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Apr 29, 2020 08:00am

What Proverbs Says About the Foolish and the Wise

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Normally when I am praying through a book of the Bible I fall in love with it and say it is my favorite. I have not been able to say that about Proverbs. It has been a hard book to be in and to develop prayers to pray.

I first had to come face to face with the fact that there are fools in my life who are making foolish choices that are driven by wickedness. I don’t like admitting that fools exist in my life. I also have to admit that I often act foolishly as well. I desire for me and everyone in my life to love God and seek wisdom.

It is so sobering to think of the consequences we experience when our leaders, on any level, make unwise decisions. It is heartbreaking to watch the culture that our children are growing up in be so immersed in wickedness and have a hatred for God and his followers. The culture tells us to follow our feelings and whatever feels good to us is right and that is our path to follow.

That is not what Proverbs teaches.

Proverbs teaches that if we live wisely as the Word instructs, then we will be blessed. If we live unwisely, not by the Word, then we will experience destruction and death. While we may not experience either blessings or physical destruction right away, ultimately the righteous are blessed with eternal life and the wicked suffer an eternal hell.

As I pondered the fools in my life, I asked myself if it is because of my own acts of foolishness that some have chosen a foolish path. With all of this tension in me, I so wanted to wrap up Proverbs and put a nice bow on it. After all 31 prayers were developed, I needed some main takeaways to provide both challenge and comfort.

Here are those four takeaways from my time in Proverbs:

* There are and have always been foolish people who choose to walk a foolish path even after being presented the wise path.

* There are fools who have not had exposure to godly wisdom and do not know that there is a different path to take.

* There are the wise who make foolish choices and fail to practice consistent repentance.

* There are the wise who predominantly walk the path of wisdom because they are intentional in following God, the one from whom they receive strength.

These takeaways should prompt us to be responsible for the following action points:

Choose for ourselves the path of wisdom.

Intentionally grow in knowledge of the Word.

Intentionally grow in a love relationship with our perfectly wise Father.

Allow God’s wisdom and love to flow out of our lives to others.

Enjoy the process.

Repent when we reject the process.

Expect an adventure that is so much better than any wicked path.

Pray for fools to have ears that hear, eyes that see, and softened hearts to the saving gospel.

And finally . . . we are to believe that God will bring the foolish to himself in his timing and in his way.