Coffee and a Proverb: 365 Daily Nibbles from Old Testament Wisdom Literature

The Old Testament's wisdom literature includes Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. With a collection of 365 daily "nibbles" based on verses from these books, each accompanied by a nonbiblical quote, reflection prompt, and "takeaway" thought, Donna Huisjen invites the devotional reader to savor a daily wisdom byte (er, bite) along with a morning cup of coffee. It's true that not all of the "proverbs" she quotes in this 365-day journey are adages or axioms. Some-especially those from books other than Proverbs-are stand-alone, pithy statements, straightforward declarations of truth about divinity, faith, life, worship, morality, and virtue.

Huisjen keeps in mind throughout not only that proverbs represent generalities but that it isn't unusual for two different proverbs, juxtaposed, to suggest opposite truths. While she hasn't purposely contrasted them, she has chosen to "allow" such seeming contradictions to represent the simple and complicated God we serve. As noted by Robert Brault, "In many areas of understanding, none so much as in our understanding of God, we bump up against a simplicity so profound that we must assign complexities to it to comprehend it at all. It is mindful of how we paste decals on a sliding glass door to keep from bumping our nose against it."