It’s not unusual for someone to engage in extensive financial planning in order to ensure not only that their family’s present needs are taken care of, but that specific future goals are met. It’s not only the prudent application of meeting all current obligations according to whatever budget is available, but properly planning future vacations, anticipated expansions or changes to homes, children’s education, retirement, etc. It’s rare that we take the same approach for the family of God into which we’ve been born. Financial planning for spiritual matters is often limited to what is perceived as a tithing obligation.
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Agur lists some things “which I do not understand”, and then makes a contrast with something that he does understand. The things “too wonderful for me” are all connected by being natural phenomena found within God’s creation. (Isn’t it interesting that they cover the air, land, sea, and man?) The thing he understands and to which he draws a stark contrast is adultery—physical unfaithfulness. In contrast to the natural ways of creation exhibited in the first four items, unfaithfulness is a conscience choice that goes against God’s original intentions. Sin is always a choice that leads away from the natural order of things.
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While working for a secular company that was relocating from one state to another, I found a side issue to the whole thing to be fascinating: How people make life-changing decisions. The pending decision of whether or not to follow the company to a whole new state or quit and look for another job, whether to sell one’s current house to move and buy a new one, whether to uproot children and family members to a new place—these and dozens of other factors had to be fit together into the larger equation, “What do I want to do with my life?” It was one of those rare points in one’s life when faced with a deadline to completely evaluate one’s goals and review how well it was going up to that point. Although the weight to each factor varied depending on the individual, they were all still faced with asking themselves if they were in the right jobs, if they could fulfill plans for their family, when and where they might retire, and so on.
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The biblical definition of “to listen” or “to hear” is to put the message into practice in one’s life, to allow behavior to be changed. We often think we’re “listening” to another by simply allowing them to talk. When GOD talks, however, we have to act upon His message. There’s a stark difference between the person who comes away from a sermon determined to put into practice what the Spirit has taught through the message, and the person who thinks going to church each week and allowing the preacher to talk fulfills some kind of minimum requirement.
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Here’s what really fascinates me about this verse: Is this strictly speaking only about “Believers” sharpening each other? Or does it generally apply to anyone? The use of “man” is fairly generic. Often the Old Testament implies something more about the object of its teachings by providing a specific description such as “neighbor”, “brother”, “the wicked”, “the righteous”, etc. Such labels give us more information. I keep going back to my initial feeling that this observation has a dual meaning depending on other factors. What happens if both men are Believers, or both men are non-Believers, or there is one of each? I suspect that it still holds true that “one man sharpens another”.
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Not that it probably will ever happen, but if a television network’s news program invited me to come on the air to discuss something related to Christianity, I’d want to know who else they invited. They’re famous for quickly assembling a “panel of experts” representing differing viewpoints for a given spectrum. In the American culture of “fair play” and freedom of speech, this is deemed to be “fair and balanced”. I would turn down the opportunity because I believe it does far more harm than good.
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It usually begins with the sincere, heartfelt statement, “To attract more people like [fill in the 1st blank], we need to organize [fill in the 2nd blank] here at church.” After more than a century of conditioning by a consumer-oriented culture, the approach to increasing attendance at church mirrors the same marketing techniques for selling laundry detergent. Having identified the target audience, the follow-up approach amounts to an advertising campaign to attract their attention so they’ll choose our brand and product over the rest. It puzzles me to no end as to why the repeated biblical example is for prophets, apostles, teachers, believers, and even Christ Himself to GO OUT TO the people, yet so much of the time we think in reverse, plotting on how to get them to come to us.
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