Bible in A Year: Episode 24

Intro • 00:00
Welcome to Read the Bible in a Year with Matt and Hannah, a weekly podcast from Fairfax Bible Church where we explore scripture together, uncovering its themes and design patterns. We’re glad you’re here. Now, here are your hosts, Matt and Hannah.

Matt • 00:15
All right, we’re here. Read the Bible in a year with Matt and Hannah. Hannah, this is episode 24.

Hannah • 00:22
Wow. We’re more than halfway through, right?

Matt • 00:25
I do love a mile marker. So yes, we’re more than halfway through. That’s very exciting. And 24, I don’t have a jersey number for you. When I think of the number 24, I actually think of Psalm 24.

Hannah • 00:37
Oh.

Matt • 00:38
Which was in our readings this week.

Hannah • 00:40
Okay.

Matt • 00:41
So I love, I’ve uh one verse one of Psalm 24 has always been one of my favorites. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. I don’t know, it just sounds so official.

Hannah • 00:54
Yeah, it’s very poetic.

Matt • 00:55
Very poetic. I think one of the first sermons I ever did at Good Old Fairfax Bible Church was on Fairfax, uh was on Psalm 24. It’s in the archive somewhere.

Hannah • 01:05
Nice.

Matt • 01:06
I don’t know. For those of you that are curious, you can go dig it out, see if I did a good job. It was many years ago, so I don’t know. Or six, I don’t know, whatever it was. But yeah, I love Psalm 24. So there you go. There’s your marker for being on episode 24. And you just got back from a cool trip.

Hannah • 01:22
I did, yeah. I was in Alaska.

Matt • 01:26
Oh man. Was it 102 degrees in Alaska?

Hannah • 01:30
Uh no.

Matt • 01:32
Guess it is here. Yeah.

Hannah • 01:36
Yeah. It’s uh you know, the warmest time of the year in Alaska right now as well, but high of probably sixty-five, I think. Oh maybe a little bit more than that. There was one day that was pretty warm

Matt • 01:49
Not quite 70, but Yeah, and you got to you got to like land in an airplane on a glacier.

Hannah • 01:55
Yeah, we took a small plane tour. through Denali National Park and they landed the plane on this snow covered glacier. And I don’t understand the physics of how that was possible. I still don’t know.

Matt • 02:10
Uh uh I I’m just thankful you’re here.

Hannah • 02:13
Yeah.

Matt • 02:13
You survived.

Hannah • 02:14
Yeah, it was super cool.

Matt • 02:17
Awesome. Well glad you’re back. Well, well, hey, we we finished the minor prophets last week, and now we’re getting into the wisdom literature. We touched on Psalms a little bit last week and now we we get to I think what is a lot of people’s favorite books we get to the Proverbs.

Hannah • 02:32
Yeah

Matt • 02:33
Yeah, I’m excited. So there’s some good stuff in here. I think people have uh in the little chat function uh in the reading plan people have been finding some good nuggets, so it’s exciting to see. I can understand how I mean I like the minor prophets, but I can see how for certain types of Bible readers or if you’re relatively new to reading the Bible, s getting you really sinking your teeth into the minor prophets can be really challenging. There’s layers and context and history. But Proverbs Super practical, super relevant, really not hard to find things that look like my life in the words that are on the page. So I think people uh find a lot of engagement with the Proverbs. And I think you and I both agree Proverbs is a pretty cool book.

Hannah • 03:12
Yeah, it is. Yeah, and I like we usually talk about how the Bible is not written like a reference book, but Proverbs sometimes feels like it could be. Yeah. You could pick out um a proverb here or there and And learn something from it.

Matt • 03:35
the devotional grab bag or instructional manual that people might want it to be. There’s still a design and still some very intention with it. So you do want to be careful with grabbing things out of context. sort of come into it with your own stuff and expecting it to be a magic eight ball or something like that. But it is I I I think if you just read it Just even cashabic, oh yeah, that’s a thing happening in my life. Oh, yes, that is also a thing happening in my life. So it’s you can just s yeah, it’s a lot of application and a lot to think about in Proverbs. So I think people are into it. So Yeah, I think this will be fun. Now, I think as with most things though, uh the kind of undergirding idea, people hate it when I use the word undergird, but I can’t It’s so helpful. It’s such a good word. But sort of the foundational idea of Proverbs is so it’s like so many other books, it it really does come back to the character of God, who he is. So it’s One of the beautiful things about Proverbs, it’s not just sort of a generic things about how to live a good life. It is rooted in a person and that person’s point of view. So it it’s sort of encapsulated in this phrase, the fear of the Lord. It says early in the text that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And so that that does bear the question: Am I supposed to be afraid of God? What what’s what’s happening here?

Hannah • 04:58
Yeah, um good question. Well, the fear of the Lord is more of a healthy reverence or awe for the Lord, recognizing that He is God and I am not, so I don’t get to make up my own definition of good and bad. Um, but humbling yourself with the healthy reverence to live according to God’s definitions of good and bad. And it is interesting because in Genesis Three, when Adam and Eve disobey and they take of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They clearly didn’t have a healthy reverence for the Lord because they didn’t do what the Lord defined as good and bad. They chose for themselves. But afterwards, when they hear the Lord coming to them, it says in chapter 3, verse 10, that they were afraid.

Matt • 05:59
Yeah. Interesting.

Hannah • 06:00
Yeah. So they didn’t have a proper fear of the Lord before they made the decision. So in the aftermath of Oh, we know the consequence is coming. Now they have a different type of fear.

Matt • 06:20
For his glory and his character, and not necessarily just be afraid of him if we do something wrong, like he’s a school principal or something like that. So it seems like a fine line Like I I need to have a healthy um respect for him to the point of well yeah I don’t want to get on his bad side because who that could be bad. But it Like I don’t want that to be sort of like the defining aspect of my relationship with him. That I’m just afraid he’s gonna be pun he’s gonna punish me if I do something wrong.

Hannah • 06:53
Right. It actually is the same Hebrew word that’s used in Genesis 3. 10 and Proverbs 1. 7 and and elsewhere in Proverbs where it says that. So um you can have a healthy fear or like a um I don’t know what the other word would be. It’s not like unhealthy, but it like a You know that you’ve done something wrong. And it’s you know that a consequence is coming because you didn’t have a proper reverence beforehand.

Matt • 07:24
Yeah. Yeah. I’m thinking of a story my cousin told one time. She has three sons, my cousin Nancy. She has three sons and uh when they were very small She could hear one of them like talking outside, kind of the back window. You know, she’s washing dishes in the kitchen or whatever. And she can oversee what’s happen overhear what’s happening with one of her kids. And the kid was with one of his friends and the friends, you know, wanted to go do something they weren’t supposed to do. And uh my cousin’s son, I think it was his her son William, said, Oh, I can’t do that. My mama would let me. And he said, What are you afraid of your mama? And he goes, Darn right I am And my cousin was so my cousin Nancy was so happy about that. So So maybe it’s something like that, you know. We know that God knows best, and so when He tells us to do something, we should do it.

Hannah • 08:12
Yeah.

Matt • 08:13
So yeah. So the fear of the Lord, so it’s the beginning of wisdom, understanding who he is, that what he says is good. So when he says anything is good, we should trust him. Uh and we should be a little bit nervous about getting on his bad side because he is vast in his power and holiness and glory. But know that the invitation for us is to treat him as a father and to receive what he says is good because And trust him because he loves us and wants good for us. And so that’s sort of uh played out in this pattern. We actually just talked about this in church a couple weeks ago. I think you were gone. You might have been traveling, but I had the chance to speak at church and it talked about this pattern of the choice. Um and I made allusion to it. We talked about other passages, uh, because it’s a huge theme in scripture. Um and if you haven’t heard it, hopefully that will be on the website soon. Um but we did I so I dropped in that uh uh Proverbs talks about it a little bit, although I didn’t get into it. We use some other passages for this. But Huge theme in the first part of Proverbs, this idea of the choice. But uh as opposed to other places where it’s sort of uh symbolized as a tree, and this one it’s between two different people, sort of two different ideas of wisdom that are personified. So tell us a little bit about that.

Hannah • 09:28
Yeah, so the ideas of wisdom and folly are personified. primarily as these two women that uh Bible project likes to call Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly. Um regal. Yeah. Um and they’re presented very early in in Proverbs. So chapter one, Lady Wisdom is first introduced. in verse 20 saying, Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets, she raises her voice. Um and so what What follows that introduction is a speech from Lady Wisdom giving counsel and calling the reader to listen to her. But for those who don’t listen to her advice, she says in verse 29, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. Um then verse thirty-one, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and have their fill of their own devices. Uh which is interest, so it’s clearly is saying there’s a choice. Um and one choice which is in alignment with Lady Wisdom is to fear the Lord, which we’ve already seen. Um the the other choice is to eat the fruit away.

Matt • 10:47
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we’re definitely going back to Genesis three.

Hannah • 10:51
Oh yeah, yeah. So that’s cool. And then on the other hand, verse 33, she says, but whoever listens to me, to wisdom itself personified, will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster. So totally a offer between two choices there. Listening to the voice of the Lord is something we’ve seen previously, but here it’s actually. A personified attribute of God, wisdom itself, that’s calling the reader to listen to her Um, so I thought that was an interesting parallel there between listening to the voice of the Lord and listening to wisdom itself because they’re so intertwined.

Intro • 11:32
Yeah.

Hannah • 11:32
Like you were saying, this is actually about the character of God. Wisdom is rooted in the character of God. It’s an attribute of God. It’s not just like some arbitrary principle that the world introduces that we should live by wisdom, whatever that is. Yeah.

Matt • 11:50
Yeah, and you know, w wisdom comes from God because that’s who he is. Because he is the maker of all things and the creator of all things. And he creates with intent and he creates with a design in mind. And so whatever that design is, is the right thing. Um just Because he made it. He knows what he made it for. Uh, and so to follow him and to listen to him is to act with wisdom because it’s it’s going after the way that he designed for this whole thing to be.

Hannah • 12:21
Yeah. Yeah, so these personified uh lady wisdom and lady folly, they introduce us to two different paths. So Lady Wisdom talks about the path of life. Um so it in chapter two we see the Lady Folly is introduced here and she’s called the forbidden woman or the adulteress.

Matt • 12:46
Oh scandalous. Yeah.

Hannah • 12:48
Um and verse 19 says, none who go to her, to Lady Wisdom or Lady Folly, I mean, come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.

Matt • 12:58
Oh, okay.

Hannah • 12:59
Yeah. But if you do follow Lady Wisdom, verse 20 says, you will walk in the way of the good, Tove, and you will keep the paths of righteous, of the righteous. Yeah, so we’re specifically seeing this choice is about two paths, the path of life and the path of death. So um I really like chapter three, uh really three through nine expand on this, these two paths a lot more, but chapter three has a a very well known uh passage, verses five through eight. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, turn away from evil, and it will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. So we see a straight path there, which is the path of life And then be not wise in your own eyes reminds me of Genesis three as well, right? Taking what is good in your own eyes.

Matt • 14:04
Yeah. And kind of Some of the notes that judges was saying as well. And judges we see what it looks like when everybody is wise according to their own eyes, or wise in their own eyes. So it’s sort of given us the anti-creation example. So yeah, this is definitely pulling that word, that design pattern, pulling that phrase together uh and amplifying it.

Hannah • 14:24
Yeah. Yeah, so a lot more language about the path of uprightness versus the path of the wicked in chapter four. And the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn. That’s verse 18 of chapter four. Um Verse 26 and 27, ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or the left. Turn your foot away from evil. So again, that path of life is described as a straight path very often. But then Lady Folly or the Forbidden Woman in chapter five says that her feet go down to death, her steps follow the path to Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life. Her ways wander and she does not know it. So these two opposing paths, one that is straight and leads to life, and one that goes down to death or Sheol is like uh the grave or the underworld.

Matt • 15:28
Yeah. We did a series in Proverbs in 2025 and uh Pastor Matthew preached through the first, what, eight, nine chapters. And I remember he’ve even saying, like, I I know it kinda feels like we’re saying the same thing every week here, but there’s they’re all kind of building on each other and it’s a little bit like a an old kaleidoscope whereas you’re twisting it, you’re seeing new things. ‘Cause there’s so many examples, uh, even in the first eight chapters about wisdom versus folly in relationships, in family matters, in financial things. I I think people think of Proverbs as the very classic uh couplet type things that are that. But even in those first eight chapters where it’s it’s it’s it’s kind of one main idea, but even then he’s sort of riffing on the different applications that it potentially has

Hannah • 16:20
Mm-hmm.

Matt • 16:21
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it’s really I I I know it’s for some people it can feel a little bit repetitive reading. Or it’s like, okay, I read chapters one, two, three. I get it. I have to read five more chapters about choosing wisdom versus folly.

Hannah • 16:36
Yeah.

Matt • 16:38
To the point, Solomon.

Hannah • 16:41
That’s the uh the way that poetry works. You know, turning over the same idea from many different angles. To help you reflect and meditate on a very important truth from a lot of different perspectives.

Matt • 16:55
Yeah.

Hannah • 16:56
Yeah

Matt • 16:57
So he finishes the what first eight, nine chapters, uh, and then we get into sort of the classic part of Proverbs. I think the one that people think of the most when they think about Proverbs, and that is a mm twenty or so, what, twenty-five chapters or so. of these classic sort of almost Shakespeare style couplets. You know, here’s the thing. Um, you know, you could almost hear Benjamin Franklin uh you know throwing out some of these things so little sort of tidbits of wisdom that build up and this is the part that I think a lot of people find value in this Um and it can be tempting to just be like, okay, I have a situation. What does the Bible say about money or anger or My annoying roommate or this guy who’s bumming me out of work or something like that. Let me search so there it is. There’s a proverb about it. That’s I’m gonna go use this as ammunition for somebody. And it can be that, but that’s not really the way that it’s designed, right?

Hannah • 17:57
Yeah. Yeah. Well the the one thing that is important uh is that these proverbs are wise general principles, but they’re not necessarily promises. So that’s one aspect to remember about these these proverbs. Like uh if you act a certain way, you’ll be prosperous. If you act wisely, you’ll gain riches.

Matt • 18:25
Yeah, this is this is not Harry Potter. These are not magic words or magic formulas or incantations or anything.

Hannah • 18:32
That’s not that’s a a general principle. Um, but not guaranteed that if you act wisely you’re gonna become super rich. You know? Yeah. Yeah, and and there are some proverbs that maybe seem to I don’t know, contradict or show some different angles about similar concepts. So if you just grab one of them then you’re gonna miss out on the fuller picture.

Matt • 18:59
Yeah, I think the classic one, and they I think they point this out in the devotional, but in chapter twenty-six uh versus four and five. You have and and the writer’s brilliant ’cause he put these right next to each other, which I’m sure was intentional.

Hannah • 19:13
Yeah.

Matt • 19:13
Um So verse 4 says, answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Okay, I got it. So I get somebody who’s being a fool. And I’m not supposed to answer him in his folly because then I’m gonna end up just like him. This is great. I know what to do now. I see somebody just embarrassing themselves on social media or somebody in my office that’s just picking fights all the time. Just don’t answer him. Just be cool, because I don’t want to get into it. But then I read verse what? Verse 5. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. And we just talked about being wise in your own eyes is not good. That’s the path that leads to death. So um so now it’s like, well, now I am supposed to answer a fool in his folly, because otherwise I I’m I’m killing him. I’m r I’m I’m enabling him to um be on the path at least to death to life. So so sometimes I’m not supposed to answer somebody according to his folly, because I run the risk of ending up just like that person. But then sometimes I am supposed to answer a fool according to his folly, because I am the thing that is steering him from death to life No pressure. Yeah. Small stakes there. So yeah, they’re right next to each other. Okay, Hannah. That seems to be a little bit of a contradiction. How am I supposed to know? What uh what how am I supposed to make sense of this?

Hannah • 20:38
Yeah. Well, yeah, it’s all situation dependent. And um wisdom is not following a set of rules. It is being shaped by God’s character and trying to image his character and being shaped into a person that knows how to discern within a situation. Um What the Lord would do, you know, or um sometimes there’s not a a right and wrong necessarily, but like a good, better, best.

Matt • 21:18
Yeah.

Hannah • 21:19
Um choice and the more in tune you are with the Lord’s wisdom, with his goodness and generosity and integrity um and justice, the more I’m able to discern what the proper response or action is in a given situation. And it could be, it could look very different depending on the situation.

Matt • 21:40
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So in this one, yeah. So I’ve I’ve got somebody in my life who’s a fool. Do I answer him? Do I engage with this or not? And I think some of the things that are gonna be uh a factor here are relationship. What’s my relationship with this person? Is this somebody who’s very close to me? Is this somebody that I have some influence on or potentially has that r uh r recip reciprocity with me. Um or is this just a complete stranger? Is this somebody on the internet? Is this, you know Jack o’ Lantern five six seven, you know, on you know, whatever social media or the internet of your choice. So what what’s the relationship here? And then what’s the context? Is it something where this is just people sort of sharing opinions about things? Or is this person uh they’re actually trying to implement a decision that has an impact on people in a very practical way. And I might have some influence in how that decision is made. I probably don’t want to get into it if it’s, you know, jack-o’ lantern, blah, blah, blah on some random internet site. There’s no relationship there. There’s no it’s they’re just they just happen to be engaging in opinions. They may or may not be enabled they may or may not be intentionally trying to stir up dissension, because that that happens in a lot of different forms. So that one, I’m probably going to be like, well, if I answer this fool according to their folly, I run the risk of ending up just like them Whereas it’s, you know, somebody that works in my team in my office, or somebody who is maybe a family matter, and I see them sort of making a decision based on bad information. And I’m like, okay, hold on. Let’s just stop for a second and rethink about this. Because then maybe I’m helping to bring some order out of chaos or steer from death into life. So I think situation, context, relationship, ability to influence, uh, the stakes, I think are some of the things that we think about here. But also I think it bears, you know, one of the big ideas with this is listen. So I think maybe even before I say anything at all, I I go to the Lord in prayer and I say, I’m listening to you. Please tell me the right thing to do here. Show me the right way to approach your is this uh answer the full situation or is this a don’t answer the full situation? I’m listening to you. You lead me and tell me what you want me to do.

Hannah • 23:59
Mm-hmm.

Matt • 24:00
Yeah. You get some practice doing this, especially when you have kids. You get some practice doing this, so yeah.

Hannah • 24:06
Yeah, and that’s the other thing about wisdom too. It’s um more of a skill that requires practice than it is just accumulating knowledge and directly applying it. Um yeah, there’s um the the Hebrew word for wisdom, do you know this one?

Matt • 24:29
Hokma?

Hannah • 24:30
Yeah, yeah.

Matt • 24:30
Oh, did I get it?

Hannah • 24:31
Yeah. A little more a little more guttural. Hokma. Beginning. Hokmah. Hokmah. Hokma. Yep. It uh specifically can be used to describe skill like um I forgot the guy’s name, but the The guy who designs the tabernacle.

Matt • 24:50
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I can’t remember his name either. It’s a little tough to pronounce yet, but yeah. And he’s the first person that we’re told is full of the spirit. Yeah. So the spirit is what, you know, uh he probably had some accrued wisdom, but like the spirit sort of co-laboring with him, with his experience and knowledge, with the wisdom to build their tabernacle, create a place. For the people to enjoy the presence of God.

Hannah • 25:15
Yeah, yeah, and his skill in like weaving the tapestries of the tabernacle is it uses the word chokmah. Yeah. So it’s a skill that requires practice. It’s not just something that you can, okay, I read these words, I have the knowledge, now I have wisdom.

Matt • 25:32
Yeah. And you know, I you know, I’m sure you’ve been in small group for a long time and I’ve led small groups for a long time. And I I think this is something that we do well to help people learn and understand ’cause I get so many people are like, Well, what do I do about this? What’s what are the magic words? What do I tell so-and-so or how do I blah blah blah you know and I’m like okay well we gotta dial it back here. I don’t know the magic words to say. I don’t know exactly what buttons to push. I don’t know what the code is here. But let’s think about a wise approach with this situation. Um it’s I I do find that people have to learn that.

Hannah • 26:07
Yeah A lot of times we would prefer a set of rules.

Matt • 26:10
Oh yeah.

Hannah • 26:11
I guess it’s just easier.

Matt • 26:12
Oh yeah.

Hannah • 26:13
It takes a lot less thought and a lot less character formation.

Matt • 26:18
Oh yeah. And and then the beautiful thing is then I just get to be right.

Hannah • 26:22
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt • 26:23
Yeah, and the other person gets to be wrong because I’m following the rules.

Hannah • 26:27
Right, right. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt • 26:28
And so it enables my self-righteousness, which is just great.

Hannah • 26:32
Yeah.

Matt • 26:33
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, so Proverbs, it’s a little sneakier than you think. It doesn’t write it. I know it’s like in nice little couplets for you, and it’s fun to read. But it’s not as clean and neat as you might want it to be. You gotta dig a little bit. You gotta do some work.

Hannah • 26:51
Yeah.

Matt • 26:52
Yeah. I will tell you, do you know who loved Proverbs? Jesus Jesus Jesus clearly loved Proverbs. That’s a trick question. Oh yeah. The answer’s always Jesus. Come on, you went to Sunday school. You know how this works.

Hannah • 27:10
Oh, I forgot. The answer is always Jesus.

Matt • 27:15
He’s a good pretty good place to start. Um but yeah, a lot of themes from the teaching. of Jesus. You can find its roots or sort of the main idea there in Proverbs. I’m looking at a couple examples from chapter 29. Chapter 29, verse 23, one’s pride will bring him low. But he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. Sounds a little bit like blessed is the meek, doesn’t it? Yeah. And the idea of when you go to a party, don’t sit in the highest seat, but sit in the lower seat. Yeah. Let yourself be invited up into the higher seats. Yeah. So I think Jesus is clearly pulling on a couple of these themes And then verse 3, I think, is also a notable one. He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth. Little bit like the prodigal son. Hmm. Little note in there, I think. I think it’s certainly his listeners would have had something like that proverb in mind. And so using that as something a little bit to riff on, I think that would have been some context for his hearers. And I think It makes that story that much more powerful because the father has the father in that story has every right to be self-righteous and just condemn his son. And it’s right there in the scripture. But there’s a twist in the story. So Jesus clearly a fan of the Proverbs.

Hannah • 28:35
Yeah.

Matt • 28:37
Yeah, so I love that. So if you want to know and understand the teaching of of Jesus, which you should Um, Proverbs is a great place to hang out ’cause he is clearly pulling a lot of those themes for the Sermon on the Mount, uh a lot of uh his moral teaching and a lot of his sort sort of like organizational principles, like how he wants his people to work together. Uh the proverbs are are key for that. Um and then another one. I am a really big fan of when the Bible sort of confirms so-called real-world wisdom. And I’ll tell you what I mean by that. I was a HR researcher and consultant for about eight years or so. And so I’ve read tons of stuff about how to run organizations. And then I did an MBA, so organizational behavior and leadership and So one of my favorite writers is this guy named Adam Grant, which some people may have heard of. If you’ve been around the business world, you may have heard of him. I think he’s a podcaster and he does TED Talks. Of course he does TED Talks. Uh but he wrote a book called Originals. He’s got a a couple of things. He’s actually really great, but he did a book called Give and Take. And Hannah, I think you’ll be blown away with this. Here’s the main idea of his book. It’s it’s better to be a giver than a taker. That’s the idea of his book. Where have you heard that before?

Hannah • 29:54
Ugh. Well Is who says it’s more blessed to give than receive? Is that Jesus?

Matt • 30:02
I think Jesus and I think Paul said that. I think both of them said that’s reiterated.

Hannah • 30:07
Yeah.

Matt • 30:07
So yeah, so Proverbs is another one that’s good for that. It turns out there are things that are like really good ideas and we have research now that confirms these things. But if you’ve been reading the Bible, if you’ve been reading Proverbs, you kind of already knew this. Like one example of that I and you challenge me on this one, but I can defend it. You can fight me if you want, Hannah. But um uh Proverbs 13 verse eleven. Or is that right? Yeah. Oh yeah, here it is. Wait a minute. Oh, sorry. I can’t I’m blind. Can’t see. Uh verse 11. Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. You talk to any financial planner. Go talk to JT. JT will help you with your financial planner. And he will talk to you about the idea of uh he don’t don’t go for like get rich quick schemes. Like just Uh what’s called dollar cost averaging. Just set aside a little bit at a time, put it in a 401k or thingy, whatever it is, and just watch it grow little by little and it will build wealth. So compound interest. There’s compound interest in the proverbs, Hannah.

Hannah • 31:14
Yeah, I don’t really think this verse is about interest, but that’s fine.

Matt • 31:21
The basic idea maps. You have to you have to give me that.

Hannah • 31:24
Yeah. Well I think what you said about the get rich quick scheme, like that’s not gonna work. Usually money that is gained quickly or hastily is through injust means or dishonest means. Whereas gathering little by little is More of the speed of someone who works diligently and consistently and faithfully. Um, but you know, compound interest is a is a good thing too.

Matt • 31:53
It’s a great thing. I don’t think it had been conceptualized as such just yet, but they knew what was what. Wisdom is eternal. They they knew what’s what.

Hannah • 32:05
Well yeah.

Matt • 32:06
All right. I may be stepping on a ledge here. Uh what about you? You got a couple like themes in the proverbs that that bounce for you?

Hannah • 32:15
Yeah, um there’s a lot about justice, generosity, and care for the poor. Um, just a few of them. Um 111. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. So this is about justice and honesty and uh trading money. So you could uh or paying for things. So you could weigh out something if you had a skewed balance, then you could get something cheaper than uh what it was actually worth.

Matt • 32:48
Which by the way, sort of going back to my idea, like that’s actually a thing in our world right now. Like um like bribery in a lot of countries is just part of the economy.

Hannah • 32:59
Yeah.

Matt • 33:00
And it’s correlated. Places where bribery is more prevalent The economy’s not as good. It’s harder to make a living. Uh and so yeah, honest officials, I mean, we have data that shows it. Just basic rule of law and integrity of public officials. Is better for human flourishing than than officials and customs agents and whatnot who take bribes.

Hannah • 33:23
Yeah. Yeah. This one’s good. Proverbs 14, 31. Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Matt • 33:34
Yeah.

Hannah • 33:35
Yeah.

Matt • 33:36
Yeah. We did a whole series last year. Dave did a a s uh a sermon on kind of how the Bible talks about poor and oppressed and marginalized people. And he riffed on the proverbs a lot. And I still think a lot about that sermon and some of the things that he said.

Hannah • 33:51
Yeah. Okay, one more about generosity. 1124. One gives freely yet grows all the richer. Another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. Yeah. Kinda seems counterintuitive, right? You to give freely, you grow richer. Um, but if you withhold what you should give, you suffer want. So you would think the more I hold on to myself the more I I’ll have, the richer I’ll be. But this is also saying giving generously, um I don’t know. Maybe grow richer is more of a character thing than a purely money thing, but I don’t know.

Matt • 34:34
I’ll just tell you from my own experience. Um I have found that when I lend generously or I where I’m generous with my money, where I’m like, yeah, I’m gonna support that missionary, or yeah, I’m gonna give to this thing at church, or Um I’m gonna, you know, somebody who it’s it’s a little more challenging for them to just go out for pizza or coffee and I’m gonna pick up the check I’m staggered at how many times, like not too far along after that, I get a bonus at work or Somebody says, you know, hey, I was thinking about here’s a gift card for so and so. I am stunned at how often the Lord seems to kind of bring things back into balance. When I just have a generous posture. I mean I’ve had a couple you know, we’ve we’ve had some things lately in our family where it’s like, oh, okay, yeah, it’s a little bit of a stretch for us or it wasn’t really in our plan to do this, but We’re gonna we’re gonna be generous in this way. And then what do you know? Just in the last two months I’ve gotten two bonuses at work. I uh you know, I I’m not saying God is on a quid pro quoid pro quo system, but there does seem to be a the testimony of my own life that God always gives it back. When I’m generous and when I have an open hand posture with my money and my time and my resources, God is pretty consistent in giving that back to me.

Hannah • 35:56
Yeah. Yeah, those who steward what the Lord has given them well and generously, uh, I think the Lord is more inclined to give you more to continue to steward well. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt • 36:09
Yeah. And then another theme that I think is huge in Proverbs and uh this is this is this is just walk around Matt’s content and and and sermons. Uh I did a sermon last year about anger uh from the Proverbs. Um, that certainly was a result of a lot of things that I have learned. Proverbs talks a ton about anger, uh and especially about how anger impacts our relationship with each other. Um basically the wise the idea is the wise person controls their anger. They don’t let their anger control them. So that’s another one. I think that’s in the Sermon Archives. So if that’s something you’re curious about, go back and say. I don’t want to unpack that whole thing here. I’m just in the interest of time. But that’s another really strong theme in Proverbs is how we relate to each other sort of in the emotional domain. And anger’s a huge part of that. Um, and so that’s that’s something that’s spoken to me a lot. I’ve learned a lot from Proverbs about that.

Hannah • 37:03
Yeah. One more theme that stood out to me is the theme of speech.

Matt • 37:10
Okay.

Hannah • 37:10
There’s a so many proverbs about um honesty with your speech, being gentle with your speech. uh giving life with your words, um, things like that. I really like Proverbs 15, 4 that says, a gentle tongue is a tree of life.

Matt • 37:29
Oh. Yeah. Oh, they hit the jackpot for you there.

Hannah • 37:34
Yep. The second half says, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Matt • 37:40
Beautiful.

Hannah • 37:41
Yeah. Yeah. And then Proverbs 18, 21, death and life are in the power of the tongue. Those who love it will eat its fruits. More more true of life language.

Matt • 37:53
Yeah, I mean you gotta think and when you think about it, so much of the proverbs are about relationships. So much of the scripture is about relationships. Like how do we have good flourishing relationships with each other? And gosh, it’s gotta be number one the way that we relate to each other is through our speech, through our words. And so yeah, that’s yeah, you’ve pointed out really important thing there. Hmm. Yeah, awesome. So Proverbs, it’s rich. There’s a lot of stuff in there. Yeah. Awesome. Well I think we’re gonna land the plane here Here. Um, I think technically in the week that we’re doing this, we’re gonna start Job, but we want to do Job as a complete package, so we’ll get that next week.

Hannah • 38:34
Yeah.

Matt • 38:34
Uh and I’m excited about Job. I think Job is a really fun read.

Hannah • 38:38
It is. I think it is more and more complex the more I read it.

Matt • 38:43
Yes.

Hannah • 38:44
Than you might like initially think. Yeah.

Matt • 38:47
Yeah. And I I think for a long time and we’ll talk about this more, for a long time I just I didn’t think Job had an ending. But as I’ve read it recently, I think it does have an ending and it’s way more satisfying than I would have thought. There’s still some open loops for me and Joe, but we’ll we’ll we’ll process those things next week. So that’ll be awesome. Cool. Well let me pray for us and then we’ll uh we’ll finish this. Sound good? Yep. Awesome. Lord, you are the maker of heaven and earth. You are our creator, and so everything that you do uh has wisdom behind it. You’re not foolish or random in the things that you do. And so Lord, everything that you have done should make sense. And in our blindness and in our limitations, we can’t always see it. We need you to tell us and we need to listen to you. So thank you for the proverbs that help us to understand your world. and how to live well in it, Lord, how to treat each other, how to speak with truth and grace, when to confront and when to maybe let things go a little bit. when to step into a situation, uh, but when to maybe step back a little bit. Lord, we it’s I I I go through hundreds of these scenarios a day and I don’t always know. So I need the practice and I need to listen to you. And Proverbs helps me to do that. Lord, I pray for my friends who are learning to do that and maybe they’ve been practicing for years and years and years. Or Maybe they’re relatively new at this, Lord. I pray that you would meet them in this. Lord, I pray that they would ask and that you would give to them generously wisdom as you promise, uh, so that as they listen to you and how to live well in your world. That they would experience blessing and life and good and not death and separation and frustration and evil. Lord, thank you uh for the wisdom that you’ve shown us in Proverbs. Help us to hear it. And to do it and to see the fruit of what you have promised as we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thanks, Hannah.

Hannah • 40:42
Thanks, Matt.