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In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech:
“How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.”
“But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.”
“Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.”
Proverbs 1:20-32
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Early on in the 1st Chapter of Proverbs, we learn the good and bad that can come from either embracing or ignoring wisdom and knowledge from the Lord. Perhaps there is no greater description of the hazards of shunning wisdom than in the concluding verses of the chapter. Look at these words again:
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech:
“How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.”
“But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.”
“Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.”
Indeed, the Lord is always crying out to us and He is doing so anywhere and anyplace we are. And although wisdom is personified in these verses, know and trust that clearly it is synonymous with the voice of the Lord, the One who is the source and creator of all wisdom (Job 12:13).
So what can one expect when they choose to disregard the Lord’s counsel and instead rely on their own understanding or the advice of another? Here is what we learn from our scripture passage:
1. We can expect to be viewed by the Lord as simple.
This isn’t referring to someone as preferring a basic way of living. No, it is rather labeling a person that snubs the Lord’s guidance as lacking in sound judgment and sensibility. Not exactly living in the favor of the Lord, is it? And yet so many opt to walk this path. This leads to point 2.
2. We can expect to be viewed by the Lord as mocking Him and hating His knowledge.
When we choose worldly direction over the Lord’s perfect assistance then we mock and disrespect Him. We show that we love the world and its ways more than we desire the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord. That obviously is unacceptable to Him and will only serve to ignite His wrath and consequence as we are about to see in the points to follow.
3. We can expect to have the Lord turn from us in times of need.
Abandon the Lord and His wise counsel, choosing to go after sources of your bidding, and you can expect that disaster and calamity will come. I can speak from experience on this. In fact, the Lord has taught me this valuable lesson:
When I try and take control of things separate from the Lord, I always manage to mess my life up royally.
The Lord has no problem allowing me to take charge of things because He wants me to discover and come to know the futility of such efforts, that apart from Him, I have no chance to succeed and have any good happen. I have felt what it’s like to turn toward the Lord, calling out for His help after having ignored Him for so long only to find silence and emptiness. It wasn’t that the Lord was absent but He needed me to learn that I needed Him fully to make it in life and sometimes you can’t fully appreciate something until you don’t have it.
I can definitely say I learned and developed a healthy respect and reliance on the Lord’s direction and His direction alone in my life. For it has been the only direction that has never failed me.
4. We can expect to wallow in the failures of our misguided judgment.
The scriptures say we will eat the fruit of our ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. In other words, bad things happen. Our peaceful, joy-filled lives are slayed because of our lack of prudence. Our complacency and cavalier attitude toward the Lord’s wisdom only takes us down the path of ruin and hardship.
Friends, I pray we are all paying close attention to God’s word today and the stern warning it brings. For none of us will ever turn from the support of the Lord in our lives and not experience His discipline and consequences.
The Lord is always calling out to us in wisdom. We need to be ever listening and receiving it.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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