Category: Solomon Says

[This was originally posted at Kuyperian.com.]

As I was writing my book on Proverbs, I made a point to not mention certain things. One of those things was my ischemic stroke.

Wait a minute, Mark. You were writing a book on Proverbs. Proverbs! What could your stroke have to do with anything? Why would you even think of it?

I had reasons, but the worry that people would find such a discussion outlandish and perhaps decide I was looking for an excuse to write about myself, outweighed them.

Recently, I got James Clear’s valuable book, Atomic Habits, from the library.  In the introduction, Clear begins by recounting his high school experience dealing with a life-threatening brain injury. He describes what was involved in his recovery as an entry-way into his learning the importance of acquiring productive habits.

Continue reading “Life Influences on “Solomon Says”: The Stroke”

I don’t think the implications of the stewardship parables (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:11-27) are widely appreciated. The servants aren’t judged according to how well they obeyed “orders.” They were never given any specific commands other than try to multiply what they had been entrusted with. And the unfaithful servant wasn’t judged for not doing enough, but for maligning his master to his face and refusing to do anything at all with what he was given.

Continue reading “Stewards Need Wisdom”

I’ve written elsewhere on “toxic masculinity” in Proverbs. I’ve also suggested that Proverbs concludes with a warning against Solomon’s foolishness in multiplying wives. I didn’t apply the term “toxic masculinity” to the folly that Solomon committed, but it might be appropriate. Male rulers prove themselves super-powerful (they think) by a large collection of wives.

To see how this is revealed in Scripture, let’s start with David.

First Samuel 25 is a story of David set between his two refusals to take Saul’s life in chapters 24 and 26. These were admirable actions. But the story of Nabal, Abigail, and David is more ambiguous.

Continue reading “Toxic Monarchy from Gideon to Rehoboam”

But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.

C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy

It is no secret that I love Lewis as a Christian writer and especially love the fictional story, The Horse and His Boy. Among other reasons for appreciating the book, I found that it seems to use the themes in the message of Proverbs to illustrate the same truths about maturity and wisdom.

My conversation about the book with my friend Andrew Isker is embedded at the bottom of this post for you, if you haven’t watched it already.

But, as much as I loved the book, I want to disagree with the quotation above. Or at least nuance it.

Continue reading “Don’t Waste Your Slavery”

I remember (distantly, vaguely) being taught to ride a bicycle as a young child. My parents shouldered the burden of teaching me. I am glad I don’t remember in detail all the whining they had to put up with or the extra encouraging and cajoling they had to practice to get it to happen.

Don’t misunderstand. I desperately wanted to ride a bike, at least in theory. One of the few childhood tantrums I remember was over getting a bike. But getting one is not the same as being able to use a bicycle. And wanting to learn to ride feels different as a distant desire than it feels when you are wobbling on the unsteady seat, realizing that your father is about to remove his hands that are holding you up. You are going to have to pedal, steer, and stay upright on your own.

Continue reading “Do You Trust God to Praise You?”

One of the most basic abilities a person must possess to have a chance of working with others and being productive is “self-control.” “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls” (Proverbs 25:28). According to Luke, the need for self-control was a basic feature of the Apostle Paul’s preaching (see Acts 24:25).

While my book is about what SOLOMON SAYS (Amazon, Kindle), sometimes it might be helpful to consider what his father, King David, sang.  And what he might have taught Solomon to sing. For example, God speaks through King David:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.

Psalm 32:8–9 ESV

Continue reading “Self-Control Is Self-Training”