"Whoever is naive, let him turn in here," And to him who lacks understanding she says, Proverbs 9:16
We continue to look at the call of foolishness and how to discern it. So far we've primarily looked at the place where foolishness dwells - the company that she keeps, and the way that she is sitting on the spiritual sidelines calling out to those who desire to live godly lives - being a dangerous distraction to them. Today, we see what she says - we see the actual call of Folly to those who will make the mistake of listening to her. There are two things that foolishness says to us as she attempts to get us to turn our gaze from the path in front of us. The first is a simple call to come to where she is. "Whoever is naive, let him turn in here." We have seen this word "naive" (which is the Hebrew word "pethi") before. The thing that we need to see here is that the simple or naive is one who does not yet fully understand God's Word. They are deficient in seeing the world from God's perspective - and as a result their moral maturity is lacking. The call of foolishness to such a person would most likely involve a call to be open-minded to seeing things other than how God sees them. Foolishness does not usually say this outright - but the call nevertheless is for someone to listen to "another" view of morals and righteousness. Foolishness calls out to those who are lacking "understanding." The word here is "leb" and it means heart. The reason foolishness calls to such a one is because they lack a fundamental growth in their inner man. They are lacking a heart for God - and as a result - they lack a true devotion to the Lord and to what He teaches. This is why they are a prime target for the evil one. He knows that they have yet to fully embrace God's ways and God's Word - therefore they can be picked off easily by a call to be broad or open minded. This call for an open mind is one of the most dangerous things in the arsenal of the wicked one. It is not that God does not want us to think - but that He desires for us to first submit ourselves to His Lordship and His Word. The original sin in the garden was a rebellion that was centered in wanting to make up our own minds concerning the knowledge of good and evil. When Adam and Eve partook of that fruit - far more than just a new taste was in their mouths. God desired for them to partake of the tree of life and live according to the life that God would grant them in Him. But because they listened to the devil and believed his lie - they decided to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They wanted to decide for themselves what "living" was about - and it yielded to them and their posterity - death. This lie continues to this day - and is still effective among the sons of men. God has given us His Word - which shows us the way of life. It reveals to us all that we need to know to develop morally and spiritually. We can know life and life abundantly! The problem is that we hear another call - the call of foolishness. "Come on!" Folly says to us. "Have an open mind about these things." Folly would have us think that morality - righteousness - holiness is not just what God says. We should think for ourselves - determine our own right and wrong. God even knows that in the day that we determine these things for ourselves - we will be like Him knowing good and evil! But the lie kills - it killed in the past - and it will kill today. Hold fast to God's Word - and hold fast to how God defines life. Do not listen to the call of foolishness. Remember that the man is blessed who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scoffers. The man is blessed who meditates on the Word of the Lord - day and night - so that he may do all that is according to that Word. If we want to know Who to listen to in life - we should listen to God as He speaks by His Spirit through His Word. That is the way of life - and those who partake of this fruit will know life indeed.
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Calling to those who pass by, Who are making their paths straight: Proverbs 9:15
So far we've seen that Folly as personified in this passage is someone we do not want to heed. Yet still foolishness calls to us every day. Here in this verse we find that Folly is calling to us. The word "call" here has the idea of inviting, summoning, or calling by name. One thing we need to grasp in life is that while we live in a fallen world, sin is going to be calling out to us. A couple of insights from this passage, though, will be very profitable for our consideration today. First of all we see that Folly is calling to those who are passing by. Thus, we see that if we listen to a call to foolish living it will be a distraction from us following the way that God has us going in our lives. Elsewhere in the book of Proverbs we are warned to keep our eyes directly ahead - focusing on the next step - focusing on the direction that we are going as we follow the Lord. Thus the best thing we can do is to stay focused on the way the lord is leading us and ignore distractions immediately. Let what the Lord is saying and doing presently in your life consume your vision - and be quick to ignore or put away other voices and other messages that try to pull you away from a singular pursuit of His ways and His paths. Second, we see that the call of Folly comes as we are "making our paths straight." This speaks of someone who is actively wanting to walk in God's ways - in holiness and righteousness. This is when we can almost expect distractions and interruptions that try to call our attention away from a life dedicated to holy and godly living. It should be no real shock to us to remember that our lives are littered with signs, with noise, with everything that is trying to get our attention. Probably no other time in history had as many distractions as ours. This is why it is so important to learn to disregard the vast majority of them - and to disregard them altogether if they are interrupting your devotion to the Lord. The desire of Folly is to first get our attention. Then as we hear what she has to say we find not just our eyes, but our minds becoming distracted from God's Word and ways. If our attetion is successfully maintained, then our reasoning will be challenged - which can lead to sin if we continue focusing upon ahd listening to the wrong things. A wise man learns to maintain his focus and to push distractions and disturbances out of his mind. In doing this, he does much to protect himself from the pitfalls and traps set by the world, the flesh, and the devil. She sits at the doorway of her house, On a seat by the high places of the city, Proverbs 9:14
Where do we find foolishness calling to us - offering us an invitation to partake of her harmful food? We read here that she is sitting at the doorway of her house. If we remember the counsel of Psalm 1, this is not a good thing. Psalm 1 counsels us, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of the sinners, not set in the seat of scoffers." This woman, folly, is among the scorners - those who scoff at the things of God and prefer a self-directed life rather than a life directed by the Spirit and the Word. We get an idea that Folly is a lazy woman from this as well. The wise woman of Proverbs 31 is not often sitting at the doorway of her own home calling out to others - but rather is working hard for her family. Those who call to us from sedentary lifestyles are probably calling us to a life that lacks diligence and hard work. This will not end well for us if we listen. Since this passage is directed to sons by their father, we would do well to consider our own society in this. One thing that I believe is robbing us of hours of our lives is our penchant for entertainment and games. Consider the hours daily devoted to television, movies, online gaming, and gaming on consoles like Xbox and other video outlets. I've seen young men waste not just hours, but days wanting to master games. I've known of young men who have wasted the better part of their teenage and young adult years laboring to be the best and have the highest score on these games. And since they produce new ones as well as update old ones - a young man can waste 10-15 years of his life doing little more than exercising his thumbs as his mind is numbed to the real world around him. Indeed foolishness calls to us from the lazy position of staying in the doorway of her home. The second place we see Folly is on a seat by the high places of the city. This is an interesting location because it corresponds to places of false worship. God warned about worshipping in the "high places" because they thought due to the height of the place they were closer to God. The problem with the "high place" worship, is that it was usually not guided by the Old Testament Law. They would worship various deities there - and often would mix the worship of Jehovah with these false deities. Often the high place would involve a grove of trees for privacy - but these would also be used for the purpose of hiding the immorality and ungodly sexual practices that would happen there. Therefore God commanded the people to stay away from such places - and worship Him at the temple He established or the Tabernacle when the temple was not yet built. This would ensure that God's priests would be there to guide their worship so that it would be scriptural. The "high places" of this present evil age are where Folly calls to us. These places do not honor God's Word or a proper worship of Him. They are filled with false teaching and errant theology. Folly sits there and calls to us to turn from the Word and from a lifestyle of worshipping God aright. Instead we are called to embrace a far more supposedly tolerant religious and moral life. God is presented as mean and oppressive in such places. We will find later in this passage that the counsel Folly gives is dangerous because it calls us to abandon God's ways and embrace worldly ones. When we look at Folly's call we see that where this call is issued should give us pause to listen. Bad company will corrupt good morals - and often the place where such counsel is given should serve as a severe warning to us to turn away from it before it is uttered. A wise man notices where ungodly counsel congregates and tends to avoid such places - unless he or she is going to witness to them there. As the fools sit in places of laziness and ungodly doctrine offering their advice there - we should prefer to be in places where we know godly men and women meet - and where the Word of God is honored and God is worshipped in Spirit and truth! The woman of folly is boisterous, She is naive and knows nothing. Proverbs 9:13
For the next several days we will look at the call of the foolish. Solomon, inspired by God, gives us a fascinating look as he personifies the way that fools are called to the stupidity of following after their own lusts and the ways of this present evil time. He does this by making the call of the foolish into a person. Let's take a look at this portrait of the fool's call and seek to learn from it so that we will not be caught by her siren sounds and find our faith shipwreck on the rocks of flesh and the worldliness that it embraces. We see that our nemisis here is described as "the woman of folly." This term is less than flattering because the word folly here is the Hebrew word "kesiylut" which means foolishness or stupidity. Thus we have here a stupid, foolish woman who is going to call to us. The word kesiylut coes fro the adjective kesiyl which means "a fool." Kesiyl is a very descriptive word in that is speaks of soeont who is unable to deal with life in a successful or practical way. It is used in Proverbs 1:22,32 to describe soeone who lacks any spiritual understanding. The fool here hates knowledge - loves waywardness (in regard to God's commandments) and is utterly complacent when it comes to spiritual things and any sense of accountability to God. Ecclesiastes 2:14 speaks of one like this as being someone who walks in spiritual darkness with a haze preventing the from seeing truth or righteousness. Therefore, when we read that this woman of folly is boisterous, naive, and knows nothing, it is easy for us to agree with this assessment. Folly is boisterous. The word used here is "hamah" and it means to murmur, growl, roar, and howl. In this context we get several pictures of the one who will call us to a foolish lifestyle. They roar and howl as they live it up in their lifestyle. They see no consequences to their actions so they howl in their pleasures. I will probably sound too much like a puritan when I say this (but since I have great respect for the puritans, I would consider this a compliment) but they love their loud, rambunctious parties and revel in their wickedness. The one who loves his or her sin to the point of bathing themselves in it - is someone we should ignore. We see another picture with this word of how this one will react to righteousness and a call to a holy lifestyle. They murmur and growl at such things. We hear them complain and snarl at one who has the audacity to say that there is absolute truth - and that truth is God's Word. They hate it when the standards of God are lifted up - and even despise it more when those standards speak out against their chosen lifestyle of rebellion. We would be wise to recognize such things and keep our ears closed to the call of such people to "live it up" when the truth of their words is that they want us to "death it up" instead. Folly is naive. The word used here is "petayyut" which means to be simple or naive. It has the idea of one who really is not aware of that their actions have true implications and do impact their future. The reason for this is as was stated at the beginning of this post - they are foolish and stupid. They really don't want to be bothered with the facts of where their lifestyle is taking them. They are the proverbial ostrich with its head stuck in the sand. The problem is that as they naively pursue their ungodly, unscriptural choices, the consequences of their actions are piling up for them. They cannot escape the judgments of God - because He has set it up so that rebellion has consequences. Folly knows nothing. The statement here is about as plain as any made anywhere in Scripture. The word for know is "yada" and it is pretty much the basic word for knowledge in the Hebrew language. Folly is unable to learn, perceive, or discern. The call that is going to be issued to us - the call of the foolish - is one that is unable to discriminate between good and evil - between right and wrong. It is a deadly call because it is a spiritually ignorant call. Worse than that, it is a spiritually darkened and rebellious call. When we embrace the call of the foolish - we are embracing what is diametrically opposed to what God desires in our lives. Oh that we would learn to discern and recognize this call in all its various forms as it comes to us. This is what the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 5 verses 13-14. We read there that there are those ". . . who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. If we turn from folly's call and turn instead to wisdom's call, we will be able to grow in such discernment. That should be our worthy goal. "How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? Proverbs 1:22
If they only knew . . . this is the way that a lot of statements begin about those who reject Biblical truth and the Biblical world view. But this statement assumes that the only problem that is present is a lack of information - a lack of education. Yet today's proverb seems to present a different picture. There are those who even if educated would persist in their worldview and ignorance. Could it actually be that there is a deeper problem in the human race than a lack of education? Three descriptions are given here about how people view their world. The first is the person who is naive. According to what is written in this proverb, the naive ones actually love their naivete. They enjoy their simple-mindedness. The word used here is "pethi" which means to be naive. The picture that this paints for us though is of someone who is very open minded. In fact to them the greatest character trait that you can have is to be as open-minded as possible. The root for this word means to be wide open and spacious. It refers to someone whose mind is as wide open as can be - to everything - to every view that is out there. The only thing this person cannot tolerate is a view that is considered narrow in its focus. The naive person thinks that everyone would be able to get along - if we would all just accept each others views as equally valid. This is the case even when the views in question are diametrically opposed to each other. This is the post-modernist whose most valued idea is tolerance. They love their open-mindedness so much that they will pretty much gut the real truth of any position so that everyone can have their opinion, be right for themselves, and never a threat to each other. The writer asks, "How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?" The fact is that all views can't get along with each other. There has to eventually be a right and a wrong. There are some worldviews that are just flat out wrong. Look at Mao in China. To say that his view of communism, which was responsible for the murder of over 50 million people is ludicris! To say that Hitler's position is equally valid with that of Mother Theresa is insane. Yet the naive want everyone's view to be equally valid. They love their naivete so much that they will frontal lobotomize themselves when it comes to thinking to have every view just as valid. Europe took this view as Hitler rose to power - and each and every step along the way, Hitler took advantage of it to Blitzkrieg his way accross most of northern Europe. He wouldn't have been stopped except that at some point the naive ones realized that their open-mindedness could not fit him and his views of the world. The second group are the scoffers. These are the ones who scoff and mock at the things of God. They belittle them as subpar thinking and subpar reasoning. They don't know how to build up - just tear down. They love their own scoffing, delighting in it every step of the way. They see it as a great thing when someone denigrates Christ, the Bible, or the church in some way. But their scoffing becomes such a lifestyle that they can offer nothing positive in reply. They only become bitter, self-centered critics who have nothing to offer anyone - except a constant cry to destroy and level anything related to God. The third group are the fools. These are the spiritual dullards and dupes who don't want to be bothered by the facts. According to this passage they hate knowledge. This word speaks of knowledge, knwoing, learning, discernment, and insight. They do not want God's wisdom in their lives and will reject it when it is offered. Now here is the amazing thing about this passage. None of these three types can have their lack of wisdom repaired by education alone. Their problem is not a lack of information. It is that they don't want the information. They enjoy their simple-mindedness, their scoffing, and their foolish worldview. They need something more than just information and knowledge. They need a change in their heart as a result of a work of God's Spirit in their minds. How do I know this? Because of the very next verse in chapter 1. These three groups are encouraged to "turn to God's reproof. They will have to see their views as wrong, and be willing to turn from them to God's correction. They need the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them where they will then be able to receive the words that are spoken to them. Their problem is a heart level problem - not just an education level one. They delight in their views - and reject anything that would threaten them. Until there is a heart change - there will be no embracing of any kind of educational outreach to them. This is actually the view of classic Christianity. The problem with mankind is not just one of proper education. We can educate someone for decades and unless there is a heart change wrought by the grace of God, they will continue to reject the truth. As Romans chapter one puts it, God's wrath is revealed against the unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. They want their sin. They want their foolishness. They want their unrighteous ways. No amount of education that leaves their hearts unregenerated will do them any good whatsoever. There must be repentance and a change initiated and completed by the work of God's Holy Spirit. If that does not happen - they will simply continue to reject the truth and embrace their unrighteousness - whether it is dressed up as naivete, scoffing, or foolishness. What we see here is that only the grace of God can take a man and change him from a fool into a wise man. Oh, that we would pray that God's grace would touch the hearts of men to convert them from darkness to light - and from the foolishness of this world to the wisdom of God. Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, When he has no sense? Proverbs 17:16
Often fools pay a great deal of money to attain wisdom. They go to prestigious schools and seek to earn degrees that supposedly garner them respect in the eyes of others in the world. They will pay ridiculous amounts of money to travel near and far to talk to those who will help them know the meaning of life and the wisdom of the sages down through the years. But this proverb reveals the real problem in its second part. Though the fool were to spend a billion forturnes to attain and buy wisdom, it is not available to him. He will not grasp wisdom because he has no sense. The word used for sense here is the Hebrew word, "leb" which means heart. This is not speaking of his physical heart - even though it is the word used of the physical heart at times. The Hebrews believed that the heart referred to the inner man, the functioning of the mind and will - it is in effect the spirit or very center of the man. When a man did not have heart, as is referred to here, he was seen as being a man who was dead on the inside. He had no spiritual life - and no real heart for God or the things of God. Here is why the man first is a fool - and second, couldn't get wisdom if he had all the money in the world. He is dead spiritually - and he is unresponsive to God because of it. Since the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God - this man has a broken part that unless it is repaired (or in the spiritual sense - reborn) - he will never know wisdom. Only the man who is alive spiritually will truly know wisdom. There are many who can gather wise facts and wise sayings until they sound and even seem wise - yet, there is one glaring problem. They do not know God, and if you do not know God and honor Him, you remain a fool no matter how much information you can spout off or how many wise sayings you can repeat. No heart? No acknowledgement of God? No hunger for Him and for His Word? Then you will have no wisdom. And this is true no matter how much money you can lay out wanting it. Like a dog that returns to its vomit Is a fool who repeats his folly. Proverbs 26:11
Today's proverb ranks as one of the most vivid, if not gross, proverbs that are in the book. But, it also ranks as one of the most important in that its vivid, gross picture sticks with us reminding us to turn from sin, rather than turn back to it. I will try my best not to revel in the grotesqueness of today's proverb. That being said, we have to grasp what is said here. I've had a number of dogs - and one of the things that truly grosses me out is the fact that every one of them would vomit - and return and lick up the mess they just regurgitated. It is something that is very graphic to me - and something I can promise you I do not intend ever to mimic. Just the thought of doing what a dog does turns my stomach - and honestly - makes me want to vomit. But isn't that the purpose of the writer - and God. He is placing before us something so disgusting that we all unanimously chime in that we would never want to do something so sick. Then the Lord blows our mind with the second part of the proverb. This dog imagery is there to compare how disgusting it is for a fool to repeat his folly. This is a proverb about our sin - and the foolishness we engage in when we sin against God. But even more, it is about when we sin, repent (hopefully) and then return to the same folly a second, third, fourth time. That picture, when we first encounter it, we don't see as disgusting. We have terms we would rather use for such a situation. Let me mention a few for our instruction. I slipped up. Here is a common one. It doesn't really confront the sin and the foolishness at all. In too many ways it down plays the seriousness of sin. This was not a "slip-up" - it was a choice to sin and rebel against God's commandments. No one ever "slips" into sin - they walk into it - or at least are deceived into thinking it is not as heinous as it is. I'm struggling with a problem - or with sin. Here is another common cop-out on sin. If we were struggling, shouldn't we be fighting against the sin, having yet to do it? I know that when I say that I'm "struggling with some things," what I honestly should be saying is, "I'm sinning against God - and I'm struggling with surrender and submission to His will." My struggle - as I put it - is with whether I WANT to obey God - or whether I WANT to do what my flesh says instead. A more forthright way of phrasing this would be to say, "I'm struggling with whether I want to submit to Jesus as Lord of my life. I would rather be Lord and do what I want right now." I'm having a hard time right now. This one mistakes a hard time due to circumstances that are beyond my control - with circumstances that are absolutely under my control - because whether I choose to sin or not IS something I can do in Christ. This one is in my arsenal of stupid excuses because it often elicits a merciful response from others. I would much rather have that merciful response rather than face the truth. The truth is my sins are what have caused my circumstances 99% of the time - at least the ones with which I am having a hard time. Scripture tells me the way of the transgressor is HARD! Sin leads to God's discipline - and God's discipline often leads to HARD or DIFFICULT times as He seeks to get me to stop returning to my own vomit. Please understand that I know that the things I am writing today are hard to hear. I say that because it is hard to write them. That difficulty is because I've heard them from the Lord as He seeks to get me to stop dealing with my sin with kid gloves. THIS PROVERB IS MEANT TO SHOCK US! God wants us to look at the fact that we return to folly and sin as something utterly disgusting a gross. He is hoping that such a shocking picture will make us not just gross out at the dog - but hopefully we gross out at our own foolishness. The Lord is not doing this to be mean to us. He does it out of love and a desire to deliver us from sin. Sometimes that means putting an example before us that shakes things up in our thinking - and hopefully in our hearts. Grossed out at the picture of a dog returning to eat his own vomit? Then use that shock value to also address any return to sin and foolishness in your life. And . . . may that picture force its way into your mind's eye every time you are about to make a decision that will return you to any former sin of your past. Do this - and this proverb will have accomplished what God intended for it to do. He did not intend for it to be a joke as much of our "potty" humor today is. He meant it to be a picture and a spiritual knee-jerk reaction to keep us from sin. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. Proverbs 17:15
God is a God of justice - and with Him matters of justice take the forefront. That is why God refers to someone who completely skews the matters of justice and righteousness as a person who is an abomination to Him. Today's proverb tells us that a person who justifies the wicked and condemns the righteous are an abomination to the Lord. This should be something that causes those in the legal industry to fear God and tremble concerning their decisions of right and wrong within the justice system. Which brings me to a few comments about biblical justice. Several times in the Scriptures the history recorded for us involved the selection of judges. Each time this took place, God made several things very clear. First, He declared that matters of justice always involved His Word, which is the ultimate law-book when it comes to what justice is - and what it is not. This is something we should all heed. Our legal systems are to be nothing more than legal systems which do their best to mete out justice in the sight of God. We are not left to ourselves in determining what is legal and what is not. There is plenty in God's Word to describe any lawless person or delinquent. It is not necessary to consult with the legal opinions of men (even though we may be required to do so by their laws) if God has commented on the issue. He is the ultimate dispenser of justice (and will be at the end of the age). Therefore, if God has commented on the matter - His judgment is supreme. Second, that decisions of justice are to be free from favoritism. This refers to favoritism on the basis of someone being a family member of friend, but it also refers to more sinister favoritism such as a situation where a bribe has been offered to twist justice. God forbids the acceptance of a bribe to pervert justice - and warns that He will require it of the judge if it is done. This is why our proverb says that justifying the wicked and condemning the righteous are an abomination in His sight. Third, is a reminder that all human judges are to be those who dispense God's justice, not their own. They are never to be a law unto themselves - or take matters of justice into their own hands. For those who experience perverted justice, God warns not to take vengeance into their own hands. The promise of God is that He will take vengeance on those who disregard His laws and ways. There is a Psalm that should terrify judges as they ascend to the bench. I wish it was written on their desks for them to see daily. "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" (Psalm 2:10-12, NASB) This Psalm reminds every one of us that even the judges and kings of earth are to worship and bow in reverence to God's King, Jesus Christ. All that they do - every judgment that they make - is made in His sight and under His ultimate jurisdiction. Therefore every decision that they make should be made under His lordship - and for His justice to be established on the earth. The wise man knows that justice has already been decreed - and that all he need do is follow the direction and leadership of the Scriptures on all matters concerning what is just and right. But before we leave this particular Proverb - we should mention one situation in which some consider that God Himself stepped over the line. Some think that God condemned the righteous and justified the wicked when Jesus died on the cross - and when sinful men were granted salvation. But contrary to that thought - God did everything according to His perfect righteousness and justice. Jesus did not die for His own sin - but when He chose to become sin God's justice had to be fulfilled - even on Jesus. When by faith we are credited with Christ's righteousness at salvation, God responds with His perfect justice in welcoming us and granting us His blessing and favor. He is both just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus. Rather than being an unjust situation - the cross is actually the ultimate moment of justice in the universe. For when Christ became sin - God had to respond with wrath and punishment upon His only Son - or else He would have been unjust. It is not only wisdom for us to grasp God's perfect justice and righteousness - it is glory itself! Knowing this, though, should make us tremble at His justice and be all the more committed to calling wicked what He calls wicked, and calling righteous what He calls righteous. Any other choice is an abomination to Him. There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12 Why is it that we cannot just trust our natural instincts concerning God and issues of morality and truth? If this proverb is true (and it is), then we face a very real danger when we trust what we think is right in our lives. When we live a self-directed life and a life that is self-oriented - we are going to have very serious problems. Why is this the case? First of all, we need to see that for a time in this life - this proverb may seem like it is wrong. There are those who do what they think is right - and it seems to go well for them. I would agree with this assessment for the here and now - for life on this earth. But that is not what this proverb is saying to us. It is saying that the end of a self-directed life is death. The word end here is our old friend, "acharith," the Hebrew word meaning the latter end of things. Things seemed to be going marvelous for the rich farmer who did not use his riches for the glory of God. Things seemed to be going well for the rich man who lavished abundance on himself, but did not even notice the starving Lazarus at his gate. Things seemed to be going well for Belshazzar the king as he feasted with his nobles and friends and drank wine out of the temple goblets and toasted the gods of silver and gold. Things seemed to be going well for many people who lived a life of luxury and self-indulgence here on earth. The problem is going to come at the latter end of their lives. The rich farmer, after building bigger barns and saying he was set for life - experienced the end of his life - and had done nothing to prepare for eternity. The rich man realized as James said, the humiliation of his exalted position on earth, as he envied the destitute Lazarus' one in the afterlife. He begged for Lazarus to only dip the tip of his finger in water and touch the end of his tongue - for he was in agony in the fires of hell. Belshazzar soon grasped the infinite foolishness of serving the false gods of silver and gold - when the true and living God sent a hand to write on his wall. He learned that his self-directed life had been weighed in the balances - and he was found wanting. One can only hope he enjoyed that banquet that evening - for by the next evening he was dead and in hell - forever wanting in the sight of God. These three are examples for us of the stupidity of the self-directed life. There are many others in Scripture and in life who follow their footsteps into hell. There is Dathan and Abiram who opposed God and received a non-stop trip to hell via the ground opening up and swallowing them and their families whole. There were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah who undoubtedly held the same concept of God keeping His morality off of their bodies. They wound up fried along with their cities as God's judgment revealed their latter end. And, lest we think that this ignoble end is only for those guilty of heinous sin - there are those who die every day as good ole boys - as "good" "moral" people. Their ultimate end was sealed when they decided that they were decent enough and did not need Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross to pay for their sins. When you listen to the news, the entertainment industry, the religious elite, and the gurus of public opinion - you would think that the cross of Christ is foolishness (Gee that sounds like Paul in 1 Corinthians doesn't it). You would think that mankind does not need a religious crutch to lean on - mankind can solve their own problems without religion or some savior. But reality is this - mankind does not need a crutch. We would only need a crutch if we were injured. The fact is that we are dead! We need a whole new life. We might need a religious system if we only needed modification. The fact is that we are ruined. We need to be completely regenerated and made new. But the world for the most part rejects these truths revealed to us in Scripture. They have a way that seems right to them - that makes more sense. That is because "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." It is because, "the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks (read thinkers here) search for wisdom; but we preach Christ curcified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." There is that way that seems to right to men - but in the end "THAT WAY" is actually the foolish and the stupid one. If they continue following it and reject the gospel . . . it will end in death - eternal death in hell. I know that is not popular in today's culture - either religious or secular - but nevertheless - it is the truth. If we are wise we will reject what the world calls wisdom - and embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ - for that is truly wisdom that will last through all the ages and until the end of time. He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, But he who pursues worthless things lacks sense. Proverbs 12:11
I find it interesting that one of the phrases that I hear often is, "Don't work too hard." There are some out there who do struggle with the problem of working all the time - but over the past 49 years of my life, I think my problem is not working too hard. My problem is that I get distracted and lazy - and don't attend to the things that really matter in my life - and in my work. The proverb today uses an agricultural setting to help us understand the value and the blessing of working hard. "He who tills his land will have plenty of bread." If a man works hard at plowing the ground and planting a crop - he will have plenty of grain to harvest and make into bread. God intended for us to work in life. We need to remember that work is not a part of the curse. God had Adam till and work in the garden before the fall. What the fall did was make it to where we would have to work harder. The ground, which formerly grew wonderfully without weeds, was now going to yield the crops we need by the sweat of our brow. It is going to require not just tilling and planting - but also weeding. This was an activity that was unnecessary prior to the fall. This being said, there is a promise here that if we work hard tilling and planting the land - we will have a harvest sufficient to provide plenty of bread for our family. There is something that is good about work. The more I am idle - the more my mind and my heart have time to think of things that will get me into trouble. The saying that an idle mind is the devil's workshop is for the most part true. That is why God wants us to work - and I truly believe He wants us to work hard. The second half of this proverb warns us that the one who pursues worthless things lacks sense. What this is warning against is the wandering mind, and the earthly lifestyle. This man is pursuing worthless things. Worthless is the word "reya" which means something that is empty, worthless, or vain. It indicates something that has nothing in it - it is utterly empty. The unwise man is pursuing emptiness. He is chasing after things that do not matter - and will not matter in eternity. This man, according to Solomon, lacks sense. He is as void in his thinking as he is in his pursuit of these empty pursuits. What he wants and chases after is not worth having. He will open what to him is his treasure chest one day and find that it is filled with things that are void of any value whatsoever. As Solomon says in Ecclesiastes - he has chased after vanity and wind. Here is where we need to consider Ecclesiastes to give us the proper perspective on things. Solomon was arguably one of the richest men to ever live on this planet. Yet at the end of his life, when he wrote Ecclesiastes, he said that all the riches and wealth and opulence was empty, meaningless - a chasing after the wind. He looked at all the money and things he had and came to the conclusion that they were all vain. He looked at all the women he had sexual relations with and concluded that his pursuit of pleasure was all vain. He looked at all the authority and position he had enjoyed - and came to the realization that it too was vain. It is not that these things were evil in and of themselves (unless Scripture forbade his actions). It was that when he pursued these things he was pursuing emptiness - trying to catch wind in his hands. There is also the ones in today's society (and every society) that pursue vain things in the entertainments and amusements of our day. We have millions of children and adults who pursue the high score or the next level on their video games like it was the most important thing in life. We not only have people overindulged in sports - but now have fantasy sports leagues where we follow the ones actually playing in a make believe world of a fantasy league. Some lose themselves in virtual worlds on the computer - others now lose themselves in virtual computer pursuits on their iTouch or smart phone. Regardless of how we are doing it - we are wasting our lives in pursuit of worthless things. On the day when we are ultimately judged for the "tilling and planting of our very lives" we may unfortunately find that these pursuits were the height of foolishness. We may come to grasp that we have lacked the bread of life and as a result have suffered from spiritual famine most of our lives. May God gives us wisdom to learn now that what matters is working hard for the things that matter. What will matter is how we have redeemed the time in providing for our families - loving our spouses and our children - and working in the eternal fields of God's kingdom. If we do, we will have plenty of bread - even the bread that lasts forever. If we do not, we will have the terrifying specter of learning that we have spent our lives chasing after wind. |
Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend. Thank you!
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