Life Above Reproach

By Correll Hicks Jr.

“When you’re feeling down and out read Proverbs,” that was the lyric from a song the Lord used to lead me to Him. It’s a line from a rap song I liked, and listened to more times than I can count. However, in all those previous times, it didn’t lead me to God; the problem was I didn’t feel “down and out.”  I felt I had everything under control, even though my life was out of control. In the chaos of drug use and sales, going to jail, being broke, and pregnancies, I had a solution that seemed wise in my own eyes.It wasn’t until I was in the county jail again, only this time staring down a life sentence that I had come to the end of myself. In other words I truly felt “down and out.” I had no more answers, and knew that I no longer trusted my own judgement. Are you there?

So those words I heard so many times before “when you’re feeling down and out read Proverbs” took on a whole new meaning. They were not merely a cleaver line in a song, but a sign giving me direction. Yes direction, because in that moment, I was utterly lost and I knew it. The weight of my guilt was too heavy, as I saw no hope in living.

In the midst of all the agonizing thoughts that I had spinning in my head, that line popped into the forefront of my mind. There happened to be a Bible in my cell, so I picked it up and read the book of Proverbs. I was astonished by its simplicity, depth, and accuracy. Proverbs warns you what not to do (which I did in my past), and tells you what will happen if you do those things (which happed to me, barring death). God opened my eyes to the truth of His word because the wisdom of Proverbs far exceeded any game or knowledge I received from a street life,and from my own understanding. I knew this was from God and I found solid ground to stand on. I also found a new thirst to know Jesus.After reading Proverbs, I was instructed to read the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, which I did (three times). Soon after I was saying the sinner’s prayer with a minister/fellow inmate in a holding cell during a trip to court.

Since then, I have been walking with the Lord. Every single time I trusted His instruction I profited greatly, beyond dollars and cents. I am still bound up in prison, but I am free. I am poor, yet I am made rich by the Grace of God. So I say to you,

“If you are feeling down and out, read Proverbs!”