Proverbs 17:1
Better is a dry morsel, and quietness …
Than a house with plenty...but full of strife.
This proverb is making another comparison of qualities. Here we see a comparison of a simple, but peaceful existence, versus the prosperous, but sometimes problematic struggle it takes in obtaining it.
Some folks work their whole lives…just so that they can at some time in the future retire to a quiet farm in the country. While others just skip that long process…and just choose from the very beginning to be farmers! Certainly not all of us have the aptitude to be farmers. And what an false conception we too often have of what life is like living on a farm. It is not some peaceful paradise. It is a lot of hard work, very early mornings, and struggles with both nature and the market.
So… what is the quiet life? Is it one with no goals, responsibilities, struggles, or strife? I truly believe that a quiet and more simple way of life is one that we all eventually hope to obtain, but for the mean time, maybe we just can’t see it as practical. And ironically enough it not practical. The fact is that in order for our lives to have true meaning, we all need to have some mountain to conquer, some goal to fulfill. After all, life is a reward of both our struggles and our victories.
The quiet life is too often erroneously viewed as a place at the end of the road, but not the beginning or middle. Therefore, we strive towards a place of final success, so that we might obtain that better life…a simpler life. Yet, in doing so we too often forfeit the joy and peace that can be found in the middle of our journey!
Therefore, I believe that this proverb is speaking of deeper things than just an eventual physical state of being. He is talking about a condition of the heart and spirit of man. In other words, he is saying that there is a “better way” to live. Even with just a dry morsel of bread to eat, we can be at peace within our heart.
Let me be clear. Having money, fancy things, fame, or even a cute little house in the country with a rocking chair on the porch, will not ever give us peace. Peace is only found in knowing that God is in control of our lives… when there is a storm, and when there is a clear sky… when there is a tribulation, and when there is triumph… when there is confusion, and when there is clarity… when the world is for us, and when it turns against us! Peace is, knowing that we have surrendered our lives to Christ. The simple and peaceful life is plain and simple. It is a life lived with God’s presence in our lives day by day…no matter what is going on in our lives at that particular time..
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: but not like the world gives. Therefore, don’t ever let your heart become overwhelmed, neither let it become afraid.” John 14:27