Proverbs 14:35 ESV
A servant who deals wisely has the king’s favor, but his wrath falls on one who acts shamefully.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+14%3A35&version=ESV]
We live in a world which rewards evildoing, to all appearance. In politics, evil men prosper, are raised up by their fellows to great heights of power and wealth, exercise their ill desires upon the populace and each other. In daily life, we can all remember a time when the world wasn’t fair, when treachery or lying or merely petty malice were rewarded, where longsuffering kindness is taken advantage of. We’ve all trusted somebody and been harmed for that trust. Worse, we’ve all betrayed somebody’s trust; we’re human, and we sin, and we don’t like to remember that. It’s true, though. We’ve all done foolish deeds, chosen our own desires above God’s will, loved ourselves above our neighbor.
This proverb is a statement of truth about the world, in its immediate application. Men recognize competence, and when it’s leveraged in their favor, they enjoy it. They even, if they have some consciousness of practicality or the usual amount of empathy, start liking the person who thus benefits them. Kings, rulers, leaders, CEOs, when they aren’t blinded by envy and sin, enjoy having people under them who act with wisdom, because wisdom gets results.
Sometimes, unfortunately, wisdom doesn’t get the requested result. If, for instance, the governor tells you, the sheriff charged with carrying out the dictate, that you need to start rounding up everybody who carries a handgun, the course of wisdom is to say ‘no’, in some way or another, and make clear to the community that you are in active opposition to such tyranny. Why? Because such an action is, in the real life instance of this, grossly illegal and plainly immoral besides. This is the doctrine of the lower magistrate, the Protestant doctrine which underlay the black-robed regiment of the American War for Independence (and we should commend those who took this course in New Mexico recently, those who have taken similar stands in other states such as Illinois over the past years).
Wisdom, then, is not so good at getting evil things done. That’s not to say wise people can’t get evil things done; it’s just that they’re being fools when they do it. Some of wisdom is just understanding the world of man’s heart and society, and that understanding can be misused, just as an understanding of chemistry can be abused to poison an innocent child in the womb. Saul Alinsky was a man with a startling understanding of the society he lived in, one greater in many ways than the leaders of the evangelical world nowadays, and he used that understanding for the highest of foolishness: to promote evil in the world and to assail God, try to replace Him with His creation.
Kings and leaders appreciate competence. If they are wise, they do not merely appreciate competence but appreciate true wisdom. The difference being, of course, the difference between the ability to do something and faithfulness to God’s character and commands.
Wise leaders favor wise subordinates for multiple reasons. Wise followers, in the first place, carry out their tasks with diligence, humility, and an urge towards excellence, an urge formed of the desire to honor God. In the second place, they provide wise council, applying what God has taught from a fresh perspective which the leader, wise as he may be, will listen to because he is aware of the limits of his understanding of the world and his specific circumstances. In the third place, the wise leader knows that wise followers will rein him in and remonstrate with him when he errs in leading them- just as he knows they will listen to him when he seeks to turn them from error in following him.
Some of you may have noticed a rather abrupt break between the first and second paragraphs of this article. Here’s where they come together.
On this earth, men are leaders, but this whole world is God’s creation. He is the King and Lord of all, who made us by the work of His hand. He alone, in the person of Christ, has lived a life of man without sin, follower that He might be Lord (Philippians 2:1-11). This verse of Proverbs, therefore, does not speak merely of the actions of man towards man. It speaks of God’s inclination towards His creation, towards man, towards us. We are servants of God (Is. 56:6). We are, all too often, foolish servants; for this we should turn again to fear Him (Ex. 9:20). We are, by His grace, even on occasion wise servants; for this we should ever praise Him (Ps. 150:1). The greatest news of all, though, is that He has by His Son’s death granted us the privilege to call Him Father, in surety of being heard and of being saved (Is. 63:16,58:9).
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
