Proverbs 26: Foolishness
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Drinking violence, tying a stone in a sling, cutting off our own feet: these are all actions we can easily see as foolish.
Seizing a dog by the ears is the same as meddling in an argument not our own. Gossip descends to our inmost parts. These are sayings we have heard and believe.
Fervent lips with an evil heart are a freezing glaze on earthenware. This is an image that might escape us.
We fall into our own pits. The rocks we hurl come hurling back at us. These are consequences we might not anticipate . . . yet they are results that we might foresee as students of the Word.
In Numbers, Balaam curses his donkey for making a fool of him (Numbers 22). Samson bemoans the fact that Delilah makes him a fool (Judges 16). Saul admits he acted foolishly (1 Samuel 26). These are all stories we have heard.
The Psalmist writes that a fool says there is no God (Psalms 14 and 53). The wisdom books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes have too many sayings on fools to enumerate here. We can recite the clever sayings from heart.
Isaiah (32:6), Jeremiah (17:11), and Hosea (9:7) describe foolish ways as ones which lead us away from God. They warn us away from falling to our own pride.
In Matthew (5:22) and Luke (12:20) Jesus tells us that we are fools when we forget that God may call on us at any moment for an accounting. We repeat his words to others.
Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3 and 2 Corinthians 11:1) that he will become foolish in the eyes of the world in order to become wise in God’s. We find it difficult to live a life of inversion.
Scripture gives us able tools to see foolishness in ourselves and in others; yet we continue to ignore the lessons open to us each day. When we persist in our own foolish behavior we fool no one but ourselves.
Just this morning a friend and I were discussing how we humans can be so imprudent so consistently. We fuss over the sawdust in another’s eyes while refusing to remove the plank from our own. (Matthew 7:3 and Luke 6:41) Only God has the solution to this predicament . . . it is foolish to turn away from this saving force.
And so we might pray . . . Dear Lord, keep us from the world’s foolishness . . . imbue us with your wisdom . . . guide us in your ways . . . for these are the ways which heal and restore. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
A re-post from February 2, 2012.
Image from: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/Gowing/Gowing.html
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