"Under three things the earth quakes, and under four, it cannot bear up"
The writer, Agur, -- writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God -- points out that there are four conditions that can take place but are like living in the midst of an earthquake. Nothing will be solid or steady because of the internal dynamics that are set in motion.
The first is when a slave becomes king. This is when a person who has never had any authority all of a sudden has authority. This person doesn’t know how to use it. There will usually be a whole spate of selfish choices and arbitrary decisions. There will be choices made that seem right in the short run but are disastrous in the long run. In order to be a wise and good king, you must be practiced in leading people and seeing what authority does in various situations
The second condition is when a fool is satisfied with food. The idea here is that fools are people who are so selfish that they consume everything they have all the time and are constantly looking to please themselves. When their needs are met, they don't know what to do and will begin to strike out in all kinds of bizarre and perverse directions to meet their wants. When people truly only think about themselves and they have not discovered that “only when I get other people what they want do I truly gain what I want,” they will invent wicked things to accomplish to try and keep up with their wants and desires. This is why the earth cannot hold up.
The third condition that will not allow any kind of normalcy or steadiness is when a woman who has not known any real love gets a husband who is pledged to give her real love. There is no ability on her part to discern what she needs versus what she wants. There is a huge hole in her life that is almost completely unfillable. Usually an unloved woman means that her father has not loved her and she is missing this key component to a stable, emotional life: the non-sexual love of a good father. This is also true of the woman whose father wounded her -- whether that wound is spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical. It takes significant time, patience, and skill to convince an unloved woman that she is loved.
The fourth condition that makes for constant instability is when a husband seeks out and has a sexual-marital relationship with a household servant. The level of betrayal and upheaval is so great as to permanently change the dynamics between everybody.
You don't want to build your house on an earthquake; you don't want to try and keep a relationship going in the midst of an earthquake. So do not knowingly walk into these situations.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz