Fools Despise Wisdom and Instruction

Proverbs 1 (select verses)

7”The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

    fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

10 “My son, if sinners entice you,

    do not consent.”

15 “My son, do not walk in the way with them;

    hold back your foot from their paths,

16 for their feet run to evil,

    and they make haste to shed blood.”

This is a warning from God to all of us to be careful and to exercise much wisdom and discernment with regard to who we believe, and who we follow, and who we put our trust in. Biblically speaking God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit – should be the only one in whom we place our unequivocal faith and trust and loyalty and devotion. No human on this earth and no people group or government should have our absolute trust and loyalty, for all are flesh, and all are capable of betrayal and of being a traitor.

And sin can be very deceptive, i.e. we can be led into sin thinking we are doing something good, when in reality we end up supporting those who are pure evil, who have evil intent, and who make haste literally to shed innocent blood. We are not to walk in the way with them. We are not to be for physical war and for the murdering of innocents. But this goes beyond just shedding blood, but this covers a vast array of sins in which, if we listen to certain people, we may end up giving our support to those evils.

So, if we are being asked to support or to rally behind anyone or any cause or any government or anyone who we might think is in the right, we have to be so careful because we could end up supporting and rallying behind those who are pure evil and who are in the wrong and who use deception as a means to gain support and followers. And this can cover areas such as government, the church, marriage, the gospel, etc. where we might be led to support the wrong side thinking we are supporting the right side.

20 “Wisdom cries aloud in the street,

    in the markets she raises her voice;

21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;

    at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

22 ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?

How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing

    and fools hate knowledge?

23 If you turn at my reproof,

behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;

    I will make my words known to you.’”

To be simple can mean to be naïve. But it can be being willfully simple, i.e. the opposite of wise and discerning, i.e. overly trusting, not exercising wisdom and discernment, but just going with what feels good at the moment. It can also include those who have been brainwashed by the government and by the media to believe lies and to follow after the lies thinking they are following the truth. But the idea here is of people who are loving being unwise and not discerning and going with what feels good.

Many people will avoid learning the truth about certain situations and will avoid learning what the Scriptures teach about a lot of things, because they assume that if they remain ignorant that somehow that excuses away their wrong choices. It does not! God has put within all of us the sense of right and wrong, and he has revealed himself to us via his created works, so that we are all without excuse if we end up going the wrong direction and not the right direction. For we are all to seek the Lord for wisdom, too.

24 “Because I have called and you refused to listen,

    have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,

25 because you have ignored all my counsel

    and would have none of my reproof,

26 I also will laugh at your calamity;

    I will mock when terror strikes you,

27 when terror strikes you like a storm

    and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

    when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;

    they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

29 Because they hated knowledge

    and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

30 would have none of my counsel

    and despised all my reproof,

31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,

    and have their fill of their own devices.

32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,

    and the complacency of fools destroys them;

33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure

    and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

(see also Romans 1:18-32)

But God does not excuse away willful ignorance. He does not excuse away those who put their hands over their ears and over their eyes and who refuse to hear the truth, and who refuse to see the truth. For many are shown the truth but then ignore it and/or resist it because they want to hold on to their chosen lifestyles and beliefs and practices. And so many of them end up walking right into the traps of the enemy because they refuse the instructions of the Lord in the usage of wisdom and discernment.

So many people are following after the lies and not the truth, whether the lies are about what is really going on in the world, or with our governments, or with other nations, or if the lies are related to the teachings of the gospel or in connection with the truth about who the church really is and what it isn’t. Or this can be about people in marriage relationships where they are cheating on their spouses and lying about it and convincing themselves that they somehow deserve to do the evil that they are doing.

But no matter what the situation may be, it is a serious problem if we are not willing to listen to the Lord and if we hold stubbornly on to what we want to hold on to without even inquiring of the Lord as to how he sees these situations and/or doctrines and/or marriage relationships and/or the marriage relationship between Christ and his church. Unwillingness to yield to God in any area of our lives is a recipe for disaster and may bring down the judgment of God on us and/or on the church and/or on our nation.

And the message here is that some type of judgment and disaster is awaiting those who have refused the Lord and his counsel and who have gone their own way, instead. But if this is leading to a national disaster because of the overall unwillingness of the people who profess the name of Jesus to bow to him as Lord, this could impact everyone – the righteous and the unrighteous. And if you are at all observant as to what is going on in the USA and with our government, it looks like disaster is where we are headed.

And this is the direct result of God’s people not listening to his counsel and his wisdom written down for us in the fulness of the Scriptures because they are listening to the voices of other humans, instead. And so marriages are breaking up, and sexual immorality is running rampant, and the church is on a massive moral and spiritual decline, and many are blindly following liars and deceivers who are shedding innocent blood in the name of God and in the name of religion, and this is all backwards from where we ought to be.

But some of these consequences will be more on an individual basis, depending on the lies they are believing and are living according to, such as in this sentence:

“Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,

    and have their fill of their own devices.”

And this reminds me much of what Paul wrote about in Romans 1 where God gave the people over to the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever (see Romans 1:18-32). And this is exactly what this is about, too, this whole thing of the worship of human beings over and above true worship of God. It will all lead to disaster!

But sometimes that is what it takes for some people to finally wake up to the reality of the situations that they are in. They have to go through some kind of disaster for them to finally wake up and change directions. For sometimes God brings judgments on individuals or on people groups or on nations who spurn his wisdom and counsel and who decide that they know better than God and that they know better than what the Scriptures clearly teach. And I can fully see that happening here in America. 

But my hope and my prayer is always that the wayward will be brought back into a right relationship with the Lord, and that many who don’t know the Lord will come into relationship with him, in truth, and in righteousness. For true faith in Jesus Christ results in us denying self, dying to sin daily, and following our Lord in obedience to his commands. For if we hold on to our lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we have the hope of eternal life with God (Luke 9:23-26).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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