False Advertising

Proverbs 16:25

      Looks are deceiving. I am sure you have learned this lesson in life. Like red frosting on a birthday cake, it looks good, but then…. Hopefully the frosting doesn’t lead to death, but your tongue will have an unusual hue to it.

      If we only pay attention to outward appearances, we will get frequently deceived. There are tool catalogs that sell many hand tools very inexpensively. If you only need to use the tool a few times, they are great. But after a few uses you realize why they are so cheap. Their looks covered up the cheap quality of construction. You really do get what you pay for.

      Used cars can be made to look really shiny and clean. The salesman distracts you from the imperfections by pointing out the shiny chrome and great radio. But looks can deceive.

      Some people have the ability to sell themselves, even though they are an empty bag. They promise one thing, and when it comes time to deliver you find out all they had were empty words. They had no substance behind their words.

      Some choices in life can look good when they are first presented. If you act on them in the moment, you don’t have time to think about what you are doing. You don’t have time to evaluate the second and third order effects.

      Timeshare sales promotions take advantage of this incapacity to process decisions. They tell you all the positive points from their perspective. They get you agreeing with them about how wonderful it would be to vacation in a place like this every year. They pitch the economic matters by telling you it will only cost a dollar. They leave out that it is a dollar a minute!  

      Our proverb tells us that things can appear right, but really be deadly. Slow down. Take time to make decisions. Pray. Get Godly counsel. Slow down.

My Son

Proverbs 3:1-4

My son (1:8, 2:1, 3:1). This fatherly figure wants desperately to pass along the wisdom to his son. He calls on him to listen, to keep attending to the wisdom contained in his words. They offer his son a better way. Perhaps the father made many mistakes and he wished for his son to not follow in his ways. Mistakes can be very painful.

So what is the first specific wisdom he passes along to his son? He tells him to keep love and faithfulness close at hand. What would that look like? It will prolong life, and bring peace and prosperity (v2), and favor and a good name (v4), so it is important to know.

The author first uses the picture of a person hanging his wisdom around their neck. It would always be visible. It would always be handy. Others would see it present in your life, and every movement would be noticed. Chance are, it would even get in the way if you were engaged in daily activities, just like a woman’s necklace and an infant child.

But wearing around your neck is an external action. It could get lost, or even taken off on purpose. Someone might steal it. But the author says we should write this wisdom on the tablet of your heart.

I don’t know about you, but my heart doesn’t have a tablet. I can’t afford an iPad for my heart. Wrong kind of tablet! We are talking about a stone or clay tablet. It takes time and effort to write something on this kind of tablet. It is not something that can be accomplished quickly. It also can’t be erased easily. It is a semi-permanent form of document preservation. Slow, inefficient, but lasting.

That is the way we are to store God’s wisdom in us. It takes time and effort to write it in us. Chiseling or scraping again and again. And no one is able to see this wisdom directly. It is on the inside. They will only be able to tell it is there by your actions. Unlike the necklace, it can’t be lost or stolen.

We want things quickly, but gaining and keeping wisdom takes time and effort, but has its rewards. Verse four highlights two: favor and a good name. Things go smoothly when you have a good name, and when people trust you, doors open. Definitely worth the effort.