Proverbs 27:6: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of the enemy.”
Ever have one of those dreams that keeps playing over and over. Two days in a row I have had this dream that seems to be stuck on replay. I wake up, fall back to sleep and there it is again. It is a very short dream. There is a baseball pitcher (I hate baseball) who throws the ball and I hear the word aman (faithful). A batter hits the ball and I hear the word chasah (trust). The batter takes off running and I hear the word azaz ( receive help). Then the dream goes into instant replay and I see the same thing over again and again. I have not the foggiest idea what those three words have to do with baseball, but in thinking about it, those three words are three very important words in our faith and understanding the heart of God.
Isaac Merit Singer, back in 1850, noted the sewing machine manufactured by Orson Phelps was just was not practical. The circular movement of the shuttle took a twist out of the thread at every revolution. Examining the machine, Singer realized that if he could make the shuttle move to and fro rather than in a circular fashion it would do the job more efficiently. However, he could not figure out how to make the needle work in this fashion. One night he had a dream where he was being chased by Indians with spears. As the spears went sailing over his head he noted that there was a hole at the tip of each spear. Waking up he realized the solution to his problem, put the eye of the needle at the tip of the needle rather than the back end. The rest, as they say, is history.
I have been obsessing over trying to understand the heart of God so much, maybe I just was missing the obvious. With life’s many difficulties and pitfalls, I find myself stressing out, and at times going into one of those “O Lord, O Lord” routines. Yet, did not Paul say that without faith, it is impossible to please God? (Hebrews 11:6). I have a friend who is going through one of those “O Lord, O Lord” moments while watching a beloved pet die, suffering a cracked tooth, enduring this heat without air conditioning, forced to live on a fixed income, I mean you barely come up for breath when you are shoved down again with another one of life’s many crisis. Maybe one you can handle, maybe two but when they come one right after the other you either begin to curse God or you grab tighter to Him. Thinking about my reoccurring dream where I am forced to watch a baseball game which I hate, I am beginning to realize I can’t explain why we have to go through personal crisis but I also cannot help but wonder if these times of personal crises are not an opportunity to please God.
This morning as I pondered the difficulties of my friend and my feelings of helplessness in being able to offer any real support to my friend, as well as wondering if there was any relationship to my reoccurring dream, I ran across Proverbs 27:6 where I found one of the words in my dream, aman or faithfulness. Faithful or aman are the wounds of a friend. Commentators will tell us that what this proverb is saying is that the honest truth of a friend, things like, “take a bath,” or “you have bad breath” can be very wounding, but are helpful and they are lot better than an enemy telling you that you smell like a rose just to please you and then you go into a job interview stinking to high heaven.
However, as my friend was relating all the difficulties being faced I heard the words, “Jesus is still my hope and trust.” In the midst of these troubles my friend is remaining aman or faithful to God. My friend is using this time as an opportunity to bring joy to the heart of God. You see faithful is the word aman which has the idea of supporting, true, staying, and faithful. To be faithful to God means that we are staying with Him no matter what. God can deliver us from the fiery furnace, but if He doesn’t, let it be known that we will still be faithful to Him.
Yet, note that this verse tells us something about faithfulness. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. The word wounds is pase which is the same word used for a eunuch. A eunuch is one who voluntarily goes under the knife. The Hebrew word rendered as friend is an odd word to use for friend. It is the word ahav which is the word for love. This is in a construct form and would be rendered as the loving one. Thus you would read this as the loving one who voluntarily allows himself to be injured. Let’s face it, we do not voluntarily enter a period of trouble unless it is to help someone we love. A mother would voluntarily take on the sickness of her child if it would cure her child’s illness. In battle soldiers have voluntarily laid down their lives for the sake of their friends, their family or loved ones. I think this verse is making a subtle reference to something even deeper.
Jesus did to have to come to earth to be wounded and to die. He did this voluntarily for our sake. I think this verse in Proverbs is revealing something about Jesus’s death on the cross that we do not really consider. There are many reasons why Jesus had to suffer and die on the cross, but one reason I never considered until I looked at this verse in Proverbs was that He wanted to show the aman or faithfulness of His love.
In my dream I was voluntarily watching a baseball game. There are worst things in life. But as each ball was pitched to the batter who is likely my friend receiving pitch after pitch of balls of trouble I hear the word aman, faithful. I knew my friend is remaining faithful to God no matter what. As the batter connects with the ball I hear the word chasad, trust. If my friend keeps trusting in God, that ball of trouble will keep flying out of the park. Finally as the batter rounds the bases I hear the word azaz, receiving help. I know that because of my friend’s faithfulness and trust in God, help will come from God.
Jesus used His time of crisis as an opportunity to show His faithfulness to us. Should we not offer Him anything less? We may get wounded in the process, but that wound is just a way to show our love to God, a way to discover the heart of God.
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