Proverbs 15

i'm only going to comment on one of these many proverbs, today.

here it is, unapologetically in the New King James Version:

"The way of life winds upward for the wise,
That he may turn away from hell below."

Proverbs 15:24

I LOVE this translation of this particular proverb. Not afraid to use "hell" for the Hebrew "She'ol". Portraying life as it truly is: an upward climb.

Let's talk about how a "linear" view of time: the idea that time has a beginning and an end--has usually been portrayed on a "time line"? These lines are usually straigh lines with a little hache-mark on each end, with marks along the line to show events...

most of us have this "linear" view of time. we were raised like that.

Some of us may have a "circular" view of time. This idea usually includes concepts of reincarnation, or "memory afterlife" (I will live on in the birds that eat the bugs that eat my corpse) (or I will live on in the memories of those whose life-understanding has been built on my contributions). "Circle of life" "Lion King" disney, hinduism, reincarnation... you get it. Not too much of that around here. We're usually linear folks, us westerners...

anyway, there is a Biblical view that I like a lot. It is linear, but not a flat line. It is an ascending spiral. Think of it. There is a "going-around-ness" to history. Things do really tend to repeat, in a sense. we look back and see patterns.
In this view of history, we don't look "back" as much as we tend to look "down" below us. Similarities, "circularities" are due to the fact that we are coming around again to similar "seasons" of history. The rise and decline of nation states--it's all happened before. Yet never exactly like this...

and so history rises toward the consummation.

Mt. 24 says that troubles in our times are like "birth pangs". They will get closer and closer together, and intensify. Toward the end, the spiral of history tightens, and the speed of change picks up, right until the return of Jesus.

From that point, history gets a break...

Well, think on the fear of the Lord, and wisdom. Ponder the way of life, and what it means to truly live. Think for a moment of death, and hell. let the shudder of the true realities of what Jesus said come upon you.

"Twas grace that taught my heart to fear...
...and grace my fear relieved..."

let wisdom overtake you as you realize what an utter mess you make of life when you live outside of holy fear.

I assure you, somethign much worse than any of your worst fears awaits those who don't fear the lord and serve Him. Not just a "messed up" life, but hell, itself.

that's what i'm hearing in this proverb. not just a promise of a smoother life (that means, a peaceful life before God, with assurance that He is pleased with you), but deliverance from the punishment of the wicked.

as an upward spiral, living wisely is an uphill climb. But we get strong, in wisdom. And we get beautiful to God.