Tiny Devotional for Saturday, 08-14-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, prepare for a nap.

In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back,
But the lips of the wise will protect them.
Proverbs 14:3, NASB

The Book of Proverbs is the best example of wisdom literature that I have access to. Wisdom literature doesn’t seek to tell a story, as much as to transmit information about the world, and how to adapt to it, from one generation to the next.

Joke books, cookbooks, the Boy Scout Handbook, and some works of poetry, are also a form of wisdom literature. 

Cookbooks and poetry had no attraction to me when I was a lad; the Boy Scout handbook had a little more. Joke books, on the other hand, just fascinated me.
I never wondered where the books in my house came from, until it was too late to ask anyone. From the wide variety, I’d guess my step-dad the pilot picked them up in airports all over the world.
Wherever they came from, I picked them up and read them with glee.

A wise person would have known that in real life, the snappy come-backs found in joke books wouldn’t be appreciated. Alas, in the third grade, I was not a wise person. Classmates didn’t find verbal put-downs funny, and responded with physical put-downs; and all too often, I was flat on my back, wondering what had gone wrong. I had not yet learned this wisdom: Never miss an opportunity to shut up.

Wonderful things come from the lips of the wise, but this is also true. The lips of the wise stay closed. That’s how they protect.

Peace be on your household.