Tuesday, April 16, 2024

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READ: Proverbs 20

There is gold and a multitude of jewels,
but knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure.
Proverbs 20:15 (CSB)

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Oma Enns – that is, Mom’s mom – used to say (emphatically) that you had to wait to plant the garden until after the first thunderstorm because “the thunder loosened the soil.”

Her garden was amazing.

Her science was suspect.

I remember telling Oma Dick – Dad’s mom – after they had central vac installed that you need to let the motor completely wind down before you shut the outlet flap or that last little bit of suction would wear it out quicker. I also remember telling her that she shouldn’t open the door of the microwave for a few seconds to make sure the radiation had dissipated.

I was very smart about many things and Oma made me feel much smarter than was. I don’t think she was as impressed with my vast knowledge as she let me believe, nevertheless, from flora and fauna to meteorology, to household appliances, I taught Oma all the wisdom I had acquired in my first decade and a half on earth.

My mom was the one who drew the direct line between Oma’s Enns’s confidence in her viewpoints and my confidence in mine.

The other day I told my son, Seth, that confidence was more important than correctness. I explained that people will follow someone who believes they are right (and perhaps wrong), far sooner than someone right but not confident.

I was teasing him, but I’m pretty sure I’m right.

Every brand of Christian from every epoch of our faith has been certain of their correctness – including everyone alive at the moment. The Calvinists and Arminians endlessly debate while the Open Theists scoff at their certainty. The Moral Absolutists puff their chests while pointing out the pathetic subjectivity of the Relativists. The new Evangelicals call out the hypocrisy of the old Evangelicals while the old Evangelicals rebrand the new Evangelicals as “Progressives” who have deconstructed their beliefs. (As if rethinking – even retooling – one’s beliefs is a sign of weakness. One of these days I’m going to compile a list of the things I used to believe about God that I no longer do…)

Proverbs 20:18 tells us to “Finalize plans with counsel, and wage war with sound guidance” and I agree but I think that all too often we mistake counsel for echo chambers. It’s a bit like the “counsel” that Rehoboam accepted from the guys he grew up with at the expense of the elder advisors (2 Ki 12).

Of course, there are plenty of old advisors who would be wise to pay attention to the younger voices.

And this is the point, knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure, but taken in concert diverse voices are far more likely to arrive at a wise solution than any one mind; old or young.

In your quest for truth, don’t settle for one set of ideas or even two, look at many. Look at the fruit borne of a particular flavour of ideals. Weigh the ancient wisdom of scripture against modern sensibilities and morality. And don’t worry one bit about the fact that it is a zigzagged path toward truth. After all, “Even a courageous person’s steps are determined by the Lord, so how can anyone understand his own way?”

PS. And for the love of Pete, don’t take one 14-year-old’s version of reality as gospel truth. I’m pretty sure Oma didn’t.