Wisdom for the Day: Proverbs 17:1
Proverbs 17
1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet
than a house full of feasting, with strife.
A simple, humble life with peace and quiet is far better than an opulent lifestyle with nothing but quarrels and strife at home. The mundane and the ordinary might seem boring to many but we have come to appreciate it since lockdown began. When what is mundane and ordinary is withheld from us we long for it.
Some people perhaps long for their home to be a party house, they miss the quarrels and strife.
What does wisdom say? She says a simple, humble life with peace and quiet is better.
More peace or more trouble, what would be your choice?
The contrast is between the dry crust and the feast, the dry crust might not seem to satisfy you but it brings with it a life of peace and quiet which wisdom recommends.
The life of opulence might seem more attractive and many of us have grown up with the worldview ‘strive for stuff’. More is what we live for. But with stuff comes trouble and worry. Just ask any lottery winner. As their house and their lifestyle becomes opulent their relationships break down, divorce is common.
We have learned to be content with the quiet life. The Christian life is a life of balance. Much of Jesus teaching in the Gospels is around a feast or a banquet so these things are not wrong but repeatedly we hear Jesus withdrew to a quiet place. The Christian life should be a balanced life but the default position should be a life of humility. It is our attitude that is important. Jesus speaks against pride repeatedly.
Some of us may have experience of a party house and there may be times of laughter and revelry but there are times of argument and strife. The police are kept a lot busier at that kind of house than a house of peace and quiet. Where we are in a house of trouble and disharmony we long for peace and quiet.
The caracture of hell is a place of party and revelry while the caracture of heaven is a place of peace with Angels strumming their harps on a cloud.
Listen to wisdom and she will lead you into peace.
