“The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; By understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, And the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: Keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, And grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, And thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: Yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, Neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, And shall keep thy foot from being taken.”
Proverbs 3:19-26 KJV
Currently, I am addressing a topic I have personally been dealing with for several years.
Anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress, Worry, Fear, Depression, Distress, Anguish, Mental Fatigue, Burn Out or whatever other names we want to apply to the demons which haunt our internal safety mechanisms and set off our alarms, often come from irreconcilable realities. It could be the reality that was versus the reality that is. Perhaps someone steered your thinking into perceiving reality one way and as you experience life you become aware different perspectives are available. Irregardless of how you come to the quandary, you end up with realities which cannot co-inhabit the same time and space.
Allow me to make an analogy:
Taking a que from the portion of the passage which says the depths are broken up (even though the meaning is actually something different) After hurricane Helene damaged portions of our area of the world I was fortunate enough to be able to assist in rebuilding. After helping locally I went into Western North Carolina, an area I was fairly familiar with. While working we ran into serious roadblocks, literally. Massive tree damage and debris in the roads, portions of the roads washed away, bridges out and power lines, cars or dwellings relocated and blocking the path.
The “map” no longer worked even though landmarks still existed. The chaos from the storm turned portions of a beautiful serene countryside into a hellscape.
I call this phenomenon, “when things go sideways,” the term comes from a set of experiences when I was younger. I found myself living in a reality that “shifted” into an entirely different reality where my life was in danger. I had to adopt a new set of rules in an instant just to survive. After several of these experiences my comfort level moving back and forth between these realities allowed me to build a set of rules for operation in each.
But what happens after a loved one passes? You walk into their space and feel the sting of the loss over and over. It is like a piece of you was amputated. Time does not heal the hurt, it simply gives you experience to build a new reality.
When you are betrayed you feel ashamed for being so blind, angry for the betrayal, sad for the loss, hating yourself for loving those who injured you. The emotions never seem to stop contradicting.
Your reality has changed. It is similar to the illustration of hurricane Helene; the beautiful safe and quiet countryside is now trying to destroy you.
What happens when you are an integral cog in a machine that is churning out positive change but then you step back and realize you were being manipulated for selfish reasons? You begin to wonder if you were the bad guys.
One day you will receive news that changes everything.
Perhaps you were taking up for an ideal or a hero later to find out you were promoting manipulative scumbags.
Maybe you were someone special to someone special but now you are not.
What happens when you wake up wondering if the blood on your hands was innocent?
It could be someone used your talents and energy to exploit others.
You may wake up one day and start wondering how an intelligent person like you could allow themselves to have been brainwashed.
One day you will pay the ferryman Charon to carry you across the river into the afterlife. If you are blessed enough to come face to face with that reality when you have time remaining it will drastically alter your perspective of the time you have remaining.
Your previous reality went sideways and now you are experiencing a reality which resembles the old one but the same rules do not apply.You have the old map you were using to effectively navigate life and now you find yourself incapable of negotiating even the simplest of directions.You have irreconcilable realities competing for dominance which makes you question every move and every circumstance.
An answer to reconciliation between realities comes from Proverbs. It is called, “the fear of the LORD.” In essence, it is humbling yourself and realizing what you are experiencing is leading you to Truth. Not a truth, not your truth, THE TRUTH. This is the thing you keep bumping into that is knocking you off track, it will not move no matter how much you try to hide or avoid it. It just stands there like a big heavy annoying stone and it will not budge.
If you fight it will wear you down and deplete your resources leaving you hopeless. BUT, when you humble yourself and accept the truth for what it is you can mold yourself to truth and it will give you strength, guidance, protection, fortitude and ultimately an understanding of the LORD’s love; because love flows from truth.
Back to the map analogy, even though the old reality resembles the current reality, you need to file away all of the old information and start building a new map. Find the truth and it will set you free. Rebuild the infrastructure you need to proceed in the correct direction and move forward in your life.
The passage of scripture tells us how to follow our new path. The one the Shepherd has planned for us.
If you are looking for these attributes in/for yourself the passage can help you find them:
/ life to your soul
/ grace to your neck (we will discuss this in more detail)
/ walk in your way safely
/ your foot will not stumble
/ you can lie down without fear
/ your sleep will be sweet
/ not afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it comes.
/ you have a protector, The LORD, and he will keep your footing secure.
Allow me to speculate for a moment to frame the concept.
It is my opinion, and this is only an opinion, the first 9 chapters of the book of Proverbs were mined from the mind of King David, Solomon’s father. I picture Solomon discussing life with his father and immortalizing his father’s ideas in script. As such, this passage can take on a new perspective. In the mind of the the shepherd king this analogy to herding a flock of sheep illuminates a deeper set of meanings.
Picture this passage in conjunction with Psalm 23:
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
Psalm 23:1-6 KJV
The LORD being the shepherd makes the previous list come to life.
Life to our soul- the word translated life comes from growth, even meaning green vegetation and fresh flowing water… for our soul or inner being.
Grace to our neck- the word translated, “neck,” is only used Biblically in the book of proverbs and all four times it is employed to express a necklace or charm tied around the neck. The concept behind chên (pronounced khane) translated here to grace carries the concept of being favored, chosen, adorned. Therefore, this line means something like, I have adorned you with a beautiful and valuable necklace to show everyone you are mine. It wards off those who would harm while also granting you acceptance.
Walk in your way safely- besides just being a shepherd he is a guide that has prepared a way for us. We can safely navigate what seems impassable because he has prepared the way for us.
Your foot will not stumble- once again, we are reminded the way may be harrowing but we can trust the shepherd. However, in this portion we bear the burden of doing. The idea behind the word “foot,” is activity. It is taking the next step. When we combine idea of taking the next step with, “shall not stumble” which expresses, “will not be stricken or smitten down,” we see a powerful expression of, You can move forward without fear.
You can lie down without being afraid and your sleep can be sweet- there are several meanings:
1.You can rest and it will be pleasant.
2.You can go to sleep knowing you have a shepherd watching.
3.Death does not frighten you.
4.You can let today’s worries out of your head and heart and not take on tomorrows worries because your way has been prepared and your next step will not destroy you (are you noticing how these accumulate and integrate with each other).
Be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the desolation of the wicked when it comes- there are a couple of layers we can discuss without getting too deep.
First, the conversation could be attempting to cover a broad spectrum; don’t be afraid of things which are what we call, “acts of God;” weather incidents, earthquakes, accidents and so forth.
Secondly we should not fear when, either, the Wicked are causing destruction, as in when Lindisfarne was sacked by Viking Raiders in the late 700’s, or when the Wicked are receiving their destruction.
On another layer we can take this admonition as a shepherd guarding the sheep. We are being told not to worry about the unseen, because the one watching us sees the unseen and knows the unknown, therefore if something happens it was allowed to happen.
The passage ends by reaffirming our confidence is in the LORD.
To explain the idea of confidence mentioned here picture a baby that cannot care for or protect itself. The baby has to place any hope of survival in a caretaker. This is the confidence the LORD is suggesting we place in Him. This is the same confidence a sheep would need to follow the Shepherd.
He finishes by saying he will keep our foot from being taken. This most likely refers back to the shepherd analogy and is reassuring we will not be snared by the enemy when we stay in the Shepherds path.
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