Wise

On this 12th day of July, we go to the 12th chapter of the book of Proverbs to find wisdom about controlling our tongue and telling the truth:
17 He who speaks truth declares righteousness, But a false witness, deceit.
18 There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health.
19 The truthful lip shall be established forever, But a lying tongue is but for a moment.

There's a certain U.S. Senator I will talk about on The Meeting House today who is tweeting out a verse from Proverbs every day. Today's verse is contained in that passage; albeit a different translation.  We could use more truth-telling today in our society; James speaks of the power of the tongue and how difficult it is to control.  Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  A key to controlling our tongue is to release self-control, placing ourselves under the control of the Spirit, allowing Him to speak through us and to restrain us from saying things that do not honor God.

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In the 1st chapter of the book of Proverbs, the writer, Solomon, who had asked the Lord for wisdom,
who was recognized for how wise he was, wrote this about the purpose of the book:
2 To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding,
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, Justice, judgment, and equity;
4 To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion--
5 A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
6 To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles.

If you went to Twitter, as the barons inside the Beltway began their day, you might have come across this Scripture:

Whoever speaks honestly testifies truly, but the deceitful make lying witnesses. Proverbs 12:17

Yesterday, this Twitter feed said this:

Whoever reviles a neighbor lacks sense, but the intelligent keep silent. Proverbs 11:12

OK, it looks like we have a pattern - on Monday, the 10th day of July, a verse from Proverbs 10,
verse 19: "Where words are many, sin is not wanting; but those who restrain their lips do well."

What you have here is a U.S. Senator who is tweeting a verse from Proverbs, it seems, every day.  He even retweeted Franklin Graham posing the question, "What’s wrong with Senator @MarcoRubio tweeting Bible verses? I’d say that it’s the best thing anyone could tweet."  He linked to a recent Politico story that took Rubio to task for these tweets.

The story was written by Yale Divinity School Professor Joel Baden, and Philip Wegmann took him to task in a Washington Examiner piece.  He stated:

Yale Divinity School Professor Joel Baden made a fool of himself Sunday morning in Politico when he complained about Sen. Marco Rubio's habit of tweeting verses from Proverbs. The Florida Republican, Baden complains, was quoting "the most Republican parts of the Bible."

Wegmann continues:

One doesn't need an advanced divinity degree, though, to realize that this is of course preposterous. For an ivy-league professor, Baden demonstrates surprising ignorance.

Because GOP presidents as far back as Gerald Ford have pilfered its passages for speech content, he asserts that "Proverbs is probably the most Republican book of the entire Bible." And conflating the political with the theological, Baden insists that verses in Proverbs look "strikingly similar" to conservative policy.

He points out that "Proverbs doesn't give prophecy, promises, or government policy prescriptions. Instead, the text teaches parables on how to live an honorable and good life. It's an apolitical text written during the 10th century B.C., back when Israel was a pre-partisan theocracy." He said, "Rubio wasn't weaponizing scripture for Republican ends and he was right when he quipped that 'Solomon hadn't yet joined the GOP when he wrote the first 29 chapters of Proverbs.'"

Well, kudos to Mr. Rubio for calling attention to what the Word of God has to say.  Again, we recognize that the Bible itself is not political, but if policy proposals were consistent with Scripture, we would have a far greater handle on dealing with the challenges we face in our nation.  And, as Wegmann and Baden point out, politicians will use Bible passages for political purposes.  But, that shouldn't negate the power of these passages that can show us a way forward.

One might dismiss the use of Scripture as political grandstanding - of course, Mr. Rubio just won re-election to the Senate, so he's not exactly trying to endear himself to some constituency, the religious voter, who probably already supports him.  After all, he was an evangelical favorite according to WORLD magazine's Presidential preference poll of evangelical influencers during the Presidential campaign.  Perhaps, he's calling attention to what many of us already know: the Bible is a book that provides wisdom for how to live our daily lives, and can be used as a blueprint for sound governing - personally or collectively.  It's a book that demonstrates how to be effective leaders, and we definitely need some of those these days.

So, we can be challenged to think upon and appropriate Scripture in our lives.  Proverbs is a part of that framework, and its principles are consistent with the whole counsel of God, inspired by Him and given to us for wise living.  

One further word from Wegmann: 

Religious pluralism and free speech all but guarantee a steady stream of sacrilegious hot takes. Disagreeable not novel, Baden's article isn't new. As the author of Proverbs teaches,"fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions."