Posts Tagged: Christine Roy Yoder
DTEB, “Fair—and Merciful—Weights and Measures”
As I was out walking the dog and listening to my You Version Bible on my smart phone this morning, I was struck by the following verse:
Prov. 11:1 “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD,
but a just weight is his delight.” (English Standard Version)
I was even more struck with a rather personal extended application of the verse to my own sometimes judgmental attitude. I did not like the application, but I no doubt needed it.
False weights and measures are, in the literal sense, an economic issue. Here is what Kidner says concerning the matter: “The Law (Lev. 19:35f.), the Prophets (Mic. 6:1f.) and the Wisdom Writings (see also 20:10, 23) agree in condemning dishonesty primarily for God’s sake. For the same reason we are encouraged to give not only in full but to overflowing (Luke 6:35, 38). See also 16:11 . . . .” Christine Roy Yoder comments that, of eleven things that are listed as abominations of Yahweh in the book of Proverbs, three of them involve unjust weights and measures.[1] (See also Amos 8:5; and Micah 6:10-11.)
However, the figurative meaning of this saying was what I especially needed and didn’t like. I felt that God was asking me about my tendency to want mercy for me, but judgment for others. Isn’t that having different weights and measures? Other people’s wrongdoing is heavier and more than mine, surely! And, of course, my motivations are always pure, whereas the motivations of other people are often suspect.
I was hoping that I had misheard God’s Spirit, but was pretty well certain that I had not. When I looked up Luke 6:35-38 (to which Kidner referred, as already noted), all doubt was removed.
“Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Notice how Jesus intensifies this business of a fair “measure.” We are not simply to be just. Rather, we are to be merciful and generous. In fact, this merciful measure doesn’t stop with not being judgmental. No! Jesus calls his disciples to forgive!
And since I need a lot of mercy and forgiveness, I need to extend a lot of mercy and forgiveness to others. Measure for measure! The same standards of mercy for others that I need for myself.
Man, do I ever have a lot of work to do!
[1] Christine Roy Yoder, Proverbs, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009), 130.
“Beginning the Year with God: God’s Nearness or Resignation?”
I had a look at one of my favorite commentators on the book of Proverbs, Christine Roy Yoder, who wrote the following helpful comments:
Whereas mortals have the capacity and responsibility to plan their “way” . . . , God is proximate—God approves or redirects each step (the conjunction may be translated as “and” or “but). The proverb may be interpreted as a comforting reminder of God’s nearness and sovereignty, a matter-of-fact acknowledgement of human limitations, or, more cynically, as a sigh of resignation (cf. 20:24; Jer 10:23).[1]
So, how am I going to take this verse as a guide to the new year? A sigh of resignation may be appropriate at times, but I think it would be better for me to take this proverb as a reminder of God’s nearness and sovereignty and as an acknowledgement of my limitations.
If I acknowledge my limitations, that will help me not to have to be so perfect all the time. Frankly, my progress is impeded much more by my desire for perfection, than by my obvious imperfections. It has been said that “the good is the enemy of the best.” Yes, I suppose that is true. However, for me at least, there is another, even more important truth: The perfect that I can’t achieve is the enemy of the good that I can achieve. If I accept my limitations, that does not take away my drive to be better. Quite the contrary! It is accepting my limitations that empowers me to do well.
And, of course, being reminded of God’s nearness and sovereignty helps to counter my tendency to worry and want to control. There is an old story that goes something like this: “Good morning! This is God. I will not need your help today. So relax and have a nice day!”
Might work! And what
works for one day probably would work for the entire year of 2020 as well.
[1] Christine Roy Yoder, Proverbs, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009), 184.
“On Being Properly Dressed”
“Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3, English Standard Version)
I attend a very informal church. Old faded jeans and tee shirts are much more common than suits and ties. I like that. So you don’t have any nice, Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes? No problem! Really! Come as you are!
But sometimes, I like to be a rebel. So, I wear a nice shirt and a tie. It’s a cheap form of rebellion, but hey, I’m cheap!
Today, in particular, I decided to wear a nice shirt and tie. It didn’t hit me as to why I had done that until this evening. You see, I read Proverbs 3 this morning, and spent a bit of time meditating on 3:3. It talks about dressing up with love and faithfulness. We are to bind these qualities around the neck. I suppose that the modern metaphor would involve a necklace or a tie. Since I hated to borrow one of my wife’s necklaces, I opted for the tie.
Of course, Proverbs 3:3 is not speaking of mere outward adornment. It is talking about wearing “steadfast love and faithfulness.” But what do those terms mean?
Christine Roy Yoder points out that the expression “steadfast love and faithfulness” can refer either to God’s love and faithfulness or human love and faithfulness.[1] While Yoder regards as “more compelling” the idea that the phrase refers to God’s love and faithfulness,[2] I wonder if we have to choose. If God is loving and faithful, and if we are made in God’s image, why couldn’t there be an intentional double entendre here?
Wearing God’s love and faithfulness and our own, like a lovely necklace or a silk tie—now there is a wonderful way for all of us to be walking fashion plates.
But it isn’t enough to wear love and faithfulness externally. We are also encouraged to “inscribe them on our hearts.”
Whoa! Things are getting serious now!
Often those of us who are Christians tend to think of the Old Testament as only concerned with externals. Hardly! Like the New Testament, the Old Testament knows that the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
I have usually thought of the God’s grace and love working from the inside outward. In a sense, that is a good way of thinking about it.
However, I wonder if sometimes it doesn’t work the other way around. Sometimes, if we begin with external reminders of God’s love and faithfulness—and of the need for us to cultivate and demonstrate those same qualities—our heart can begin to change.
But
we can never be content with the merely external. It may be a good place to begin, but if we
stop there, we haven’t even made a beginning of the spiritual life.
[1] Christine Roy Yoder, Proverbs, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009),37-38.
[2] Ibid., 37.
“There’s a Lion on the Loose!”
I was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder at the young age of fifty-two. My wife’s response was, “This explains a lot!”
That may be true. A.D.D. is a real thing and a real explanation. However, as with anything else, A.D.D. can be used as an excuse. When anything—even something real—is used as an excuse, it becomes unreal and evil.
So, recognizing that I am more prone than the average bear to have difficulty paying attention does not give me a free pass. Quite the contrary! It means that I need to spend more emotional energy seeking to focus on what I need/deeply want to do.
The same thing may be said about me that was said by one wise commentator about the lazy person and the lion in Proverbs 22:13. “The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!’” Christine Roy Yoder comments on this verse,
No excuse is too absurd for the lazy. One pictures the sluggard curled up inside (e.g., 19:15, 24; 26:14-15) and pointing outside, stammering about an imaginary lion wandering the streets (cf. 26:13). . . . [T]he verb räcaH (“to kill”) is typically used for a homicide that particularly offends the community, such as the killing of an innocent citizen . . . . The sluggard’s unprecedented use of the verb to describe an animal attack and, implicitly, to characterize himself as innocent lends further ridiculousness to the claim. (Christine Roy Yoder, Proverbs, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009), 226.)
Whether I am struggling with A.D.D. or laziness (and I do struggle with both), or with anything else, the underlying principle is the same: No excuses allowed! Perhaps the A.D.D. and laziness are not the most serious problem anyway. Perhaps it’s the excuses that are fatal. The excuses are the lion, and they will devour my dreams, my time, my very life.
But how can I recognized an excuse, you ask? One simple rule of thumb is this: If I am having to spend very much time explaining why something is right, either to myself or to someone else, it isn’t an explanation. It’s an excuse.
So, I think I’ll declare a new holiday: No Excuse Day. It is a floating holiday, and will be observed only on days that begin with the letter “T”: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Tomorrow, and Today.
“OF BURNT TOWELS AND ENTHUSIASM WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE”
“Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes.” (Proverbs 19:2, New Living Translation, italics mine)
“E-K=H+M (Enthusiasm minus Knowledge equals Haste plus Mistakes. (DTEB)
I was trying to do something nice for my sweetheart. I really was. However, as Proverbs 19:2 points out, it is important to think through things.
I have gotten into the habit of occasionally warming up my wife’s towel in our dryer at home, so that she has a nice warm towel when she gets out of the shower. It’s not difficult to do, and it seems to please her.
However, while microwaves will warm up towels, they may not be the best thing to use to do so. As with most of the things I learn, I found this out by trying it. I cannot recommend this method.
I had done this successfully for a day or two while we were on vacation, but on our last day of vacation the process seemed to take a little longer than usual. I took the towel out, and it wasn’t warm enough. So, I put the towel back in the microwave for a minute.
I started smelling something burning, but thought it was somebody smoking outside our room. It wasn’t. When I handed the towel to my sweetheart, parts of the towel looked and smelled like a marshmallow that had been left in the fire a bit too long.
The maids had brought some brand new towels to our room the day before. Apparently they had not been washed (the towels, not the maids!). My wife told me (after I had toasted the towel) that the brand new towels probably had some chemicals on them that made the towels more flammable. She may have been making that up just to make me feel better, but I don’t care. It did make me feel a little less stupid.
I confessed to the motel manager that I had ruined one of their good bath towels, and asked him to put it on our bill. He was gracious and didn’t charge us for it. I was not brave enough to tell him how I had ruined the towel. Now that a week has gone by, I decided to come clean. I am copying him into the e mail I send out to my readers.
It is very important to have your heart in the right place, and to be enthusiastic about serving others, especially those you love. However, it is also very important to do so in a mindful manner.
This seems to be precisely what Proverbs 19:2 (quoted above) is driving at. Christine Roy Yoder, commenting on this verse, puts it very nicely:
“Without knowledge, even well-intentioned desire can result in harm, just as ‘one who is hasty with feet misses’—presumable the path forged by God and the community . . . . The wise are informed and deliberate.”[1]
I don’t know much about math, but I have come up with a formula that I will try to memorize and use regularly:
“E-K=H+M
Enthusiasm minus Knowledge equals Haste plus Mistakes.
The next time I feel enthusiastic about doing something, I will try to remember this formula. I will try also to remember Proverbs 19:2, Yoder’s good words, and the burnt towel. I will strive to think before I microwave!
[1] Christine Roy Yoder, Proverbs, Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries (Nashville: Abingdon, 2009), 202. This is one of the very best commentaries I’ve seen on Proverbs. It is very faithful to the text, brief, well-written, and insightfully practical. If you want a really excellent guide to the book of Proverbs in the Bible, buy her book! (No, I do not get any royalties for recommending it.)
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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