Proverbs 18 & 19: Traversing the "Dark Woods" - Poets and Proverbs

Image: "In The Dark Woods", 2009, Sequoia Nat. Park, Ca.  Photographer: Stephen Van Devender

Proverbs 18:2 A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.

Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility.

Proverbs 18:19 A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city,  And contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Proverbs 19:11 The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.

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Poets tend to be a melancholy bunch.  Robert Frost's poetry, for example, is said to be dominated by the "dark woods" theme in which his goal was to clear for himself his own circle.  The "woods" being the dark mystery of our paradoxical world, this small circle, would allow him to live in light, limited in scope though it may be.

It takes poetic insights to plow the soil of our understanding and hearts, enabling us somehow to understand things a bit better.  Certainly our journey through this world often is a walk through a dark forest.  We feel hemmed in by the pressing gloom around us and above our head all we have is filtered light with occasional streams of brilliance.  Certainly all of life is not this way... but to a thoughtful soul, much of it is.

Poetry helps us walk our path... so do Proverbs.  Proverbs are the notched path-markers we see hewn into the bark of the trees about us.  They were cut by those who walked this way before.  They don't explain much but they describe a lot.  They speak in terms of shared experience... the common life of mankind and remind us that there really is "nothing new under the sun" in our ordinary interplay with the world and people about us.

Much of our lives, excepting the case of true hermits and loners, consists in various encounters with other fellow travelers.  We cannot help but deal with them, react to them, be affected by them and be influenced by them.  The parables speak in terms of "fools" and people "with understanding".  Doesn't this ring true to us?  In these "dark woods" we encounter people whose acquaintance we treasure... they help us... they have "understanding."  Others, we have to confess, even when they may amuse us or when we may view them with affection, are no "help" at all.  Learning to distinguish which category we ourselves or others we know fall into is not a trivial task.  Proverbs helps us here.

Proverbs points us down the right path.  For example: (18:2)  "a fool has no delight in understanding but in expressing his own heart."  We can all benefit from so close self-examination here... especially if we fall into the category of those who "talk a lot."  Preachers, like me, view this as an occupational hazard.  But we see it all about us.  People talk for the purpose of talking whether they have any depth of knowledge on the topic at all.   It is viewed as entertainment and it certainly can be.  But in such casual conversation errors, even egregious errors, can be stated and who knows what wrong can come of it.  This hatch mark on a tree reminds us to be cautious in our speech and guard against error.

Another hatch mark on a tree, is this whole idea of "humility."  I think the most dangerous threat to our spiritual well being is when we enter into an extended period of "prosperity."  It's not so much financial prosperity as a time of "smooth sailing."  Before you know it we are smiling smugly at our reflection in the mirror, jauntily stepping out into the world with the assured demeanor of a man who thinks "I got this under control."  At this place on the path we need to hear these words: Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility.  It is very much the case that a "haughty" spirit will bring "dishonor" and "destruction" in our lives.  These same proverbs tell us of how a "rich man has many friends".... people love to "kiss up" to a person who is supremely self-confident and who is doing well.  But what do they say outside his hearing?  Is he really honored in their estimation?  We are told that the pathway to true "honor" is via humility... not worldly attainments.  That bears thinking about... it's a good pathway marker in the gathering gloom.

Another spot where guidance helps  is this business of "anger."  Anger is not always a bad thing but, more often than not, even if it starts out as being justified and perhaps even appropriate, yet like standing too near a hot furnace, we may find our own clothes getting charred.  Here we hear the guidance - Proverbs 19:11 The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression.   When the match of anger is lighted we need to build the fire very slowly.  We all know what happens if we throw gasoline on a bed of charcoal and then light a match... many an eyebrow has disappeared in the resulting flash.  Yet, if we carefully govern the situation then the charcoal heats up as they are designed to do.  There is a place in this world for anger... but we must control its heat.  We must be slow to anger.  In fact, in line with multiple other scriptures, even though initially provoked, a disciplined soul will not let his anger prevent the forgiveness of transgression when appropriate which, we have to admit, is probably the majority of the time.

Why live with a thorn embedded in our flesh?  Why nurture anger and keep it stoked up such that families are divided for years, perhaps even generations?  No... to forgive is better than vengeance.  It is not always what must be done but, again, it is probably most often the right way to go.

So.. life is a journey through a dark woods...  we need pathway markers to get us through some particularly dark places... Proverbs can help.