30:4): "Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth?" This brings to mind questions that God Himself asks Job:

 

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who set its measurements? Who enclosed the sea with doors? Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season?”

 

These are just a few of the many questions that Yahweh asks Job in Job chapters 38 – 41, questions coming one after another and overwhelming Job to the point where he says to God, “I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). It is a good thing to see our Creator and to do so by not looking into a mirror, but to consider creation and know that there is indeed One who is greater than I am, than you are, than we are.

 

Agur had friends, Job had friends, but other than young Elihu who finally had enough of Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar; Job’s friends added to the confusion, they did not lend themselves to thoughtful and prayerful discourse and friendship. While Agur provides us with a picture of humility, “Surely I am more stupid than any man,” Job and three of his friends attempt to not only out posture one another, but they foolishly try to out posture God, they speak as if they are not in His Presence, as if He does not know what they are saying and what is in their hearts; they frankly talk too much and they talk as if they know the mysteries of life, including why Job is experiencing terrible loss and affliction.

 

However, when Yahweh began speaking they all shut up. All of a sudden these four wise men were dumb, for they could not answer God’s questions. They had talked and talked and talked for chapter after chapter, and all of a sudden they have nothing to say. They hear all of God’s questions, and yet they cannot answer even one of them, until Job gives the only answer that is appropriate, “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth….I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 40:4; 42:6).

 

This reminds me of a time when an employee of mine accidently called me on his cell phone and didn’t know he had done so. I overhead him talking to some of his staff about me and something I had talked to him about. As I listened I realized that he hadn’t really understood what I had told him; he especially didn’t understand my reasoning behind a decision I’d made. Job and three of his friends talked and talked about God, yet they didn’t know what they were talking about – and God was listening. God is always listening, we would do well to remember that, for Jesus says that we’ll account for every idle word we have spoken. I think that this is especially true of our presumptuous words, our pompous words, our posturing words.

 

Paul considered himself “the least among the apostles,” Agur thought himself stupid, the centurion whose servant was dying considered himself not worthy that Jesus should come to his home. Paul writes in Galatians 6:3, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” We know that pride comes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Paul also writes (1 Cor. 10:12), “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

 

Agur was not as stupid as he said he was, and yet he was and he knew it, and yet he wasn’t as is evidenced by what he shared with his friends Ithiel and Ucal. But what about Job and his three friends? What about them, these men who knew all the answers, answers to questions that perhaps no one was even asking?

 

(I do want to mention that when we are in deep pain and affliction, as Job was, that we can lose our equilibrium; during these times we need others to carry us, to wait with us, to be patient with us, we need friends who know how to just be quiet and “be” with us, reassuring us of God’s love and care for us. We need to give others in affliction room to say what they need to say, and we need not be the righteous theological police critiquing their words, we need to be friends and trust our friend to God.)

 

Well, what do you think? Who shall we have coffee with this morning? Who shall we learn from as positive and godly examples? Who shall we suggest others model themselves after? Shall it be Job and his three friends, or shall it be Agur and the boys?

The Chapter 30 Diner (5)

 

 

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.” Deuteronomy 30:11 – 14.

 

Might have Agur been thinking of this passage in Proverbs 30:4? Of course we don’t really know, but let’s take a look at it nevertheless because it is an element of the Biblical motif of ascending and descending, and of descending and ascending.

 

Consider the context of our Deuteronomy passage, Moses is speaking some of his last words to the people of Israel as he prepares to be taken by Yahweh. How have the people been accustomed to hearing the word of God? How did they hear it in Egypt? How did they hear it in the Wilderness? Where did Moses go to receive the Ten Commandments? Where was Moses when he received God’s commandments concerning the Tabernacle and Levitical system of worship?

 

Moses had served as a mediator between Yahweh and Israel. Moses brought the Word of Yahweh to the people of Israel in Egypt. Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God and to bring God’s Word back down the mountain to the people. Moses also communed with God outside the camp in “the tent of meeting” (Exodus 33:7); neither the mountain nor the tent was accessible to the people. The people of Israel were unaccustomed to having the Word of God accessible to them, they had to rely on a mediator.

 

But now, in giving his last words to Israel, Moses says to them, “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.” That which had been outside of them was now inside of them. That for which they depended on a mediator was now theirs to access, engage with, and to obey.

 

In the account of Moses, can we see a foreshadowing of Jesus in the Upper Room?

 

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16 – 17).

 

“These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:25 – 26).

 

What was Moses saying in Deuteronomy 30:11 – 14? At the very least, at its most basic, Moses was saying that there is a Way to live that is outside the Levitical Law, a Way that has always been accessible to men and women created in God’s image – the Way of faith, the Way of Abraham, the Way which is our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 4; Galatians 4).

 

We see this in Romans 10:6 - 8:

 

“But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down), or Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching…”

 

We respond to this “word of faith” internally, by confessing Jesus as Lord with our mouth and believing in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, and thus are saved and made righteous in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9 – 10).

 

And yet, is this our testimony? Is it our testimony in terms of the Way we live, and of the Way that lives in us? Going back to the above passages in John 14, are we living in communion with the Holy Spirit? Indeed, with the Holy Trinity? When many Christians speak of having a “testimony,” we often mean a testimony of initial salvation and we seem satisfied to leave it at that, as if signing on some unseen dotted line is the beginning and end of our faith, our experience, our testimony. But what are we to learn from the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13)? Can we not see that simply witnessing seed sprout is hardly soil for an enduring testimony?

 

How many of us speak of the Holy Spirit as a Friend? A Comforter? A Teacher? How does our relationship with the Holy Spirit compare with what Jesus portrays in John chapters 14 – 16? To reduce the Holy Spirit to promptings of conscience, or feelings, or certain thoughts, is hardly to speak in terms of an intimate relationship, of an ongoing and growing and maturing life in the Trinity. Yes, the Holy Spirit speaks to us through thoughts and feelings and conscience, but this is not a relationship, at best these are modes of communication.

 

To know the Holy Spirit is to worship the Holy Spirit. Are we worshipping Him, for He is God? To know the Holy Spirit is to obey the Holy Spirit, for He is God. To know the Holy Spirit is to have the Living Word dwelling in us, speaking to us, growing in us…as our Way of Life.

 

Are we living as if “the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it”?

 

Am I?

 

Are you?

 

Are our congregations? 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (4)

 

“Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know!” Proverbs 30:4.

 

Five questions. The first question presents four possibilities to us, with two images. Was Agur thinking of Psalm 68, or was he thinking of Deuteronomy 30, or was he thinking of something else? Perhaps he was thinking of both Psalm 68 and Deuteronomy?

 

In Psalm 68:18 we have, “You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there.”

 

Paul quotes this passage in Ephesians 4:7 – 8, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.’”

 

Then we have Deuteronomy 30:11 – 14:

 

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us, to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.” (See also Paul’s use of this passage in Romans 10:6 – 10).

 

There is yet a third passage of which we should be aware, though it is not a passage that Agur would have known, for Agur lived before the Incarnation. “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man” (John 3:13).

 

If Agur has an image of Psalm 68 behind his question, then his image is of God ascending, after first descending to Mount Sinai. This was a precursor to Jesus Christ also ascending from “the lower parts of the earth” (Eph. 4:9) “far above all the heavens” (Eph. 4:10). That is, we have an image of God descending and ascending, an image that we see throughout Scripture in various settings, anchored by Yahweh at Sinai and then in the birth, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Of the two events Agur, of course, would only have been thinking of God at Sinai as portrayed in Psalm 68, if he was thinking of that passage, which we don’t really know.

 

However, the Old Testament contains instances of Yahweh appearing to men and women throughout history; Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Manoah and his wife; this is especially woven into the Exodus narrative – a narrative that God’s people, including Agur, would have had embedded in their hearts and minds (at least we hope so). And let us remember  the holy feasts throughout the year pointing back to the Exodus, from Passover to Tabernacles – it would be difficult, one would think, not to have an image of God descending and ascending.

 

I am reminded of how radical this image of God was, and probably still is if we rightly consider it. My Hebrew professor, Gary Pratico, spoke of his time at Harvard working with ANE antiquities. “For years my hands handled religious artifacts that spoke of man attempting to reach up to God, with the exception of the Hebrews; for with the Hebrews God reached down to man.”

 

Do we take this image for granted? Do we fail to recognize this motif throughout the Biblical record? Yahweh sought out Adam and Eve in the Garden, they were hiding from Him while He was looking for them. God well knew what had occurred, He knew they were hiding, we don’t hide unless we are afraid – God knew they were afraid, and God sought them.

 

Can we hear the words of Gabriel to Mary, “Fear not.” Can we hear those words spoken to shepherds? Can we hear Jesus saying, “Peace be with you” on the Day He rose from the dead? Can we see the Good Shepherd seeking the one lost sheep?

 

The God of the Bible pursues men and women and young people with a passion of love, He is the God who has descended to save us, the One who has tasted “death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9), the One who did not cling to His Divine position, but somehow “emptied Himself” and “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:5 – 11).

 

Consider that before the Incarnation that every time God descended that He ascended without us; but that when Jesus Christ came to us that He not only took us with Him in His ascension (Eph. 2:6), but that God remained with us (Matt. 28:20; Jn. 14:15 – 23). Yes, this is a radically new Way of Life, but then in Christ we have been made radically new creations (2 Cor. 5:14 – 21).

 

Do we realize the depth of God’s love for us?

 

Do I realize it?

 

Do you?

The Chapter 30 Diner (3)

  

“Surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.” Proverbs 30:2 – 3.

 

What do you think about these “words of Agur the son of Jakeh?”

 

Note than in verse 1 they are styled “the oracle” or “burden.” What do these words convey to you?

 

As you review what Agur says in Proverbs Chapter 30, is he really all that stupid, does he really lack wisdom, does it appear as if he has no knowledge of “the Holy One”?

 

What then, is behind Agur’s words in verses 2 and 3?

 

An oracle - burden, in a Biblical context is a message, a thought, a vision (whether one of our understanding, that is an “inner vision,” or one which our eyes also see; perhaps we can term it “an inner and outer vision,” though these words are inadequate), that is conveyed by God to men and women so that they, in turn, by God’s grace and inspiration can convey the oracle – burden to others as they are led by God the Holy Spirit.

 

This is one coin with two sides that cannot be separated, a Word from God is an oracle and a burden, a burden and an oracle. The element of burden is complex; for it is a burden in the sense of a heavy load that must be carried in the service of God and for the welfare of others, or to convey God’s judgement. But it can also be a burden in the sense of carrying God’s glory, for God’s glory is weighty, it is heavy, it requires us to bow before Him with our faces to the ground.

 

An oracle-burden from God always exalts God and not the messenger, not the one who carries and speaks the oracle-burden. A Word from God is a Word in which God is the focus, He is the Alpha and Omega of the message, and not the messenger. Granted, those who hear the Word of God may focus on the messenger as they respond, such as throwing Jeremiah into a well, or thinking more of the messenger than they ought to think, but the messenger knows full well that he or she is but a vessel of earth, and frail at that, so that God may receive the glory (2 Cor. 4:7 – 12).

 

A mark of suspect preachers and teachers is their desire to make something of themselves at the expense of the Flock of God (2 Cor. Chapter 11). Sadly, we are such dumb sheep that we would often rather follow the glitz and glitter and promise of advanced  supposed spiritual knowledge and special experience than we would the Christ of the Cross, the lowly Lamb and His servants who point to Him rather than to themselves.

 

Perhaps one reason we see so little illumination and revelation is our propensity to merchandise it and turn it into a movement or distinctive? Can you see the Apostle John on a book and speaking tour after returning from the island of Patmos and receiving the Revelation?

 

“General admission tickets are available to his appearance in Antioch, however, with the purchase of a special ticket you and a limited number of guests will not only have a pre-event social time with John, but he will give you some special insight on his experience in Patmos that he will not be sharing with the general audience. Also, this special ticket will entitle you to purchase up to five of John’s books at a discounted price and he promises to write a personalized inscription in one of them – just for you!!! ACT NOW BEFORE THESE SPECIAL TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT!”

 

Yes, I’m not sure we can be trusted with much insight, illumination, or revelation – we seem to have gone the way of Balaam. Some of us are more blatant about this than others, but it does seem to be in the water that a good many of us drink.

 

Peter writes that, “Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances (oracles) of God” (1 Peter 4:11). This ought to be our norm, and if we have times when we want to give our opinion about a matter when teaching or preaching, then we need to make it clear that that is what we’re doing – but our opinions should be the exception and speaking the oracles of God ought to be the rule. Have we lost our prophetic voice?

 

Do people in the pew really think they are hearing the oracles of God? Do those in the pulpit speak with the Divine imperative to preach the Word in the anointing of the Holy Spirit? If Jesus Christ sends us as the Father sent Him, then consider this:

 

“When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matthew 7:28 – 29).

 

Are we preaching and teaching with authority?

 

On the other hand, there are those who claim to have a prophetic voice but who do not submit to the Bible as the Word of God, nor do they submit to the Church of Jesus Christ; they make merchandise of people, the Bible, and the Gospel – we see this in the Bible and throughout history.

 

What are we to do? We must keep looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, and we must do this in relationship with brothers and sisters who have taken up their cross, denied themselves, and are following Jesus Christ (Mark 8:34ff). The pilgrimage is hard and we must be ever vigilant – and we must do this together.

 

Also, let’s keep in mind that no matter what we’ve seen, and no matter what we think we know, that “we know in part and we prophesy in part” (1 Cor. 13:9). All too often when we have a burst of insight, we think we see all there is to see, when we ought to remind ourselves that whatever we have been given, we have been given for the benefit of others – and we ought to look to others through whom to filter what we have been given and to complement what we’ve been given. We are members of Christ’s Body and we are not the Head, we need the Head and we need the members of the Body or we cannot function as we have been called – we are to submit to one another in the fear of the Lord (Eph. 5:21).

 

Whatever we have been given should be in line with the Bible, the Church Fathers, faithful to the Nicene Creed, and in the historical stream of the Church throughout the ages. Let us never preach something that has not been preached before – for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

Agur had a filter in his friends, Ithiel and Ucal; he had two men with whom he could share his pilgrimage, his learning, his growing; Agur could talk with them, and he could listen to them. Do we have such friends? Do we have friends that we can share our oracle-burdens with? Do we have friends whose oracle-burdens we can help carry?

 

What is behind Agur’s words in verses 2 and 3? When God gives us an oracle-burden, when He reveals His glory and His Word to us, when He pulls back the veil and we see heavenly things, His glory and majesty humble us, and we realize that no matter how glorious and terrible those things are which He has shown us, that on our best days we are “more stupid than any man,” and that the Living God is so awesome and great, that there is a sense in which we really don’t “have the knowledge of the Holy One.” We are like Peter, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8).

 

“There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing; another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.” Proverbs 13:7.

 

Books and More Books (4)

 

The excerpt below is from Parables of a Country Parson by William E. Barton. Vickie and I first read the book in April 1996, it was on the nightstand in the guest room where we were staying on the campus of Gordon – Conwell, and while we didn’t complete our reading on that trip, upon our return home we ordered a copy and it has been with us ever since then.

 

The layout, including the capitalization and punctuation, is as it appears in the book. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Rising Above the Clouds

 

By William E. Barton, Parables of a Country Parson [edited by Garth Rosell and Stan Flewelling]. Hendrickson  Publishers.

 

I rode upon a Railway Train; and we were in the Rocky Mountains. And we awoke in the morning, and the Train was climbing, with two Engines pulling us, and one pushing behind. And we were nigh unto Twelve Furlongs above the Sea.

             And it came to pass as we ascended, that there were clouds below us, and Clouds upon the sides of the Mountains, but there were no Clouds above us, but the clear shining of the Morning Sun.

            And there came unto me a small Girl and her younger Brother, who were riding upon the Train, and we talked about the Clouds. For so did John Ruskin and Aristophanes, and the little lad was very happy, and he said,

            I have never been above the Clouds before.

            And his sister was Worldly-wise. And she said, A Cloud ain’t nothing but just fog.

            And he said, Nay, but this is more. And behold now, how then is a Cloud just under us, and we ride upon the top of it?

            And she said, We are on the Rails, just as we always have been; and there can’t nobody ride on a cloud.

            And the boy said, Jesus can ride upon a Cloud; for I saw a Picture of Him.

            And the little girl said, Yes, but that ain’t us.

            Now the little girl may have been right; but I thought within myself that this world hath too many people who look out on Life through her windows. For they see no sunlit Clouds, but only Fog; and they have little faith in rising above the Clouds, but have confidence only in the Rails.

            And I do not despise the Rails, nor advise people to discard them and ride upon the Clouds. Nevertheless, I have seen people rise above Clouds, and live in the sunlight of God. And I have known others who, whenever it is said unto them, Thus have others done, or thus did the good Lord Jesus, make reply, Yes, but that ain’t us.

            And if it is spoken concerning the House of God, Thus did the Synagogue in Jonesville, and thus was it done by the Church in Smithville, they answer, Yes, but that ain’t us.

            And if it be said, Thou shouldest be a better person; for others have risen above thy Clouds and thine Infirmities, they say, Yes, but that ain’t us.

            And when it is said, Thus hath the grace of God abounded in other lives, they say, Yes, but that ain’t us.

            But if it ain’t, why ain’t it?

            For this cause did God dwell in human flesh that we should never count any good thing impossible through the dear Lord Jesus.

            For He is our peace, who hath broken down all middle walls, that we should no longer say, But that ain’t us.

The Chapter 30 Diner (2)

 

 

“The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle. The man declares to Ithiel and Ucal: Surely I am more stupid than any man, and I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, nor do I have knowledge of the Holy One.” Proverbs 30:1-3.

 

I love these names! Do you know anyone by the name of Agur, or Jakeh, or Ithiel, or Ucal? In case you’re wondering, while Ithiel appears one other time in Nehemiah, the other three names only appear here in the Bible. Who were these guys?

 

We know that Agur had a daddy named Jakeh, and we can suppose that Ithiel and Ucal were Agur’s friends, but other than that we don’t know if these boys were plumbers or masons or accountants or cattlemen or architects. Maybe they really did run a diner; maybe it was on the road to Jericho from Jerusalem, or maybe it was just east of Bethlehem, or it could have been about 10 miles north of Damascus.

 

I’ve known some Jake’s, but I’ve never known a Jakeh – what about you? I checked one of my commentaries about these names and it made the point of saying that one of the suggestions made by a scholar was “absurd.” After glancing over the material in the commentary I’d say that there was more than one absurd suggestion by more than one scholar, which makes me wonder what exactly a scholar is supposed to be – is it someone who comes to conclusions that make no real sense to anyone? (Well, of course not, but sometimes scholars are naked in their new clothes but because they have initials after their names people seldom say anything.)

 

I’ve been in groups where speculation reigns supreme in Bible study and people can’t seem to tear themselves away from it to actually ponder the Biblical text, they are more concerned about satisfying curiosity that the Bible has no intention of satisfying. As my old friend Fenelon observed, “I know many people who are perfect…in their speculations.” When we approach the Holy Word we are to submit ourselves to the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to set the agenda and direct our thoughts and hearts; convicting us, challenging us, and drawing us to see Jesus Christ. Why waste time on speculations when we can see Jesus?

 

What is frightening is that often, if the Bible won’t satisfy our curiosity, we will simply make things up, overlay our fanciful ideas on the text, and act like proud little boys who are able to recite their ABC’s, all the while thinking that “LMNOP” is one letter. It is not a pretty sight to see grown men imitating puppies chasing their tails. We seem to be especially good at this when it comes to eschatology (sorry, couldn’t resist).

 

When I am in a checkout line in a store I try to read the nametag of the cashier, because I want to use that name when I speak to her or him. I want to acknowledge the cashier as a person, as someone who is serving me, as someone who matters to God and matters to me. Names matter, people matter. How much do people matter? You will never meet a person whom Jesus Christ did not die for; you will never meet a person whom God does not love. That ought to challenge our own attitudes and actions toward others – this does not mean that we approve of everything that people do, that is just plan dumb; but it does mean we ask God, by His grace, to help us be His Presence is a world gone crazy.

 

I’m not as good at remembering names as I used to be, and I’ve come to accept that. I tell myself I’ll try harder to remember, but usually I still forget names – my goodness, sometimes I can’t even remember the names of people who I’ve worked with in the past.

 

What do you think is more important? Remembering names or remembering people? If I can connect with the person, I am more likely to recall the name of the person.

 

Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, Ucal; I do like those names.

 

 

The Chapter 30 Diner (1)

 

 

O how I love coming to Agur and his friends, Ithiel and Ucal, in Proverbs Chapter 30. This morning, as I read Proverbs 1, I know that at the end of the month I’ll be back with Agur in Chapter 30, and then Lemuel in 31:1 – 9, and then an unknown author (lowercase) in 31:10 – 31. Agur and friends have long held a particular fascination for me, as have Lemuel and his mom.

 

If you know what it is to live in Proverbs you know that it has three distinct voices to it, or movements, or sections. First we have chapters 1 – 9, then 10 – 29, and then 30 and 31. Of course, within 1 – 9 we have shifts as well, I’m thinking particularly of chapters 8 and 9; and within 10 – 29 we read in 25:1, “These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed.” But the bird’s-eye view gives us three major sections and Agur and friends in Chapter 30 represent the beginning of the last, and briefest section.

 

This is like an over-the-road trucker, whose monthly haul consists of 31 stops, with Proverbs 30 being his penultimate stop. He pulls into the Chapter 30 Diner, taking a space in the parking lot labeled “Truck Parking,” exits his cab, walks into the diner, takes a seat at the counter, and shouts a hardy “Hi boys, how’ve y’all been?” Agur and Ithiel are behind the lunch counter and he can see Ucal in the kitchen through the pass-through.

 

Ucal shouts through the pass–through, “How was your trip this month?” And the friends play catch-up after the trucker orders coffee and the blue-plate special of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas.

 

Rhythm is important to our lives, dancing with time keeps us healthy. We may read Ecclesiastes 3:1 at funerals, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven,” but we generally haven’t a clue about what we’re reading, for we don’t dance with the passage in daily life, its music isn’t in our souls, for most of us live herkie – jerky lives and our rhythms are more apt to be keyed to television shows or sporting events or the political cycle or the financial markets. Such is the cacophony of postmodernism that destroys equilibrium, harmony, and Biblical transcendence.

 

Consider Genesis 1:14-15, “Then God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on earth; and it was so.”

 

God wants us to live in rhythm and understanding and an awareness of where we are and where we are going, He wants us to have understanding of the movements of the stars and planets and heavenly things in our lives and our societies. But most of us seldom gaze into the heavens and ponder creation, we seldom give thought to this other book through which God speaks to humanity. Ponder Psalm 19 with its interplay of the Word in Creation and the Word in Writing, and consider Paul’s statement in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they [humanity] are without excuse.”

 

Can we see that Genesis Chapter 1 is about more than the creation that we can see, but that it is also about what lies behind and beyond the creation? Creation speaks to us of not only our God who is Creator, but also of the very same God who is our Redeemer.

 

“For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” (2 Cor. 4:6). Paul saw more than the Creatin story in Genesis, he also saw embedded in the Creation story the story of Redemption.

 

What do we see?

 

We’ll return to the Proverbs Chapter 30 Diner in our next post.