If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. [Proverbs 18:13 ESV] The classic error in math, the one that plagues me at least, is swapping one sign for another. Subtraction becomes addition, addition becomes multiplication, a negative number becomes positive. On multiple choice tests, too, my constant bane is…
Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. [Proverbs 18:12 ESV] We all know that humility is good. The next question doesn’t have quite so clear an answer: what is humility? Often we equate it with self-debasement or self-effacement, the reduction of my own claim on the world. Such a definition,…
A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination. [Proverbs 18:11 ESV] We attach great importance to the here and now. The past and the future often fall out of sight, all our thought turned to the foreground. Then the past comes into focus, the future arrives, and…
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. [Proverbs 18:10 ESV] Uncertainty, worry, and fear are three companions everybody walks alongside for a time, barring insanity. The world is big; people are complex; we ourselves oscillate between self-certainty and a realization of our own inability…
With the growing epidemic of mental health diagnoses in our current world, much research is going into answering the how’s, why’s and what’s of stress. We not only want to understand how stress impacts our mental health, but what to do about it. In our clinic, we deal with the impact of stress on our…
Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. [Proverbs 18:9 ESV] The human urge, still powerful in modernity, is to figure out how little I can do while still getting paid. Can I skip that bit? Well, I don’t have to do it… so, yes. We dress this desire up…
The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body. [Proverbs 18:8 ESV] Gossip tastes awesome. Secrets intrigue us, particularly when they’re the sort of secrets we know we shouldn’t know. Did you know that the neighbor is having money troubles? Did you know that the…
A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. [Proverbs 18:7 ESV] What makes a man a fool? The psalmist declared to God, “When I told of my ways, You answered me; teach me Your statutes!” (Ps. 119:26). The fool is the one who, when he declares his ways before…
A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. [Proverbs 18:6 ESV] “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” Alexander Pope wrote, and the line is no glory to fools. As it turns out, when angels fear to tread somewhere, that somewhere is probably inadvisable to tread upon. The…
It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the righteous of justice. [Proverbs 18:5 ESV] Equal protection law is a major part of modern America’s government. These two words from the Fourteenth Amendment have been interpreted by the courts to require undifferentiated treatment of an ever-expanding cadre of ‘suspect classes’,…