The Way of the Wise - Proverbs
9 - What Do You Know About the World?
There are three things you need to know about this world. The first one we find in Proverbs chapter 61 to 5, and it is: “Its plausibility”. In other words, what it says sounds believable and even attractive, but it will lead you into trouble.
Think of this illustration: Your neighbour wants to have a chat with you; she’s having some work done on her house; she’s having all sorts of extensions; she’s redoing the kitchen, and she tells you that she is waiting for an insurance policy to mature, probably next week, but she has to pay the builders now. She knows you have just been left a large sum of money and she is awfully sorry to have to ask you, and she is embarrassed about it, but could you possibly lend her a few thousand pounds. It’s only for a few days, there’s no problem. You agree and you commit yourself to it, but actually it is a trap, she is lying, there is no money coming to her.
This is a little picture of what Solomon is saying in these verses. It is a parable, a spiritual picture of the world. The world here is not creation, or our relationships, or families, or our employment; the world here is the mind, the outlook of mankind that ignores God and doesn’t recognise Him. This world is very plausible, but it is full of snares and traps. Christians need to treat all the high sounding, often attractive propositions of the world around with great caution. Solomon tells his son what he should do if he should find himself trapped in this way. If he has entered unwisely into an agreement with his neighbour and it has placed him in difficulty, then the only course of action is, as we read in verse 3, “Go and humble yourself, press your plea with your neighbour!” He says the situation must be treated as a matter of urgency: “Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.” Do your utmost to release yourself from this entanglement. So too, if we realise we have been taken in by the world in some way we must admit our mistake and humble ourselves, and get away from the situation as soon as we can. How much better to remember that “To be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God” (James 4:4), and have nothing to do with its plausible words and attractions. The world leaves God out of its arrangements. The believer puts God’s will first and is careful not to be taken-in by the snares of the world and of the devil.
What else do you need to know about this world? The second thing is “its pre-occupation”, which we find this in verses 6 to 11. Verse 6 talks about going to look at that marvellous insect the ant, and to consider its ways and be wise. Now this is clearly a powerful message for the sluggard, or the lazy person. What do we learn from the tiny ant? This is actually the harvester ant which is common in Palestine, and they are depicted as very wise little creatures. They have something of great value to teach us. They don’t need to be reminded of what they need to do. They don’t need to be prodded and challenged. They busy themselves with their tasks. The ant is doing all the sensible things, seeing that winter is coming and summer doesn’t last for ever, and gathering its food at harvest time.
The sluggard can depict the person who is full of excuses for not trusting in Christ. This person has no concern for his precious soul, no thought of eternity, no sense of urgent need of Christ, his days just drift by he does what pleases him, he does what amuses him or entertains him. He lives for holidays, he lives for sport; he lives for himself. He is pre-occupied with himself, it is a kind of slumber, a spiritual slumber; it is the slumber of spiritual death. This life is brief and days of opportunity for seeking the living God go quickly by. There is the great Gospel question in Verse 9: “How long will you lie there you sluggard, when will you get up from your sleep?” It comes to our generation; it comes to you, this question, “how long will you sleep?” Christ is calling you; will you awake from sleep and respond to Him?
Verses 10 and 11 take this picture of laziness and sleeping a little further: “A little sleep a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come upon you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.” To those in spiritual darkness and deadness, the Gospel of Christ is all so irrelevant. They say, “Where’s the harm? I’ll carry on in my life, a little more sleep just a little more.” As one commentator has said, “But a little sleep proves an everlasting sleep”. All of life has its consequences. The principle of sowing and reaping is inescapable. As poverty will strike the lazy man, so tragedy will strike the spiritually sleeping. Is there a worse thing in the universe than to live and die in your sins without God, without Christ and without hope? All because you were too lazy to act, too preoccupied to stop and consider.
So here is a picture of this world in its plausibility, in its pre-occupation and now thirdly, in “its propaganda.” We find this in verses 12 to 15. You must have met the man spoken about here. He is a slick salesman; he is fast talking; he has got a lot to say; he is brash; he is showy; he has conned a lot of people; he drives a very expensive car; he has a very opulent lifestyle. Here is another Gospel parable; this man doesn’t care about people, he is essentially selfish, greedy, godless and cruel. He reflects the mind of this godless world. This scoundrel and villain, as he is called in verse 12 is, according to verse 15 heading nowhere fast. His days are numbered. If we listen to the propaganda of this world we are very foolish. The world says ‘live for today and get all you can. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.’ But see what verse 15 says: “Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant, h will suddenly be destroyed without remedy.” Do you see this world for what it really is; do you see its plausibility? Its whole mentality is to live without God. Do you see its pre-occupation, how those who love this present world sleep the very sleep of death? Do you see its propaganda? The world has much to say, much to offer, but nothing of lasting, eternal value.
In John 3:16, we read “for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Whoever believes him shall not perish but have ever lasting life.” Christians are those who live in the world, but are not of the world. Christ has overcome the world, and you and I can live a life of peace and joy and victory and blessing in the midst of a sad, lost, needy world.