REFLECTIONS ON THE PROVERBS
(Comments on passages from the Old Testament book of Proverbs that have jumped out at me in my studies through the years.)

Proverbs 3:26
"for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught."

This is the crux of things in Proverbs and in following Jesus, really. The Lord needs to be our confidence---not the opinions of others, not my income, not my college degrees, not anything but the Lord! And He has proven Himself worthy of this trust by dying on a cross for us and rising from the dead. Through these acts He proves both His devotion to us and His power to defeat everything that frightens or overwhelms us.

Proverbs 3:27-28:
"Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, 'Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it"--when you have it with you."

This passage seems to me to be about a lot more than financial indebtedness, although it certainly does encompass that. When it’s in our power to provide good to those to whom it is due, we should do so. Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan gives me an idea of those to whom good is due: everyone who is in any kind of need! Of course, I fail to measure up to this more than infrequently! Deuteronomy 15:1-11 gives an extensive set of regulations regarding the lending of money to one’s neighbor.

Proverbs 3:29
"Do not plan harm against your neighbor who lives trustingly beside you."

The intangible of trust is the glue that holds communities together. If our neighbors are unable to live beside us trustingly, their lives are harmed. This is why faith in Christ is imperative. Christ makes us new people (Second Corinthians 5:17) who live voluntarily under His Kingdom of Love. This makes it more possible for us to trust one another and to take the risk of being more trusting of others. After all, when you're living in the certainty of God's unfailing love and support, you don't worry so much if a neighbor occasionally shafts you. And sometimes, in our reckless trust of neighbor, the heart of a neighbor who might otherwise shaft us will be turned to God and to love. This is how Christ builds community.