He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. Proverbs 11:26

Today's proverb is fascinating to me because it addresses an abuse that often happens in the area of economics. This abuse, though a proven way to make money, results in the inflation of prices for food.  What has happened over the course of economic history is that when this is done - and it reaches a critical level in food prices - it leads to riots and in some cases the overthrow of a government. 

Our proverb speaks of one who has much grain.  Here is a man who has worked hard and labored to produce a crop on his farm.  As a result he has a large amount of grain.  He can choose to withhold grain from the people and not sell it.  By doing this he will drive the price of grain up due to a scarcity of grain in the market place.  This will make him very wealthy, but in time it will backfire on him.  The people, who need grain, will begin to curse him because his actions are preventing them from eating - or is making it to where being able to provide food is becoming very expensive.  The cost is not coming due to natural reasons such as a flood or drought or crop failure.  The added cost is coming due to a man's greed.  But for the man who sells his grain there will be a blessing - not just a financial one - but one from God Himself.  This proverb allows us to consider the whole area of how Biblical authority addresses economic theory.

In our day it is considered a wise business move to hold on to goods until they wind up in short supply.  This allows the person who has them to artificially inflate the price of what they sell so that they can make huge profits from it.  Such actions eventually become accepted business practices on larger levels so that embargos are used by nations to boost the price of their domestic products.  In time groups of businesses form consortiums that try to corner an entire market so that they can set the price wherever they want.  The government then steps in a tries to enforce what they call "social justice."  They impose restrictions on businesses so that things will be fair.  The problem is that in time the government oversteps their bounds and corruption within the government (due to the sin nature in all of us) begins to crystalize.  It is then that officials learn how to use their power to corner their own political markets and do the very thing they initially were trying to prevent in the public sector.  The problem throughout all this is that the poor are hurt the most by such practices. 

Some think wrongly that the end of all labor is to make money.  But Scripture militates against that philosophy.  God desires us to work hard and be diligent to make a profit - but - He also desires for us to be compassionate in the process.  This sets up a very interesting tension in life and in the economic theory that governs Bible-believing Christians.  At one end is the philosophy of pure Capitalism.  This philosophy functions under the idea that life is about the profit motive at all times.  But God warns against a "love of money" which He says is a root of all sorts of evil.  At the other end is Socialism and Communism.  This philosophy functions under the assumption that a government should rule over all land and production efforts.  Their goal is then to take all profits and distribute them equally to all the people.  Both of these extremes will fail.

Pure Capitalism will fail because greed will so rule men's hearts that they will lack compassion for others - and especially for the poor.  In time their greed will consume them with a desire for more and more profit - and an insatiable desire for more and more wealth.  In the process they will shut their hearts to the plight of the poor.  This will lead to greater levels of abuse of the poorest - who will then curse those who have the economic power - and will ultimately lead to revolution and the overthrow of those who have the wealth and power in society.

Communism and Socialism will fail because of greed as well.  Though such economic philosophies sound wonderful at the outset, they fail because of several factors.  First, there is no man who is not fallen.  When given the power to confiscate the wealth of a society, they will NOT distribute it equally.  They will eventually treat themselves well - and let the rest of society live on the rest.  This has happened in every situation when such an economic system prevails.  Their goals may sound lofty, but their practices wind up eerily similar to the captialist.  Second, there is no motive in this system to work.  Actually there is a motive - to do what you do for the good of all others in the collective society.  But this equates good as distributing things equally among all in the society.  This will not work in a fallen world because over time some will sinfully decide that if they don't work hard - or at all - they will still get an equal part of the collective pie.  Others who intially work hard - will be greatly discouraged that it is their hard work that is allowing the lazy, the undisciplined, and the slothful to live just as they do.  In time there will be an equality - but it will be an equality of poverty and want - because no one will be motivated to work to the best of their ability.  No matter how hard they work - they only get the same part of the collective's goods.  These will never be enough for collective prosperity because sinfulness will move many to barely work at all - or at a level where they are forced to work. 

The system God will bless is one that encourages and rewards hard work and industriousness.  This is captialism - but there must be a restraint in this system as well, if it is to succeed.  This is what I call "Compassionate Captialism."  It is a system where the profit motive and self-interest is encouraged.  But it is also a system that values compassion and kindness.  Where a profit and self-interest motive might move a man to withhold grain so he can make an obscene profit - he does not do it.  He is moved by the desire to serve those who buy his grain.  Understanding this he chooses to sell his grain - not just for a profit - but for a profit that also allows those who are poor to be able to afford to feed their families.  In the end, this man is blessed with profit - and also is blessed with the favor of God for acting with kindness and compassion toward those who can easily be taken advantage of by the system.  He chooses a wise profit level rather than one driven by greed alone.  This promotes peace and the welfare of all those in the market. 

It is fascinating to see the wisdom of God address all areas of life.  One would not readily think that the Word of God would be a good place to learn economic principles.  Yet when we read and mediatate on God's Word - immeasurable benefit is gained from it.  Oh, that we would not divorce academic pursuit from the queen of the sciences - theology.  May God gives us wisdom to see that His perspective is best in all academic and lifestyle pusuits.  Then we can be blessed - not just a religious context - but in all of life.

Rejoicing in the world, His earth, And having my delight in the sons of men.   Proverbs 8:31

What is important about the earth?  What is important in the universe?  Is there something about the current ecosystem of the earth, and for that matter the universe, that should be more important than anything else?  That particular question is very  important because there are arguments that are being proffered today that the system itself is most important.  This leads to conclusions that make many in the "Green Movement" state that we need to seriously deal with the problem of overpopulation in our world.  They hold that humans have become too populous and that the resulting problems caused by . . . us, should be dealt with by depopulation efforts such as the one child only policies of China - as well as forced abortion.  Some even speak of ways that the human population can be culled to lower levels.  Granted these are the more extreme in the movement, but still such ideas gain traction because false premises continue to be promoted among thinkers - and eventually accepted in society.  So we come back to the question of whether anything is more important than the ecosystem itself?

God speaks to this in the way that Wisdom informs us about the creation and what God valued in it.  If God created wisdom itself, then we should see the priorities of God reflected in what Wisdom values and what Wisdom delights in the world that currently exists.  What we find in Proverbs chapter 8 is a fascinating statement made by Wisdom about what wisdom considered most valuable - and most delightful.

Wisdom rejoiced in "His earth."  This is the first revelation to us.  The earth is the Lords - and the fullness thereof.  God owns earth - it is His.  He created it, and as its Creator - He owns it and can define for us how we should view it.  What is interesting is that Wisdom speaks of the world and the earth.  The words used here speak of the "inhabitable  portions of the earth.  These are the places on earth where man dwells.  The Hebrew word for world is "betabel" which comes from the root word "yabal."  This word is used for the inhabited places of the earth.  Specifically it is used to speak of places like Jerusalem and Babylon - thus pointing to the fact that it speaks of the areas of the earth where men dwell.  This fits perfectly with the next statement made by Wisdom - the fact that Wisdom delighted in the sons of men.  Now let us consider what this means.

God's wisdom rejoices in the inhabited parts of the world - where men dwell.  Wisdom delights in the sons of men - and the Hebrew word used to describe this is about as intense a word as can be used to describe this delight.  It is an super astounding intense delight that God's manifest wisdom has in men.  This, along with the way God makes it clear in the creation accounts that man is the crowning creation of all God made, finds itself in complete contradiction to the view that the ecosystem is what is ultimate. 

God made this world for His glory.  But His glory is seen clearest in man - whom God made in His own image.  The work that God is doing in the earth is for the sake of bringing man to repentance and redemption through the salvation He provided through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.  Therefore - the ecosystem is not what is most important.  Man is what is most important.  What will blow your mind is that God told man to be "fruitful and multiply,and fill the earth."  This runs counter to the whole environmental movement.  Now please understand that God does not give man the freedom to destroy the environment with foolish and overtly destructive behavior.  God calls us to act with wisdom in what we do - but He also gave us the freedom to exploit the earth's resources for the benefit of mankind.  It truly is a radically diffrerent worldview than usually promoted by the world and its dominant philosophies. 

There is one thing that also should be touted here that often is lost in the battles among competing philosophies about the world.  The Bible teaches us that this is a fallen world in which we live.  It is fallen because mankind has rebelled against God and His ways.  The number one resource that should concern us most IS man.  Lost humanity needs to hear the message of the gospel - needs to repent - and needs to be redeemed.  The gospel instructs us to glorify God chiefly - proclaim His message of salvation - and seek to bring men and women to Christ.  When we learn to live with this as our center - with this as our ultimate goal - we will join with true wisdom and also find our delight in God's world - in delight also in the redemption of the sons of men.   

Good understanding produces favor, But the way of the treacherous is hard. Proverbs 13:15 

Intelligence with insight and discernment is worth its weight in gold and jewels.  We see the phrase "good understanding" at the beginning of this proverb today.  This phrase means to have an intelligence or good sense.  God did not intend for us to be ignorant.  The Word of God makes it clear that we are to learn, to be educated, and to gain knowledge.  Where the world has made its fatal mistake is to separate their gathering and thirst for knowledge from God and from a life given to know and please Him. 

The idea behind having good understanding is ones ability to take their intelligence and use it to also manifest good sense and discernment.  It is the ability to have more than just knowledge - it is the ability to gain insight from that knowledge.  It is taking our knowledge and seeing it as the servant of God.  Unfortunately in the past there were some in the church (not necessarily in Christ) who reacted wrongly to those who in foolish education decided that part and parcel of their education was a call to reject God.  In their misguided zeal to "protect" God - they began to reject education.  In our day there has been such a false separation between God and education that many believe you have to choose one or the other.  Such a separation is falacious entirely.  What the academic rejects is submitting his knowledge to anything or Anyone - which leads him to many foolish conclusions.  What the Christian academic does is submit his study to the Word of God - which, if he will do so consistently, will lead him to even greater discoveries (and by the way - acurate ones as well). 

Ultimately - and here is where the purely secular academic will howl with disapproval - the goal of life is to experience God's favor and grace.  This is wholly unacceptable to the academic who rejects the Bible as ultimate truth.  He sees this as a step backwards into stupidity and ignorance.  But his rejection of God's favor only produces problems for him - and for those who adopt his worldview based upon purely flesly science and research.  The Scriptures here state very clearly that the way of the treacherous is hard.  The word treacherous is telling here.  It is the Hebrew word "bagad" and it means to be traitorous, to act unfaithfully, to betray.  This has at least two applications.  First is the one I to which I am currently referring in this discussion of true scholars - who move past mere research to conclusions which ultimately seek the favor of God.  The treachery of which they are guilty is a betrayal of their very principles of research and understanding.  In cutting off any consideration of the divine - they betray their own conclusions.  They demand a world without anything except what their fallen senses can detect.  But such a world would be one without meaning or purpose.  Thus their very science which seeks to make sense out of the world and its workings - is passionately pursuing of a moot point.  There is no meaning - there are no morals - there is no purpose in a world that is based on an amoral starting point.  You cannot begin with amorality - and come to a conclusion of any moral reasoning. 

This is why the way of the treacherous is hard.  Rejecting God, rejecting truth, rejecting the biblical worldview - is hard.  In the end you are left with a machine that has no purpose nor meaning that crushes the life out of those who are desperately wanting their philosophical nothingless void to whisper that there is something to live for in life.  Though they may never admit it in their lifetime - their pursuit of a nothing that means something will laugh at them in the end - showing that their lifetime has been spent tilting at philosophical windmills.  Even worse - they will give the philosophical underpinnings that will give rise to the most monstrous of men.  Germany rejected God - and rejected truth in the early 20th century in what they thought was a freedom from the mentally constipated constructs of Christian theology which they felt constricted science and philosophical thought.  The step-child of their philosophy rose to power amidst the Third Reich - and Hitler arose as the one who would take their atheistic, evolution-driven understanding and put it to a use that would horrify the ages.  His actions that sought a super-race - free from the restraints of human kindness and consideration - gave us the genocide of the Jews in his generation.  Yet he was only following the treacherous path laid for him by those who asserted that a worldview based on the survival of the fittest.  He was only taking their philosophical treachery and drawing conclusions that make sense in that system.  In the end the way is hard for the treacherous. 

There is a second kind of treachery - one that exists in the church itself.  It is the treachery of hypocrisy within our hearts.  This is where our so-called Bible understanding short-circuits and does not lead us to valid discernment of sin and righteousness.  This is where we have a disconnect with the truth.  We choose NOT to follow the Word - nor the conclusions that should be drawn from it.  We choose NOT to walk in obedience - or to reject an action because the Scriptures clearly show it to be sin.  Thus we become treacherous in how we either know the Word or how we should apply it.  Once again the conclusion of this matter is that the way of the treacherous one is hard.  Sin, regardless of who commits it, is going to be hard.  There are going to be stumbling blocks - consequences - and difficulties that will not go away simply because we claim to be Christians.  The Word stands - we can either follow it and walk in a way that will be blessed - or go the way of the transgressor, which the Bible also tells us, is hard. 

The wise man is the one who grasps that God is truly God - and that His Word IS truth.  Knowing this he is armed with what I would call "advanced" information about this world.  It is information given to us - indeed revealed to us - from an Infinite Intelligence.  If we learn to follow it - and know that stepping outside of its philosophical and moral constructs will only bring difficulty - we will be blessed - even favored if you will accept it.  But to do so requires us to also accept the Author's worldview of man - that of a fallen one who has rebelled and turned from the right way to follow his own base nature.  It requires us to see that the purpose of all things does not find its apex in man - but in God.  Unfortunately for many academics - and religious hypocrites - that is the most odious step to take.