Fortified Walls Keep Us Safe
Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.”
I’ve always been averse to biblical passages about self-control. I used to think that walls of self-control did not allow for my whims and personal freedom. I knew there was a good reason behind not giving in to my rationalizations and to temptation, but hey, every now and again should be okay. Why does *Galatians 2:20 about the Spirit’s gifts: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness… have to end with “and self-control”? Why does Paul have to mention this trait to his apprentice Timothy, advising him that we should not have a “spirit of fear, but of love, power…and self-control”**?
But now, I can see that God really desires this wall against temptations to protect us, to save us from our worst selves. Tim and Kathy Keller instruct in their Proverbs daily devotional on day April 25: “Without a wall the residents of ancient cities were vulnerable to attacks by bands of robbers, other nations’ armies, and even animals. A person who lacks self-control is just as defenseless. If you can’t control your appetite for food, you will ruin your body, …your tongue or temper …or sexual desires…relationships, …your impulses…you’ll make rash decisions, if you can’t say no to people, you will overpromise and either be exhausted and overextended or have a life filled with disillusioned people and broken relationships.”***
They further note that “A city doesn’t have to be completely without a wall in order to be sacked. The wall just needs to be broken through at one point to let the enemy in. So a lack of self-control - even in just one area of life - is a life-threatening problem.”***
Sometimes these walls of protection can protect from major consequences in our communities: keeping out drugs, STDs, murder, favoritism, purse snatchings or bank robberies. These “walls” can lead to helping the marginalized not only with the basics needed to survive, but going beyond to enable them to prosper. These barriers would be the walls keeping out the BIG stuff.
However, we need these walls to keep out the smaller stuff as well - the inward self-focused and self-medicating thoughts that lead to selfish actions and a break in relationship with our true identity in Christ or with others who are made in God’s image (****James 3:9). There are many thoughts that I don’t always notice or catch such as coveting or envying someone for their possessions, body shape, or talents; holding onto anger and resentment; slandering, insulting, …and that menacing marauder, pride. These, too, lead to the destruction of our relationship with God and our community.
Imagine the beauty, harmony and freedom we can experience without these enemies breaking in. I can view God’s principles as a stronghold instead of a prison. Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous [those acting rightly, in accordance with God’s laws] run to it and are safe.” Instead of a cruel Dictator, I need to choose to see the Truth: God is a loving Father and Friend desiring our very best, desiring us to be who we were made to be, formed in His image and likeness, and acting as His beloved and valued.
As C.S. Lewis famously reflected, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
My wise husband further expounds: “I think self-control can also be a positive impulse to DO what we OUGHT. Rejecting laziness or fear or indecision in order to pursue some aspect of goodness or generosity is also an expression of self-control.” Leave it to him to see the positive rather than the pessimistic negative like me!
My prayer: May I more easily recognize these beneficial principles and desire to please God and to be enamored with and grateful for the walled Kingdom He has provided for me.
References Cited:
*Galatians 5:22-25 NIV “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
**2 Timothy 1:7 NIV “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
***Keller, Timothy, and Kathy Keller. God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in Proverbs. Viking, 2017.
****James 3:9 NIV “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.”
Photo by Nathan Steinmeyer, https://images.app.goo.gl/TZCjVr8qPfJPNbtG9
