Apicontent

Working inside the underbelly of global media, as I did for nearly forty years in places like Hollywood and New York, I have a new appreciation for wisdom. I know this may sound harsh, but I view Hollywood as the epicenter of cultural and moral stupidity! Even self-descriptive phrases from the lips of those who live and work in these media centers make my point:

• “In Hollywood, people spend money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need to impress people they don’t like.”
• “In media, when someone pats you on the back, he is looking for a soft spot to put the knife in.”
• “The key to success in Hollywood is sincerity. If you can fake that, you have it made.”

Anita Busch, editor of the Hollywood Reporter, says, “If I talk to one hundred people in a day, ninety-nine of them are lying, and the other one is my mother.”

In a conversation overheard at a swanky Beverly Hills restaurant, one media executive said to another, “You are lying to me!” The response was, “Yes, but hear me out.”

Stupidity!

When Hebrew King Solomon and his advisors put together a collection of wise insights for life called proverbs and they were inserted into the Hebrew Scriptures, they did humanity a real service. This is especially true in a culture that is increasingly embracing notions and behaviors that for millennia have been considered outrageously foolish.

I prefer the word stupid to foolish because it seems to carry more damning consequences. It may be foolish to lock your keys in your car, but carrying on a relationship with someone else’s spouse and lying to cover it up is outright stupid. Ask any divorce lawyer! This is the reason Proverbs makes adultery a major theme including the line, “For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread, but another man’s wife preys on your very life” (Proverbs 6:26). Feel free to replace foolish with stupid or folly with stupidity everywhere you find these words!

Solomon and the boys call out stupidity in the most unambiguous of terms. “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly [aka stupidity]” (Proverbs 26:11). No ambiguity here!

The purpose for this devotional is to personalize and dramatize God’s wisdom from Proverbs, so the teachable can learn it without having to experience the awful consequences of stupidity—in the everyday “trenches” of life where the moral warfare is waged in and around us 24/7.

Larry W. Poland, Ph.D.
[bio]

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their ways are vile. (Psalm 53:1)

Upon hearing circus magnate P. T. Barnum’s famous quote, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” someone asked, “If so, where did all the rest of them come from?” As societies stray from honoring God and His Law, there is a progressive increase of fools and folly among their citizenry.

Barnum was in the entertainment business and knew full well that the incidence of fools in “the industry” is as high as in any other segment of society. While Jesus prohibited our calling another person a fool as a curse (Matthew 5:22), the Scriptures provide ample criteria by which to recognize fools when we see them.

The first and most obvious mark of fools is their arrogant assertion that God doesn’t exist or, if He does, is unknowable. When confronted with these arguments from atheists or agnostics, the late J. Edwin Orr would ask, “How much of all the knowledge in the universe do you think is now possessed by human beings?” Usually, the proportion cited was less than 10 percent. “How much of all the knowledge possessed by human beings of all time do you, personally, feel that you possess?” This question usually drew an uncomfortable chuckle and an estimate of less than 1 percent. At this point, Orr would drive the stake into the discussion with the question, “Do you think it’s possible that God might exist outside the realm of your knowledge?”

Principle: Failing to recognize the Supreme Being is being supremely foolish.

Fools are also recognizable by corrupt character. The problem with corruption is not just that it is “sin” but that it doesn’t even work! E. Stanley Jones tells of a conversation he had with a politician who was mocking the British Oxford Group Movement with its four absolutes— absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love. The man suggested a countermovement with “absolute dishonesty, absolute impurity, absolute selfishness, and absolute hate.”

“Why not?” Jones challenged. “If you believe in sin, why do you not go out and make it absolute…sin with the stops out…?” The man looked at Jones in astonishment and said, “Oh, no, we couldn’t do that—it wouldn’t work!” It most certainly wouldn’t. Every dishonest, impure, selfish, and hate-filled person is a parasite on the righteous people who practice enough virtue to keep the system working.

The Law of Righteousness is wired into the universe as much as the law of gravity. Allowing moral corruption into one’s life is like put­ting water in one’s automobile gas tank; it soon brings all operations to a screeching halt.

Principle: Corruption isn’t just wrong. It’s stupid. In the long run, it doesn’t even work.

Finally, fools are characterized by deeds that are “vile.” Humans were designed by the Creator to live successfully only by divinely defined purity and morality. Thus, those whose minds and actions are marked by filth, debauchery, and sexual perversion are steering a life course that could not be more foolish. Proverbs minces no words in describing such people: “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly” (Proverbs 26: 11).

Principle: Filth and faith are mutually exclusive; as one grows, the other dies.

Learning to recognize fools and their ways provides rich benefits for those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” So do your homework!

[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]

For the lips of an adulteress [adulterer] drip honey, and her [his] speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she [he] is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword…For the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread and the adulteress preys on your very life. (Proverbs 5:3–4, 6:26)

A story going around Hollywood is that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he gathered the Jewish men and said, “Guys, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I negotiated God down from twenty commandments to ten. The bad news is that adultery is still on the list.” So goes the increasingly light view of sex outside of marriage, an intimacy that violates a covenant with God and a spouse.

Research by Connecticut Mutual Life indicated that the “media elite” are about 30 percent more likely to see nothing wrong with adultery than the general populace and about four times (!) more likely than the public to see nothing wrong with living together before marriage.

While breaking any one of the Ten Commandments can be forgiven via repentance and confession, there is a good reason adultery is on God’s Big Ten list…and the reason is not that God is out to spoil our fun. God happens to know how ultimately destructive illegitimate sex really is.

The writer of Proverbs observed that adultery turns the sweet expe­rience of romance into a wretchedly bitter one. What starts out as “honey” ends up as “gall.” FYI, gall is the bile of an animal used for medicinal purposes with as bitter a taste as its source might indicate. Furthermore, this unlawful kind of love experience initially has all the properties of oil—a soothing balm—but will mortally wound like a dagger in the end.

Principle: Sex outside of marriage is not what it appears on the surface. Its sweet, smooth beginnings inevitably end in bitterness and injury.

King Solomon, who had considerable experience with seduction as a man with seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines,­ also figured out what happens to “seducees,” male and female. He observed that allowing oneself to be seduced outside the bounds of God’s Law has a “reductionist effect” on a person. Pick your cate­gory of reduction—psychological or spiritual, physical or emotional, financial or reputational. The person who submits to sexual seduction outside of marriage steps into an experiential bottomless hole. Illicit sex takes the person from the high uniqueness of virginity and purity to the “loaf of bread level,” one of cheapness and commonness.

Principle: Sex outside of marriage always takes the partners from seduction to reduction…by sucking life itself out of them.

Adultery is not, as someone has said, the same thing for adults that child’s play is for children. It is the enemy of successful living. God said so with such force that He made it one of the ten major no-nos of living.

[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]

Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. (Proverbs 16:32)

For as churning the milk produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife. (Proverbs 30:33)

Fred (not his real name) was a professional associate in Christian service and an angry man. He was angry at the boss, angry at the board of trustees, angry at organizational policies, and was uniquely able to generate ad hoc anger toward a host of other things. He interrupted a staff meeting and told off the boss in front of the entire team and then wrote a vicious letter to strong supporters of the institution.

At that point, the leadership decided Fred could “best serve God in some other vineyard.”

I can quote lines from Fred’s tirade and his tone from more than five decades ago! His ill-managed anger left its deep scars on me.

Fred’s problem wasn’t his intellect or his talent, not his training or his skills. It was not the passion for justice and righteousness we often call “righteous anger.” It was his tolerance of his own selfish, ego-centered anger and his inability to manage it.

When Proverbs says one who manages his or her anger well is of more value than a great warrior or strong conqueror, it speaks well. In the long run, hot-tempered people destroy more than they build.

Principle: The passion of anger is the nuclear fission of the emotions. It can light a city or blow it to bits depending on how its power is released.

It is an immutable law of interpersonal strife and organizational dissension that at the heart of both is an angry person. If relationships are turbulent or the management team is torn apart by schism, look for the person with ill-managed anger. Proverbs declares that there is an inevitable link between interpersonal strife and personal anger as surely as there’s a link between butter and churned milk or a bloody nose and violent twisting.

Principle: Ill-managed anger is an antipersonnel mine; trigger it, and it will maim you and cause permanent injury to those near you.

The key to getting past nuclear anger is surrender. The Pauline principle of “dead to self, alive to Christ” is central. Dead men don’t respond, and only when we give up all rights to the One who bought us are we free not to defend ourselves and strike back in anger.

Galatians 5:20 describes one of the manifestations of the flesh as “fits of rage.”

Principle: The only way to manage anger is to surrender it to the Spirit of God; as surrender increases, ill-managed anger decreases.

Fred called me after three decades passed and asked for my forgive­ness! He said he’d discovered “all those other people’s problems were really his.” He was right…and I forgave him. But, in the meantime, the rest of us “took a lot of cities” from which Fred didn’t get any plunder.

[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]

Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment. (Proverbs 12:19)

A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare. (Proverbs 21:6)

“Inhale. Lie. Exhale. Lie.” This was the title of a front-page article by David Shaw in the Los Angeles Times about the chronic lying that goes on in Hollywood. Shaw declares, “In Hollywood, deception is a frustrating fact of everyday life, involving everything from negotiations and job changes to casting, financing, and scores from test screenings.” Even box office numbers are “made up,” “fabricated” every week.

For a person of integrity in media, it is stunning to see the no-big­ deal attitude that exists toward lying, especially when one considers the idiocy and destructive potential of the act. One talent agent’s assistant said of her boss, “He lies about everything. He even lies for no reason!”

Proverbs exalts truthfulness as having weight and permanence when it declares that “Truthful lips endure forever.” When a truthful per­son says, “I’ll purchase your car for ten thousand dollars on Monday,” it carries weight. The moment the person says those words, hear­ers spring into action to respond to the event as if it has already happened. When a liar says the same thing, nobody responds. “Oh, he’s just saying that,” is the hollow response. Not only does nothing happen on Monday, but nothing happens a minute later. You read it above: “A lying tongue lasts only a moment.”

Principle: Truthful words have hurricane force, but lies the impact of warm breath.

Because of the impact of truth, the truthful person has staying power. He’ll be around for a long time because he cannot be ignored. Truth demands a response. The quickest way to get ignored, overlooked, or even shunned is to lie. Falsehood has no power except when it is accepted as true. The moment a lie is discovered, the liar has pur­chased his ticket out of town.

Principle: Truth commands long-term respect, but a lie, and the one who speaks it, draws immediate derision.

Finally, even the gain from lying is illusory. It’s the Internet con artists who sucker millions of dollars from online investors only to see the benefit from their fortune go “poof” when the Feds slap them in chains. It’s the school kid who says, “I didn’t steal the money,” only to be expelled when truth blows his cover. Even the notion of success through lying is a self-made trap, a “deadly snare.”

Principle: A lie promises quick and easy benefit, but the promise itself is a lie.

Want to stand out in life? Dare to tell the truth…everywhere…about everything…all the time. Power, respect, and blessing will follow you because, “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful” (Proverbs 12:22).

[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts. (Proverbs 18:8)

A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends. (Proverbs 16:28)

It was the perfect setup—described in Judges 3. Ehud gets permission to have an audience with Eglon, King of Moab, on a request to present a tribute to him. After the presentation, he whispers that he has a secret message for the king, a word from God. Eglon clears the room, and Ehud pulls a hidden dagger from his clothing and does him in. Inscribed on the handle of the dagger were the letters g-o-s-s-i-p.

The above story is true but for the last sentence. Actually, though, the moniker would have been very appropriate. Ask anyone who’s been “done in” by the gossipy tongue of another. The weapon comes into the room unseen. It swiftly and lethally assassinates reputa­tions, relationships, and character. It’s the “hidden dagger” in human relationships.

Gossip is any talk about another which, when heard, results in unde­served injury. Reporting the truth that Joe Doaks has just robbed your home is not gossip, and the injury caused to Joe Doaks is well deserved. Passing along the unchecked rumor that Mary Doaks is having an affair with her boss is gossip. The injury caused to Mary, her reputation, her marriage, and her aura of trust is both undeserved and deadly—and the gossip is responsible for it.

When Proverbs says that gossip “goes down to a man’s inmost parts,” it means that it doesn’t just bounce harmlessly off the person like the cutting remarks made in jest at the Rotary Club roast. The evil words lodge deeply inside the person like Ehud’s dagger, so deeply that Judges says King Eglon’s flesh covered it completely. The blade went to his heart.

Principle: Don’t take gossip lightly. Far more than harmless chatter, it’s a deadly dagger to the heart.

Gossip is equally unsavory because of the friends it keeps. It is the companion of dissension, quarrels, and disloyalty. Its divisive potential is so lethal that it even can separate “close friends” (Proverbs 16:28). Quarrels and arguments are fueled by gossip. “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down” (Proverbs 26:20). Disloyalty is founded on gossip as the evil speaker “betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret” (Proverbs 11:13).

Principle: Gossip’s companions are worse than urban gangs; Faction, Quarrel and Betrayal are their names.

[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]

The corrections of discipline are the way of life. (Proverbs 6:23)

A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more than a hundred lashes a fool. (Proverbs 17:10)

My godly father had a slogan on the wall of his den that said, “It’s better to give someone a piece of your heart than a piece of your mind.” True. But is it possible that giving someone both could be in their ultimate best interest?

Nobody likes to be corrected, rebuked, or reproved. It strikes at the heart of our arrogance and typically stirs a negative, defensive response. In this “feelings generation,” pop psychology often preaches against such corrective behavior because it stimulates “bad feelings.”

A member of the California Highway Patrol triggered some really bad feelings in me a few years ago with his flashing lights, stern words, and a really expensive citation for “meritorious service in the fast lane.” I didn’t appreciate the recognition at the time, but now I do. I’ve been a safer, more observant, more careful driver ever since. That reproof and correction may have saved my life or someone else’s­ because I heeded it.

Principle: Rebuke and reproof are good medicine. They cure moral sickness, so take them faithfully—regardless of how they taste.

Proverbs makes a really big deal about how we respond to rebuke and correction. Respond well—we are told—and it will result in honor (13:18), an understanding of the way the world works (15:32), status among the wise (15:31), and life itself (6:23). Reject or scoff at rebuke and reproof, and a lot of bad things result. We will “lead others astray” (10:17) and even die (15:10)! God declares that correction is so essential to successful living that wise people will love you for correcting them (9:8)!

Principle: Reproof is a test of wisdom and folly; wise people love it, and fools hate it.

The ultimate state of wisdom and maturity is the ability to learn without personal correction. Truly wise people are so teachable they learn even watching others get reproof!

Principle: The one who doesn’t learn from the correction of others must be reproved personally. Rejecting personal reproof just compounds folly, destruction, and death.

The motivation of the one giving the correction or rebuke doesn’t matter. Even people who give you a piece of their mind—without a piece of their heart—can help you be a better person. When Shimei cursed King David and threw stones at him (2 Samuel 16:6), one of David’s guards wanted to kill him. David forbade it and let him speak, reasoning that God might be motivating the curse!

That’s wisdom and maturity.

[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]

Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult. (Proverbs 9:7)

A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a pru­dent man overlooks an insult. (Proverbs 12:16)

As a 27-year-old college president with no little arrogance and a lot to learn, I got a lot of insulting—and often anonymous—letters. Since my godly father always taught me, “Don’t ever write anything to anyone you’re not man enough sign,” I trashed the unsigned missiles.

I mentioned in an earlier chapter that one day I read in 2 Samuel 16 of King David’s being cursed publicly by a man named Shimei and of David’s mature response (my paraphrase), “Let him speak. God told him to curse me!”

That was a new concept. God might permit people to curse us not just to rebuke or correct us but to benefit us. So I started reading all my hate mail with a new perspective. It was revolutionary! Some of my worst and most ill-motivated critics were telling me things my friends wouldn’t. I was picking up valuable tips from them!

In a cultural climate in which put-downs, mean-spirited humor, and sarcastic mockers reign, it is important to learn the value of the curse or insult.

Principle: We expose our character—either foolish or wise—by the way we handle curses and insults.

The 9:7 passage above describes the response of reacting to an insult—rather than responding to it—as behavior typical of a “mocker.” Wise people aren’t mockers; they’re learners. Wise people, Proverbs declares, are not “touchy” when insulted. Instead, they “solicit instruction and correction.” The trick is coming to see all unwanted and uncomplimentary input as potentially beneficial!

Principle: If we listen for the voice of God in it, any comment—regardless of its motivation or content—is potentially useful for character building.

I started praying before reading my mail, “Lord, help me hear any­thing You want me to hear…” This revolutionized my attitude toward my critics and their insults. Voila! They said some things I needed to hear…and that my friends weren’t telling me! And they said some nonsense which God let me overlook.

Principle: If obedience to God’s Law provides building blocks for our character construction, the search for instruction and correction is the mortar.

Thirty years ago, a man screamed at me, “You self-righteous, bigoted, Baptist idiot!” Looking back, I think he was more right than I wanted to admit—except on the “Baptist” part!

Principle: Curses and insults are just divinely allowed instruction…in ugly wrappings.

Turn your curses and insults into benefit, and even your critics and enemies will unwittingly benefit you!

[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]