Feeding on Trash - Prov 15:14

Today’s daily reading from the One Year Bible (HERE) contained a proverb that really jumped out at me:

A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash. (Prov 15:14)

I read that and thought, “who want would eat trash?”  Pictures of people picking through a dumpster came to mind (no offense to any dumpster-divers out there).

But of course, Solomon was using a metaphor to describe a person who is mentally consuming information and material that is “junk.”  In our culture that would be feeding on titillating news, gossip and rumors, and crude humor.  TMZ.COM would be a good example. Jersey Shores.  I would even have to include a majority of the blogosphere and Twitterverse, both conservative and liberal, in that category.

That’s not to say that there isn’t some good and even godly content out there that can be encouraging.  But the majority of it is indeed, trash.  It has no spiritual or redeeming value.  Instead of building you up, it only riles you up!

I have to confess that I go through times when I get really caught up in the fray: political stories that flash across my dashboard can bring out my righteous indignation. But each time I am reminded of two things:

1. Man is simply not capable of governing himself, regardless of what political party he or she may belong to.
2. There will be no righteous king until our King, The Lord Jesus Christ, returns and establishes His kingdom.  He will rule in righteousness!

Another verse in our One Year Bible reading today brings me back home, when Jesus said:

“Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God.” (John 8:47)

That clears it up for me:  If we are wise, we’ll be hungry for the words of God, where true knowledge is found.  A lot of the other stuff out there is just trash.

Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday, as we open the word of God, 2 Samuel 13, where we’ll be studying the fallout in David’s life from his area of weakness.

Pastor Clay