Pro Verbs, 1:20-33

Today’s paragraph, from the NET Bible:

Wisdom calls out in the street,
she shouts loudly in the plazas;
at the head of the noisy streets she calls,
in the entrances of the gates in the city she utters her words:
“How long will you simpletons love naiveté?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
If only you will respond to my rebuke,
then I will pour out my thoughts to you
and I will make my words known to you.
However, because I called but you refused to listen,
because I stretched out my hand but no one paid attention,
because you neglected all my advice,
and did not comply with my rebuke,
so I myself will laugh when disaster strikes you,
I will mock when what you dread comes,
when what you dread comes like a whirlwind,
and disaster strikes you like a devastating storm,
when distressing trouble comes on you.
Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;
they will diligently seek me, but they will not find me.
Because they hated moral knowledge,
and did not choose to fear the Lord,
they did not comply with my advice,
they spurned all my rebuke.
Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way,
and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel.
For the waywardness of the
simpletons will kill them,
and the careless ease of fools will destroy them.
But the one who listens to me will live in security,
and will be at ease from the dread of harm.

Don’t just read on. Answer these questions for yourself:

1. What happened in the text?
2. What do I learn about God?
3. What should I do about it?

My daughter fell off her chair while eating dessert the other day. You have no idea how often I remind her about how to sit in a chair. You know, in the middle? Anyway, it just goes to show how little nagging works. But that came to mind when I read this passage.

1. What happened in the text?
   Wisdom attempts to get the attention and interest of people, and mostly fails.
2. What do I learn about God?
   He’s willing to let people choose their own path, but He continues to offer them a route away from the destruction to which they’re heading.
3. What should I do about it?
   Where am I neglecting God’s wisdom? Sometimes I find I’ve built up resistance to one particular idea for so long, I don’t even realize I’m defying God. I think one of those areas is where I’m called to make peace, and instead I’ve avoided attempting to end a conflict. There’s a particular couple who pulled the plug on relationship with me, and I think I should have attempted to talk through our underlying problem. Unfortunately, I look at how they misconstrue my motives and behavior, always in the worst possible way, and have shrugged my shoulders, figuring it’s a lost cause. It may well be a lost cause, but I don’t think the right thing to do is not to try.

Other thoughts:

• This bit is very sad:

Because they hated moral knowledge,
and did not choose to fear the Lord,
they did not comply with my advice,
they spurned all my rebuke.
Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way,
and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel.

The morality I would choose on my own is not good enough. I still see it in how vindictive I can be. But so many people are certain that their own morality is all they’re responsible to, and that’s a scary idea to me. Left to our own moral compasses, humans do appalling things, and it’s hard not to believe that all this resistance to some sort of common, absolute moral code won’t result in some horrifying fruit.