The Plumbline

5-6  It's better to be wise than strong;    intelligence outranks muscle any day. Strategic planning is the key to warfare;    to win, you need a lot of good counsel. (Proverbs 24:5-6) How many times have we said, "I wish I were stronger," or "I wish I had the strength to resist that"?  There are different kinds of "muscle" - some is quite literal (like our bicep or triceps muscles in our arms), while others are kind of our idea of "muscle" (like when we say someone has the backbone to stand up against someone).  At various times in our lives, we want the second type of muscle - we want to be able to resist, to tell someone off who is really getting under our skin, etc.  Most of the time, we simply struggle through - bemoaning the fact that we just did not have enough emotional or spiritual "muscle" to accomplish what we hoped to accomplish. Our passage tells us that "strength" really comes in the wisdom or intelligen...

2  Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good;     God  probes for what is good.    9  We plan the way we want to live,    but only  God  makes us able to live it. (Proverbs 16:2, 9) Have you heard the term "window shopping"?  It refers to the action of simply being out "aimlessly" traversing the paths of the mall, in and out of shops, sometimes finding an item or two we "just must have", and at other times, just getting ideas about what we will come to "dream about".  We are accustomed to the idea that we look for what "appeals" to us.  If it "moves us", we say we are influenced to make the purchase and claim it as our own. The problem with this type of "shopping" is that we often buy what looks good and not what has the lasting / enduring qualities of a "good purchase".  We tend to follow the "fads" rather than to be making quality decisions.  The fact is stated very well in our passages ...