The Longevity of Righteousness

Prov. 16:31 "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in a way of righteousness."

Longevity is related to righteousness.

Pursue Wisdom

Prov. 9:10 - 11 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you."

Do not send young people off to college to pursue a degree if they do not have the beginning of wisdom. Is a fool in possession of a degree and much data more useful than one without?

Giving Away Years

Prov. 5:7-13 "Therefore hear me now, my children, And do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her, And do not go near the door of her house, Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner; And you mourn at last, When your flesh and your body are consumed, And say; 'How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!"'

It is a mark of our departure from the authority of Scripture that we think we need "evidence" such as that provided by "medical research" to tell people to be sexually pure.

Healthy Memorization

Prov. 3:1, 2 "My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you."

Why has catechizing and memorization fallen onto such hard times? When we do memorize, do we choose those passages that are more of a "pick-me-up" for momentary use and discard than deeper study?

On Debt

Prov. 3:27-28 “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,” when you have it with you.“

This is an odd application of these verses, which I had always thought had to do with charitable giving. “Those to whom it is due” however can be translated “its owners.” Charitable giving is an obligation laid on a person by God. It is not a claim on someone’s property held by someone in need. Therefore, the verses can indicate paying your debts off when you can, not pretending to be unable to pay.

Train Up a Child

Prov. 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Here is an injunction to train children pointing out its lifelong effects. Jay Adams makes much of the literal Hebrew wording, “... in his way...” to make a point that this could be a negative warning. If you train a child up according to his natural, sinful bent, he will be bent like that for life.

Eli’s children exemplify failure to raise children properly. David’s children, also.

Gospel-based Medical Care

Proverbs 8:34-36: “Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord; But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; All those who hate me love death.”

Medicine cannot be Enlightenment-based and truly minister to people. It must be explicitly based on the gospel. Ignoring or rejecting the gospel is effectively hating God and thus loving death.

Medical care which confesses its dependence on and service to God can foreshadow the real healing, the final lifting of the curse which is to come. The very partial, very temporary healing which can sometimes be provided can be an image of the greater to come, as well as a temporary mercy. Medical care which does not make this connection is ministering an image of eternal death. We need to look to that tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Christ hung on a tree and made available thereby to His elect this healing.


Excerpt from "Are We Christians Dying to Meet Him?"

The Prudence of Medical Insurance

For a while, I developed a positive hatred of all medical insurance, and invested it with a large share of blame for what ails American medicine. Many bible passages, however, strongly support the idea of insurance as a good idea. Proverbs 27:12 states, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it."

Though we cannot predict it in detail, illness is virtually certain to strike each of us at some time in our life. Medical insurance can provide a kind of refuge, if we are willing to foresee probable illness. Provision for the foreseeable future is also counseled in Proverbs 30:25: "Ants are the creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer." The arrival of the seasons is more predictable than the arrival of illness, but the two are comparable.

Proverbs 6:6 commends us to "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest." Our responsibility to provide for our household is explicit in I Tim. 5:8: "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel." It is reasonable to include medical care among the expected provision. John 19:26, 27 records Jesus' provision for His mother.

Medical care cannot easily be stored by individuals, but participation in an insurance program can perform the same function; one is "storing" a fund to be expended on anticipated future services. Proverbs 21:20 states: "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has." Clearly, something can be set aside for future exigencies, rather than devoured foolishly.


Excerpt from "Ethical Issues in Medical Insurance"

Inheritance

Prov. 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”

The use of the term “wealth” indicates that physical wealth is primarily what is in view here. Proverbs are not commandments, but rather descriptions of how God normally deals with human beings. Proverbs describes His ordinary providence. Failing to leave wealth to children is thus not a sin. A parent however who gives no heed to God’s ordinary providence is behaving questionably in this matter. Our inheritance laws today can set God’s expectation against the civil state. Inheritance taxes are wicked, implying that the wealth ultimately belongs to the state, replacing covenantal succession in the family with the state. Wise parents will invest in their offspring.

Preparation and Deliverance

Proverbs 21:31 “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance is of the Lord.”

The battle is always the Lord’s. If there is a victory, it is the Lord’s. If there is deliverance, it is the Lord’s. Yet, the verse says that the horse is prepared for the day of battle. We are to make preparations for conflicts, testing, trials.

We are accountable to attend to our horses. That is, we are accountable to make preparations. The verse is not a teaching against foresight or preparation. However, the verse cautions us against a reliance in ourselves, in our machinations, in our intelligence, our foresight. We are not clever enough, we are not strong enough, we are not rich enough to deliver ourselves.

Psalm 147:10-11 says, “He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.” Let us fear Him and hope in His mercy.


Excerpts from "Preparation and Deliverance"