John Koza

Dear Friends in Christ,

One of our scripture readings for today is Proverbs 23: 19-21, 29–24:2. Here is Robert Alters translation:

Listen, my son, and get wisdom, 
And make your heart go straight on the way.
Do not be with the guzzlers of wine, 
With those who gorge on meat.
For the guzzler and gorger will lose all, 
And slumber will clothe him in rags.
For whom “alack,” for whom “alas,”
For whom strife, for whom complaint?
For whom needless wounds , 
For whom bloodshot eyes?
For those who linger over wine, 
Who come to try mixed drink.
Do not regard wine in its redness, 
When it shows its hue in the cup, 
Going down smoothly.
In the end it bites like a snake, 
And like a viper spews its poison. 
Your eyes will see strange things, 
And your heart will speak perverseness, 
And you will be like one who beds in the sea,
Who beds on the top of the rigging.
“They struck me—I felt no hurt; 
They beat me—I was unaware.
When will I awake?
I will look for it again.
Do not envy evil men, 
And do not desire to be with them.
For their heart ponders plunder, 
And their lips speak trouble.

Well that should wake us up if our morning coffee has yet to kick in!

There is a lot here to unpack, so I’m going to give it a broad brush stroke. My takeaway is that I am grateful we have the scriptures to study, to hear, and from which to learn.

This passage opens with “Listen, my son, and get wisdom.” I think the next step for us is to attempt to integrate (where possible) the wisdom of the scriptures into our lives, in order to become better Christians, better people!

The scripture closes with “Do not envy evil men….” I don’t think any one of us wants to envy evil men, but they certainly get the daily press coverage!  

This made me think of the line from Morning Prayer in the Daily Office, in the Suffrage B prayer, “Lord, keep us from all sin today.”

May we all study, hear, and learn from scripture and try to “get wisdom.”

In Christ, 

—John