March 17

Mar 17 - Today from Proverbs 17 we look at verse 16
"Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom?"

Here is a rare form of a proverb. It is in the form of a simple question. Most proverbs challenge us to dig out a deeper meaning, or to solve a riddle hidden in a statement. This one challenges us to come up with an answer. Let's start with a definition for a fool. The question itself gives us the definition. A fool is one who has no desire to get wisdom. Wisdom is proper application of correct knowledge. Now we can extrapolate the question a bit to read: "Of what use is money in the hand of a person who has no desire to seek correct knowledge and apply that knowledge to life?" Are we any closer to the answer? What if we give some sort of simple definition to money? Perhaps that might help. Well, the dictionary might say something like "a transportable article of trade" (commodity). But I would like to put it in more practical terms. Let's say that money is a chief source of influence and power. Now, I ask you, "What good is it to give a person a chief source of power an influence when that person has no desire to seek correct knowledge and apply that knowledge to life?" In all probability, about the best one could say is that it might help stimulate the economy because the chances are the fool is going to spend the money on some extravagance for him or herself.
After serving with an international relief and development organization for ten years, I can truly see the practicality of this proverb. An organization such as ours serves in extremely economically depressed areas of the world where the human condition is misery. Emergency relief hedges off starvation and disease, but then we sought to look further and seek ways to develop economic stimulation and bring a higher standard of living to our project areas. Perhaps you have heard the old adage, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life." This was a basic philosophy in our relief and development service. Once any emergency relief action was under way, the next task was to seek out the 'wise' in the particular project area. Our organization sought to partner with local leaders and/or organizations who were willing to learn 'how to fish', and then teach others. It was important to be reasonably confident that when your back was turned that they would not run off and sell the fishing pole so they could simply buy a few fish for themselves. One would be surprised at how prevalent this is with relief organizations. It takes time and discernment to seek out the wise. Through years of experience our organization developed very effective methods in sorting out the fools from the wise. It's much more difficult than one would think when you are operating in a strange culture and there is so much suffering and need all around you.
I remember when we were in Armenia, a tiny Christian culture surrounded by hostile Muslim cultures and has their commerce effectively cut off from the world. You cannot believe the need and poverty there. While visiting with the pastor of a village church, one of the village leaders asked to see us. As we sat and talked with him, he laid out a plan for a relief project. He asked if we could supply him with several thousand chickens. He would develop a chicken farm and keep some of the fertile eggs for reproduction and sell the rest for income. When the chickens stopped laying, he could sell them for very little, or give them to the poor in the village and surrounding villages. He had what seemed to be a pretty well laid out plan with numbers and percentages. If you saw the hungry and desperate people, you would think this is a pretty good plan. We began to ask him some questions. Where will you keep the chickens? "I am sure I can get two or three neighbors to partner with me. We will use our small farms together." What will you keep the chicken in? "Oh. We must have some funds to build chicken houses. We can pay you back with our profits." What will you use to feed several thousand chickens? "We will have to buy feed for the first year, but we plan to grow our feed the next year." Where will you buy the feed? "We are hoping you can import some for us." How many people will this huge investment employ? Do you have a market for the eggs? How will you get them to market? (Few people had cars, and fuel was even more rare). What kind of bookkeeping system will you use? How will you stay accountable to our organization? By time we were done with our questions, it was obvious that this man was not a wise man. He was a fool with a plan that he thought would make him a big man in the community. We shook his hand in a friendly farewell and told him we would consider his proposal. When he left, we considered it for a couple of minutes and then thought of it no more.
Our first question to ourselves may not have been written as it is in today's proverb, but the principle is the same. We were entrusted with the funds and resources of others to help alleviate suffering and poverty in this world. We had to find wise people in those poverty areas to whom we could entrust it. We needed to find people who had a clear understanding of the situation, whose hearts were full of compassion for the condition of their people, who had a reputation of integrity, who would use the resources to better the condition of their fellow man and who were teachable partners. Jesus often taught about money and the proper attitude regarding its purpose. In Luke 16:10-12 He says, "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?" It is a foolish person who believes that money (worldly wealth) is the source of true riches. That is not correct knowledge. Of what good is money in the hands of a person like that?