Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling. –Proverbs 26:27
A couple years ago these verses were shaping and forming things in my heart. This was at the same time when Paige Patterson was being removed from SWBTS. I believed then, as I do now, that his termination was a fulfillment of this proverb. Back then I used that verse and spoke these words, Thoughts on Rolling Stones…:
I believe that during our own Conservative Resurgence we didn’t learn the lesson which Schaeffer learned. And it has cost us. We have seen an increase in polarization and infighting in what was promised to be a time of peace. I’ve observed many stones being rolled up hills in order to crush the opposition. And I guess it was thought that they (we?) were doing the Lord’s work in lugging these boulders up the hill to squash those who opposed things like inerrancy. We dug pits for modernism and postmodernism and liberal agenda. But now the stones are rolling back down the hill and our feet are inching towards the graves we dug.
There is something about human nature that likes to pick up these death-experienced stones and give them a roll ourselves. There are a few things within evangelicalism (things like purity culture) which are now being crushed by the stones they so passionately rolled up the hill. And as my own pain from fundamentalism comes to the fore, I find within my own heart a desire to push those stones up the hill to deliver another crushing blow.
I’ve been thinking a good deal about justice and equity lately. I’ve been encouraged, convicted, and inspired as I’ve read through literature like Diane Langberg’s Redeeming Power. I’ve also been reading a helpful little book to assist me in refining my writing. Yesterday I wrote a bit of a purpose statement: My goal is to employ an authentic hermeneutic, while practicing an authentic life, to cut through Christian façade and give authentic hope in Jesus.
“Cut through Christian façade” is dangerous work. It’s that of stone-rolling and pit digging…if I’m not careful. I’ll find myself dismantling things that shouldn’t be dismantled, I’ll work to deliver crushing blows to things which actually serve to buttress my faith instead of shipwreck it. And if I’m not cautious I’ll live grasp for the same type of self-serving power that I’m hoping to see dismantled.
This is why I’m intentionally tying myself to the Proverbs. You cannot do justice and equity well without the Proverbs, or rather without Wisdom. And there are few better places to be heavily steeped in biblical wisdom than in the Proverbs. Consider Proverbs 2:6-15. Here we see that wisdom will “guard the paths of justice” and it will be through wisdom that we “understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path.”
Biblical wisdom helps us fight for justice but also tethers us in such a way that rolling stones up hills loses its appeal. For any of those who are passionate about seeing righteousness, justice, and equity lived out, I would strongly encourage a daily walk with the Proverbs.
I read the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds with today’s date. And it never fails that these give wisdom in how to interact and how to fight for biblical justice. Yes, justice needs Proverbs.
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