So in my first blog post, I mentioned a challenge in the title but didn’t give a challenge! So I hope you’ll bear with me as a noobie blogger, but hey–humility is key. Honestly, when I allow myself to be a noob at something, it frees me to have a stronger flexibility. I’m not fragile with pride, and I’m able to strengthen myself with grace. I encourage you to sign up to a gym membership, or start a hobby that engages a synthesis of several disciplines like rock climbing, weightlifting, martial arts, skydiving, or something like that.
I went to the rock-climbing gym and attempted a weighted pull-up and the guy next to me was a bit sassy when I asked him for advice, “you need to lower the weight, and lower the ego.” I took a deep breath and thanked him for his advice, but I couldn’t help but to feel a slight sting of rebuke.
Now why is it that when someone is close to us in stature, people tend to get more upset? We both weigh 135, I am shorter than he is by a few inches, but we are built fairly similarly. I am bulkier, but only because he wanted to go for a slim build for rock climbing.
There’s a story that either Augustine told or it’s from an anonymous monk, but it fits nicely here. The story tells of junior demons attempting to give a Faustian deal to a monk in the desert, and Satan walked by. Watching for a little while, Satan said, “you’re over shooting your target. I would tell him that his friend–who entered the monastery the same time he did–was just promoted!” So the underlings skipped and hopped with glee to whisper in the monk’s ears the lie. Soon the monk’s countenance fell, and immediately gave way to every sort of discouragement.
So this guy, it seems, couldn’t stand the fact that someone like him would lift comparably. Now I can respect anyone who has been climbing for years and has dedicated his craft to a single hobby. But your boy here was a little frustrated, and a little upset. Then I took a deep breath and realized my mistake.
One thing David De Las Morenas on Youtube mentions is to take a deep breath and simply question the person giving a hard time, turning the burden of proof on the other person. I should have taken a deep breath and turned it around on him, and said something like, “so you think I should lower my ego, that’s interesting, tell me why that is seeing I’ve come to you for advice?” Truth is, he was intimidated by a guy that was his size and yet stronger and bulkier.
I think he was used to being the only one at 135 pushing around a lot of weight. To his credit, he could lift a lot for what he weighed. I understand though. The guy he was lifting with was raving how strong he was, something that I’m used to when people workout with me.
I’m 5’2 weighing in at 135, and can bench press 100 lbs over my weight.
My squat game is around 405 3×5
Leg press, over 1200lbs. Join me in this blog and I will update my stats periodically.
I would love to know your stats too!
I thank God every day for health and fitness, and it’s something I’ve worked at, but last night I left humbled and thankful for the lesson.
As we continued our workouts, I realized that I was doing his main event. I almost never do weighted pull-ups, until now. I want to work on it because I’ve discovered a weak spot in myself which I’m thankful for. I realized he was simply projecting his insecurity onto me, to put me down so he can feel better about himself, his climbing, and his lifting.
Reader, if someone puts you down, take a deep breath. Keep taking deep breaths in the moment until your breathing is where it should be. Doing that makes you look a lot tougher, and you maintain control and confidence in the situation.
Proverbs 1 says that “the Fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Had I been angry with that dude, or lost my temper, I would have been a fool. This man was giving me advice on a few lifts because I asked him to give me advice. He was good at deadlift, so I asked him how to strengthen my grip. He was good a few routes up the climbing wall, so I asked him how he did his method (also known as a “beta” or technique, which I recently learned). What else does Proverbs 1:7 have to say?
There’s a lot here and I want to slowly unpack each chapter of Proverbs as I blog. When I reach the end (Chapter 31), I’ll start over and cover different details in each chapter. Proverbs is so rich that I could unpack each chapter every day for the rest of my life, and never reach the end because Scripture is infinite in lessons! Okay, for starters, why was Proverbs written?
The reason why Proverbs was written (roughly 3 millennia ago) was because God (Yahweh) raised up Solomon to be the chief king of the nations. All the nations were coming to him to see his grandeur, wisdom, and array of various skills. He was truly a spectacle to see! The chief medium of communication was parchment and ink. So scrolls containing his wisdom was akin today to our Youtube channels, or blogs on the internet–except he had the entire world subscribing to his channel! He wrote a trilogy. Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon form the trilogy, in that order!
Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and the Song of Solomon form the Trilogy!
Now Ecclesiastes was the first book of his to be written, intended as an introduction to Proverbs, so let me say something about Ecclesiastes. The first half of Ecclesiastes is to point out that keeping yourself first, striving after lust, or greed or power, will ultimately result in ruin. It’s fleeting in nature, the success of the world, and at the end, pleasure and success is a vapor. The reason Solomon began with that point is because the world that came to him didn’t know who Yahweh was.
They didn’t know that God wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and the rest. They didn’t know about Israel’s God. All they knew was that Yahweh, the God of Israel gave the nation a sage king that had more wealth, more women, and better laws, and more power than anyone that had been before him, or after him. He beat everyone in his game! He truly was an aficionado at everything! Kings would compete who could write the best law, have the best harem, the grandest and greatest treasures–and Solomon won by a long mile!
The second half of Ecclesiastes is written to a newly converted group of people that want to have a covenant with God. The 3,000 year-old way of saying walk with God was “The Fear of God.” The second half is all about walking with God with eyes wide open. He addresses several hard truths that believers, young and old, must grapple with. Another time, I’ll go in depth about Ecclesiastes, my favorite book, but for now, let’s look at the ending.
He ends with saying, ” Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care… The End of the matter–All has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
One could object and say that since “the End of the matter has been heard” and “the Preacher has arranged many Proverbs with great care”, that is reason enough to say that Ecclesiastes is the last book that Solomon wrote. I aim to tackle this in my forthcoming posts, but for now, the structure of the text of Ecclesiastes suggests otherwise. Also, why point out that he wrote Proverbs and arranged them with great care if the reader has already gone through Proverbs? We would have known this already.
Instead, Ecclesiastes ends the matter/book with the grand conclusion that Proverbs then picks up. Ecclesiastes perfectly hands off the baton to Proverbs, and Proverbs ends with Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, introducing king Solomon to the starlet in the Song of Solomon. She is like Ruth, a worthy but poor woman with noble character and rescued by a wealthy man.
See he’s preparing the reader for Proverbs, having arranged the proverbs with great care. As his book comes to a close, he ends it with the Fear of God and keeping his commandments. Proverbs intentionally begins with the Fear of God and his commandments! Now that the bedrock of Ecclesiastes has been laid, he now can build on a reading plan that is meant to be a monthly-cycle.
My challenge to you
My challenge to you, a salubrious challenge, is to read a chapter of Proverbs a day. If today is the 15th, then read Proverbs 15. If today is the 28th and you forgot to read a few chapters, it’s okay! Just start on whatever day it is. It’s meant to be read daily throughout the month. I’ve been in Proverbs for over 12 years and I find new treasures and old every day! Join me in reading Proverbs, and let’s mine and mind the book together for all it’s worth! Since today is the 16th, verse 8 (pride comes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before the fall) readily applies to the being at the rock climbing gym. Since pride comes before the fall, I should humble myself.
What are some ways you need to humble yourself, or what are ways that you staying humble? What are some challenges that you’re taking on? Leave your answers in the comments below, I would love to hear about them! I’m going to take on weighted-pull-ups and see if I can get up to 150 lbs in 6 months. Stay tuned to hear updates!
Let me know if this blog inspired you to take action, and leave a note in the comments! I post every Sunday and Wednesday night! I would love to hear from you and, as always–let’s get it!