Jesus' Satisfaction—Proverbs 10:1-10
Solomon has made his case for choosing wisdom. Now, at last, he says that we are finally ready to hear some real proverbs, some of the punchy two-liners for which the book of Proverbs is famous. Read them. Memorize them. I know you have some proverbs from outside the Bible memorized - maybe "A penny saved is a penny earned" or "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Those are handy sayings, but Solomon's Proverbs are on another level, because they are God's word for our salvation.
But remember, even these Proverbs won't do you much good unless you have the fear of the Lord. That's the pre-req. What's ahead isn't so much a few hundred rules for a few hundred situations as it is one rule applied to hundreds of different situations. The one rule is: Fear the Lord.
Usually preachers have three points. This article has ten points. (1) Be a wise son (or daughter). (2) Don't do what's wrong to get rich. (3) Do what's right, and the Lord will take care of you. (4) Work hard, and you'll get rich (that's right). (5) Don't just work hard, teach your children to also. (6) Do what's right, and blessings will come. (7) Do what's right, and you'll leave a good legacy. (8) Be quiet when you're getting your orders. (9) Do what's right, and you'll be safe. And (10) Don't be a sneakster, or a gossip.
After I go through these ten proverbs, I'll swing back around and focus on just one of them. And what I want to show you from that proverb is that Jesus Christ is getting the satisfaction he deserves for dying on the cross for sinners.
1. Be a wise son (or daughter).
The proverb says, "A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother." This is a double-edged proverb. On the one hand, it means that you should be a wise son, not a foolish son (or daughter). Don't you want to make your father happy? Do you want to make your mother sad? They don't want to see you hurting yourself or others. Be wise.
But there's more than that to learn. What if you are a father or a mother? To you, this proverb points out that if you want your children to bring you joy, you should teach them to be wise. The Bible says that children are a blessing, but it is the character of children, rather than the mere quantity, that brings this blessing to the parents. Let's be wise children, and let's train our children to be wise.
2. Don't do what's wrong to get rich.
The proverb says, "Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death." Solomon is going to say a lot about riches in this part of the book. This is his first point on the subject, and it is powerfully absolute. It does not say that treasures gained by wickedness only profit a little, or that cheating and stealing have their drawbacks. It says that this kind of wealth brings no good at all. Do you know what happens when you multiply a number by zero? Solomon says that when it comes to cheating and stealing, you can do all your addition and subtraction, and you may come up with a number in the hundreds or the thousands or the millions, but whatever number you get, you finish by multiplying it by zero. That's how much good wealth will do you if you get it by doing what's wrong.
Righteousness, on the other hand, can do something very good for you. Righteousness delivers from death. Imagine a courtroom scene: Whether it's a courtroom on earth or a courtroom in heaven, Solomon doesn't tell us, but it's a just court. The judge doesn't take bribes. When you stand before the judge, he will not be interested in your hundreds or your thousands or your millions. He will be interested in your righteousness - or your guilt. And only righteousness will deliver you from death.
3. Be righteous, and the Lord will take care of you.
The proverb says, "The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked." Now, you know, and Solomon knew, that this is not a literal description of what always happens on this earth. It is a literal description of what often happens on this earth. Time and time again, God has provided in unexpected ways for the physical needs of his people. But more importantly, this Proverb tells us what ultimately happens. Even when one of God's saints starves to death in prison, he can know that God will richly provide for him in eternity. But the craving of the wicked is never satisfied. Even when the wicked get what they want, it never satisfies. Gluttons do find joy in food. Addicts do find joy in drugs or alcohol. Sexually immoral people do not find joy in sex. But the righteous will find joy in the good gifts of their Lord.
4. Work hard and you'll get rich. (I know. Keep reading.)
The proverb says, "A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich." This is the second proverb about riches, and in this one it's clear that riches - some level of wealth - are a good object, if you get there the right way, not by cheating, but by hard work. Likewise, poverty is no virtue if you get there by sloth.
Once again, it's clear that this isn't about how things always work out in this life. Sometimes - all too often - hard work doesn't get paid. But Solomon is not teaching us how to work the system of a sinful world. He's teaching us to live as though the world works as it should, so that when it does work as it should, we won't be ashamed. Work hard. It pays off. It sometimes pays cash. But if it doesn't, it will leave you with a clear conscience about the job you've done, and that's better than gold.
5. Don't just work hard, teach your children to also.
The proverb says, "He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. This is sort of a combination of point 1 and point 4. It teaches us two things.
First, it teaches us something about hard work. You aren't really working hard if you demand to work only when you feel like it, with no regard for the needs of those around you or the realities of the world you live in. If you're a farmer, and you work yourself to the bone all winter and spring, but you sleep through harvest, you won't have food on the table. I remember students in college who would pull all nighters before an exam. They thought they were working hard because they were punishing their bodies. But they didn't do well in the long run, because that isn't a good way to learn. True diligence demands that we open our eyes to see what really needs to be done when.
Second, the proverb teaches us something about how to parent. If we want our children to grow up to bring us honor and not shame, we should teach them to work hard. It may take three times as long to set the table with the help of a three year old, but we should sacrifice that time to the greater goal of training our children to gather when harvest comes.
6. Do what's right, and blessings will come.
The proverb says, "Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence." Some translations say, "violence covers the mouth of the wicked." That's possible, so I want you to know about it, but I think it's less likely, so I'm going to explain it the way I read it.
"Blessings" can be blessings that people say, like "may the Lord bless you," and they can be blessings that God gives, like a home or a spouse or children or a good job. The proverb isn't specific, and it may mean both. If you want other people to wish you well, try doing what's right. If you want God to give you good things, again, try doing what's right. Don't try to look for a sneaky back door to get blessings from God or man. Just live like God is watching. He is.
While the righteous have blessings on their heads - the public approval of God and man - the wicked have violence concealed in their mouths. If they told people what they've done, people would curse them, not bless them. So they have to live a life of secrecy, with their guilty record bottled up inside. You don't want that. Open approval is way better than hidden guilt.
Once again, we know that people sometimes bless the wicked and curse the righteous. But by this point, we know that Solomon doesn't want us to care about that. Ignore them. God will sort it out.
7. Do what's right, and you'll leave a good legacy.
The proverb says, "The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot." This one's a zinger. "The memory of the righteous is a blessing" probably means that their name will be used in blessings, like when Boaz was marrying Ruth, and people said, "May the LORD makes the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel" (Ruth 4: 11). If you live well, people will put your name respectfully when you're gone. If Jesus doesn't come back first, your body will have to rot in the grave for a while. Your name doesn't have to.
8. Be quiet when you're getting your orders.
The proverb says, "The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin." Don't think you're too smart to listen when someone in authority is talking, especially when someone is sharing God's word with you. Smart people listen. The words translated "a babbling fool" literally mean "a fool of lips." You don't want to be a fool of lips, a fool who talks so much that he can't hear anyone else. If you are, you will not only miss what you need to hear, you will also say things that will get you into trouble, and you will come to ruin.
9. Do what's right, and you'll be safe.
The proverb says, "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out." If this were obvious, Solomon wouldn't have to say it. But all too often we think the best way to stay safe is to tell lies and cut corners. What we need to understand is that true safety is sometimes found only in the hardship and danger that comes from walking with integrity, from making our actions and beliefs both consistent with the word of God. Often this doesn't look safe at all. To do it, we have to walk by faith, not by sight, believing that God is with us. One day he will pull back the curtain on all lies, and people who thought they could find safety in deceit will be found out.
10. Don't be a sneakster, or a gossip.
The proverb says, "Whoever winks the eye causes trouble, and a babbling fool will come to ruin." Solomon is anti-wink. Perhaps not in all circumstances. The point is that we shouldn't be sneaky people who take delight in passing around secret messages and hurting the people who aren't in the know. We shouldn't be unnecessarily secretive - and we also shouldn't say more than we ought to - babbling fools again. Ironically, the winker (who is too secretive) and the babbler (who is too talkative) are birds of a feather.
There's an old World War II slogan, "loose lips sink ships." They point was that if you knew about a ship leaving port to cross the Atlantic, you shouldn't say a word to anyone, because it could get around to German intelligence and bring a U-Boat calling. Solomon says that, in the end, if you are a "fool of lips," the ship you sink will be your own.
Conclusion: Jesus’ Satisfaction
A final word, about Jesus Christ. I could pick any of these ten Proverbs to say something about Jesus (not because I'm so clever, but because Jesus is so wise). But the one I'm going to look at is #3, "The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked." And I want to think about three occasions on which the Lord satisfied the hunger of his righteous Son.
The first is Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. Somewhat strangely, from the perspective of this Proverb, Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness, and, at the end of that time, he was hungry. Satan taunted, first with the words of God, "This is my beloved Son," and later with words from Scripture. He might well have thrown this proverb at him: "The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry...so why is he making you fast for forty days?" But Jesus could have thrown the same Proverb right back: "The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry...so I have nothing to worry about. He will meet my needs." And that is what happened. "Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him" (Matt. 4:11). It's not unlikely they brought him food, as an angel brought food to Elijah in the wilderness (1 Kings 19:4-8).
The second occasion is Jesus' meeting with a woman at a well in Samaria. Jesus was on a long journey. He was tired and thirsty. But when he met this woman, he began telling her how she could have eternal life. And when his disciples returned and offered him food, he said, "I have food to eat that you do not know about...My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." His food was to tell this lonely woman how she could know the true God and live forever. He was hungry to give life to the dying, and God satisfied his hunger.
The last occasion is the cross. When Jesus hung on the cross, it looked like the wicked were getting what they craved after all. They were hungry for the death of the Son of Man, and they got it. Jesus was hungry to save the world, and it looked like his saving days were over. But what does it say in Isaiah? "Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied." That is, if I may say so, the deeper version of Proverbs 10:3, "The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked." God did not let his Son go hungry: He satisfied him. Jesus rose from the dead, and saw his ransomed people. He ascended to heaven, and saw his approving Father. He was full of what he desired, the glory of God in the salvation of the lost.
That's where we come into the story. Apart from Christ, our righteousness - what we call our righteousness - is thoroughly stained by the guilt of our sin. Apart from Christ, we can't live by the Proverbs, and we can't stand before God. But Christ the righteous has died to take away the guilt of his people and bring us to God. Trust in Jesus Christ, and you will share in his reward. And he will live in you and help you, cause you, more and more to live in wisdom.
If we do that, then we will find our satisfaction, as Jesus did, not painlessly, but out of the anguish of our souls, as we suffer, following a suffering Savior. If you don't follow him, all your cravings will be thwarted. But follow him, and he will not let you go hungry, but will give you the one thing that can satisfy you: himself.
Pastor Nate Jeffries