Common Sense
My dad was a hard working man. I often referred to him as a workaholic in that he was always in the pursuit of some endeavor to make more money for our family. I believe he did this through his love and devotion to us.
Now that I have prefaced this, I need to share some not so positive attributes as well (don’t we all have them?). My dad, in my opinion, was not patient enough to tolerate structured learning beyond high school. As I heard, he was enrolled and dropped out of a business college before meeting my mom. When he was dating my mom, he had a job on the railroad in the mail car but couldn’t keep up with the civil service exams and switched to becoming a bank teller (which is the job he held when they got married and afterwards when I was born). I would guess he had a chip on his shoulder against formerly educated people who, to him, seemed to advance faster than he did.
When I was about 5, we moved to a small farm and I had the “opportunity” to help my dad do chores around the farm - usually the fetch me something or hold the flashlight type of chores. Because my dad worked a full time job in the city and mostly a full time job on their farm, there was always more things to do than time to do them in, adding to the pressure.
I, on the other hand, did well in formal education situations and liked to read books (being the nerd I am). Put all these things together and I started hearing my dad make comments about me being book smart but common sense dumb. Or, my favorite to this day, that I “didn't have enough sense to pour pee (modified) out of a boot with the instructions on the heel.”
I was remembering some of these situations this morning as I was reading Proverbs.
“To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” - Proverbs 1:2-7 ESV
My dad, unfortunately, expressed his frustration with life by making negative comments towards people, mostly his family, who he loved. I don’t really think he expected me to read his mind when he made those common sense comments (nor do I really think my wife does, she just wishes I could read her mind).
I’ve come to love Proverbs because there is so much common sense that we, for the most part, already know and, at times, choose to ignore. But what struck me about this passage this morning was that last verse highlighting that, even though God is a God of love, he is also a sovereign God deserving of our respect, admiration, and, yes, fear. That healthy fear of God helps us to grow to use that common sense and avoid ignoring it.
“Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.”- Psalm 2:11 ESV
