Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

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;
but whoever listens to me will live in safety
    and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

• Proverbs 1:20-33

“By whom God calls to us—by wisdom. It is wisdom that crieth without. The word is plural—wisdoms, for, as there is infinite wisdom in God, so there is the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. 3:10. God speaks to the children of men by all the kinds of wisdom, and, as in every will, so in every word, of God there is a counsel.”

• Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

In this section of Proverbs, we are still in what Rev. MacArthur noted as the parental advice to accept and seek wisdom.  Here, wisdom speaks.  Interestingly, wisdom speaks in a female voice.  With God being characterized as our Heavenly Father, having a female voice does not make God non-binary.  God, the Father, is a Spirit.  He does not have a body like man.  In a subtle way, Solomon is telling us that wisdom, the thoughts, ideas, and moral intuition of humans is beyond anything related to gender.  The man or the woman can be equally wise, but do we heed the words of God?

Wisdom shouts a rebuke, and the very next statement is to repent.  Wisdom makes three analogies.  The simple love simple ways.  The mockers love mockery.  And the fool hates knowledge.

Remember that the biblical definition of fool is one who hates God, thus all things of this world that point toward God represent knowledge.  The Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.  Thus, in that argument alone, we have the two sides.  The “biblical fools” think we, the “biblically wise”, are idiots, troglodytes, and knuckle-draggers.  Maybe “and”, but I am not sure if you can be all three at the same time.  Oops.  There I go again, proving them “right.”  But those of us who are biblically wise, who have the life-giving spirit of Christ within us, know that we have wisdom, and we pray that these who angrily shout epithets in our general direction will one day, as wisdom says, quit loving simple ways, quit loving mockery, and embrace the truth that is all around us.

And the mockery seems to be what the foolish thinkers are fond of.  The agnostics that simply go through life not caring one way or the other like things simple.  But when cornered, I have seen a simple agnostic lash out with mockery.  Sometimes wisdom’s challenges are mutually exclusive, but other times they are all evident within a person.

And what does wisdom say?  Someday, when you least expect it, calamity will strike.  Your house of cards will come crashing down.  You will turn to God, wisdom, but there will be no answer.  The fool has made this mess, for the fool ignored, even hated the wisdom that God naturally provides.

In the synoptic gospels, Jesus uses the phrase two or three times “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”  Those who close off their minds to the truth of God are deaf to the words of wisdom.  But those who seek God will find Him.

But what will destroy the biblical fools?  Waywardness among the simple and complacency among the fools.

May we all seek God and His wisdom.

And now let us sing.

The following song is sung by Sanctuary Singers, First Baptist Church of Pacific Beach, a community of San Diego, CA, There’s a Quiet Understanding. The second verse is repeated. This song has been sung by the Billy Graham choirs during crusades.

“There’s a quiet understanding
when we’re gathered in the Spirit,
It’s a promise that he gives us,
When we gather in his name.
There’s a love we feel in Jesus,
There’s a manna that he feeds us,
It’s a promise that he gives us
When we gather in his name.

And we know when we’re together,
sharing love and understanding,
That our brothers and our sisters
feel the oneness that he brings.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Jesus,
for the way you love and feed us,
For the many ways you lead us,
Thank you, thank you, Lord.

• Tedd Smith, There’s a Quiet Understanding

Closing Prayer

Dear Lord,
We need Your wisdom.  Open our eyes that we might see Your glory and thus know You are vastly more powerful than our wildest imagination.  Open our ears that we might hear the music of nature.  So we can hear the music You placed in this world to show that You love beauty, and the song of the crow and the donkey to show You are whimsical.  Open our minds that we can realize that all this did not happen by chance and that we have but one purpose in life, to glorify and enjoy You.
In thy Name we pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.