Today’s post is sponsored by P&R Publishing and written by Carolyn Whiting. Get your copy of Stephen Charnock’s Divine Providence: A Classic Work for Modern Readers here.

In a letter to his sister, Oswald Chambers wrote, “I believe that Jesus Christ our Lord has all power in heaven and on earth; do you? I find most people believe that He has all power in heaven but are not so sure about the earth.”
Does this describe you? Creation and providence are the two ways God implements his eternal decrees. We live in the majesty and beauty of God’s creation; we can study, touch, smell, and taste it. But how do we experience God’s providence? How can we know that our sovereign Lord manages every detail of our lives? And how do we reconcile his sovereign rule with the seismic shifts taking place in the world today?
Stephen Charnock’s Divine Providence turns to Scripture to leave us without a doubt: God rules the world. Nothing takes place in the world without his knowledge, nothing is done in the world without his will, and nothing exists without his care and power. None other but God touches hearts and turns them to do what pleases him: “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).
Charnock was a Puritan pastor who persevered in a tumultuous era of his own. His classic work is a heart-stirring call to trust in the One who orchestrates all things, past and present, good and bad. He “[teaches] us to take hold of the God of providence with both hands and cling to him with all our might––trusting that . . . God is holding us in his almighty hand,” writes Joel Beeke.
We can trust the providence of God, but can we know his ultimate purpose? The answer is yes! As Charnock demonstrates, God works all things for his eternal glory and the church’s good. In difficult times, what greater comfort can there be than knowing we are under the care of an infallible, unwearied, and righteous ruler of the world! He is constantly working to love, protect, counsel, and provide for his people.
“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20–21 ESV).
Get your copy of Divine Providence A Classic Work for Modern Readers here.

Today’s Kindle deals include Sighing on Sunday by Megan Hill, Perfect Unity by Ralph Cunningham, and several other good books.

Logos users, March Matchups continues with just a couple of rounds of voting remaining. Be sure to consider the deals that are already available.

(Yesterday on the blog: What’s a Trade War and How Did We End Up In One?)

This is a really good article on what we gained and lost when we all made the move to livestreaming. “What began as a temporary necessity has become an expected staple of the church’s ministry. As people began returning to worship, committees and the session debated whether livestreaming should continue. If so, for how long, and for what purpose? Those were difficult questions to weigh at the time, in an unprecedented situation. But now, with five years of experience, what evaluation can we offer about the place of livestreaming in the church’s ministry?”

Emily Van Dixhoorn writes compassionately and biblically to the spouse of an unbeliever. “I heard that you are married to an unbeliever and could use some encouragement. I wish you and I could sit down over coffee together and I could hear about your specific struggles. But for now, I pray that God will graciously use my words here to comfort and strengthen you.”

“It hit me Thursday morning as I pulled into the parking lot for work. Exhaustion is its name and I quickly questioned, ‘How am I going to make it through the next 48 hours…’ I was ready to stay in my car, turn around, and plop myself onto my bed.”

Jana lists several ways that writing has drawn her near to God (which is to say, how it has been spiritually beneficial).

It is good at times to remember truths that some find basic and some consider impossible or even abhorrent. “God overcomes the humanly impossible and brings us decisively to faith and to union with Christ for salvation.”

“There are certain moments a father never forgets. One of the sweetest memories of my young children occurred when I came home after work. Immediately, my children would drop whatever they were doing and scream ‘Daddy’s home’ while running full speed into my kneecaps. Though I came home every day, they greeted me as if I had been lost at sea for the past year and unexpectedly found my way back.”

Is it unspiritual to be depressed? This author answers with a confident “no” (or “no, not necessarily”) and does so in a well-written and helpful little book that I am certain will be a blessing to many.

The more empty I am, the more room is there for my Master. The more I lack, the more He will give me.
—C.H. Spurgeon

This week the blog is sponsored by Zondervan Academic. Their excellent ZECOT commentary series has just expanded to include a volume on Proverbs written by Reformed scholar Chris Ansberry. You can buy it now!

Let’s be honest: we’re pragmatic people. Things are valuable insofar as they are useful. And knowledge is valuable insofar as it is useful. As Scripture, the book of Proverbs is useful (2 Tim 3:16). Its diverse materials are designed to cultivate wisdom and virtue, specifically intellectual virtue (Prov 1:2, 4), moral virtue (Prov 1:3b), and practical virtue (Prov 1:3a). In fact, the arrangement of the book mirrors the arrangement of our educational curricula. Off the back of its syllabus (Prov 1:2–7) and an extended introduction intended to move readers to embrace wisdom (Prov 1:8–9:18), the book eases us into a course on elementary wisdom (Prov 10:1–15:33) before ushering us into courses on intermediate wisdom (Prov 16:1–22:16), vocational wisdom (Prov 22:17–24:34), advanced wisdom (Prov 25:1–29:27), and applied wisdom (Prov 30–31). To state the obvious, Proverbs seeks to cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers. That’s useful. We’re left with a pragmatic question: how? How does Proverbs cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers?

Put simply, Proverbs forms readers through its poetic forms. These poetic forms are diverse; and they form us in diverse ways. The poetic forms of Proverbs traffic in distinct pedagogical strategies, such as rebuke (Prov 1:20–33), fearmongering (Prov 6:20–35), seduction (Prov 7:1–27), wooing (Prov 8:1–36), and carrot-and-stick (Prov 22:17–24:22). Among the poetic forms in the book, the pedagogical potency and formational potential of the sayings in chapters 10:1–22:16 and 25:1–29:27 are often overlooked. The value of these sayings tends to be limited to the promises or principles that they offer. More specifically, their usefulness tends to be restricted to the advice that they offer on various matters, ranging from parenting and speech to business ethics and interpersonal relationships. But the pithy sayings in Proverbs are more useful than this. On one level, these sayings may be read as propositional statements, describing the way the world is or the way the world ought to be. On a more fundamental level, these sayings are purveyors of perspectival wisdom. They do not describe the way world is or the way that world ought to be per se. They operate under moral judgments and ethical evaluations (e.g., wise and foolish, righteous and wicked). Each saying offers a way of seeing people, actions, or situations. That is, each saying provides a way of seeing-as.

Proverbs seeks to cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers. That’s useful. We’re left with a pragmatic question: how? How does Proverbs cultivate wisdom and virtue in its readers?Share

If the sayings in Proverbs provide perspectival wisdom, then they offer ways of seeing that train our vision. They train our vision in at least two ways. First, the sayings and character types of Proverbs create habits of sight. By focusing on common characters, the sayings not only train us to see certain attitudes and actions, but also how to evaluate these attitudes and actions. In basic terms, they teach us to see and evaluate people and actions as wise/righteous or foolish/wicked. They provide a perspectival lens, shaping our sight. 

Second, the sayings and character types of Proverbs afford practice in forming our sight. Consistent attention to specific character types, attitudes, and actions not only molds our vision; it also produces the conditions for practice. Generic sayings are the primary means by which Proverbs gives us practice. Generic sayings do not name a specific character type. Instead, they focus on an undefined person or an ambiguous phenomenon. In so doing, they invite us to use the qualitative reflections of the book to name that person or define that phenomenon. And they provide us with certain clues for this task. Proverbs 14:12 is a representative example.

There is this: a way that is straight before a person;but its end, ways to death.

The initial line foregrounds an apparent reality for reflection: “a way that is straight before a person.” Elsewhere in Proverbs, straight ways are good ways. They are established by the Lord (Prov 3:6), paved by righteousness (Prov 11:5), and embodied by a person of understanding (Prov 15:21). The sayings of Proverbs have trained our vision to perceive a way that is straight as a way that is good, as a way that stands in opposition to the crooked paths of the wicked. But the second line of Proverbs 14:12 bursts the bubble of this reading: the end of this straight way is “ways to death.” This end alerts us to the “false lead” of the initial line invites us to circle back and re-read the saying. The straight way before a person is not so straight after all; rather it is a way that seems straight to a person. The person is the aphorism is not named; its generic subject and generic situation afford the reader practice and correction, shaping their sight and perception.

Together with generic sayings, some well-known sayings in Proverbs are designed to train the reader’s sight. Take, for example, Proverbs 22:6:

Train a youth according to his way,even when he becomes old he will not depart from it.

The initial line may be read in at least three ways. First, it may be interpreted as an ironic warning against teaching a child in accord with their juvenile taste: “Train a youth in the way that he wants.” Second, the line may be rendered as a directive to teach a child in a manner appropriate to their aptitude or age, that is, “Train a youth in a way that is suitable for him.” Alternatively, third, the line may be read as a command to instruct a child in a moral way of life, that is, “Train a youth in the right way – the way he ought to go.” The terse line is patient with each of these readings. If Proverbs’ sayings are read as purveyors of perspectival wisdom rather than as propositions, then we need not pick one of the three options. Each provides us with a different way of seeing. That is, each forms our moral vision, nurturing the imagination and sharpening the powers of discernment.   

The same is true of the well-known saying in Proverbs 27:17:

Iron sharpens iron,and a person sharpens the face of his neighbor.

Is the image of iron sharpening iron positive or negative? It depends how you see things. Many interpret the image positively. It captures the way in which a person sharpens the character or wits of another. But others interpret the image negatively. The negative construal emerges from the process of iron smithing in the ancient world. This process required a hammer, which was used to pound a soft, heated piece of iron into a weapon or vessel. This violent act of smithing is applied to interpersonal relations in the second line through the expression “sharpens the face.” Although the expression is not found elsewhere in the Old Testament, it is comparable to descriptions of sharp eyes, a sharp lip, or a sharp tongue – parts of the face that attack others. When the smithing process in the initial line is applied to interpersonal relations in the second, it appears that just as a smith pounds soft iron into a sharp instrument for battle, so also a person may pound one’s neighbor, causing him to attack. The pregnant image in Proverbs 27:17 is patient with different readings. These readings operate under different perspectives. They offer different ways of seeing. 

How we see things is significant in the life of Christian discipleship. Scripture does not merely provide Christians with propositional truths. It provides Christians with perspective, with a way of seeing life and the world. This is the case with the pithy sayings in Proverbs. They train our sight. They hone our evaluations. They rearrange our mental furniture. They renew our minds. And in so doing, they cultivate wisdom and virtue.

Buy your copy of this new commentary on Proverbs at Amazon, Logos, or wherever else good books are sold.