- Proverbs 14:8b (NIV)...but the folly of fools is deception
- Psalm 1:1 (NIV) Blessed (happy) is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers...
- Eccl. 10:1 (NIV) As dead flies give a perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
- I Cor. 3:20 (NIV) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the "wise" in their craftiness."
- James 3:1 (NIV) Such [see the verse above] "wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil.
Does this verse in Proverbs 17 seem like a hyperbole? A bit melodramatic? A stretch? A person spouting, living, thinking folly is more deadly than a 500 pound Syrian Brown Bear, with bared teeth, menacing growl, towering height and long claws, diving down and running at us?
Hard to imagine that, but we are asked to. We would desperately try never to tempt a bear to attack. We would avoid cute little bear cubs if we found them hiking. No provocation here. Avoidance at all costs.
And that's the picture the writer gives us here. The deadly, angry mother bear vs. a person wise in their own eyes and having no need for God is the better of the two choices. After all (we think) we can debate the fool but are not strong enough to withstand the bear! Unless we had a weapon. Unless we knew how to use it so as not to enrage the bear and spawn further attacks. Ah , the comfort of false thinking!
The more I read the more it becomes apparent that we are under greater threat from the "wisdom of this world" than from the physical attack of a known fearsome animal. Why is that? Perhaps, because the folly of fools fills us with false hope. Or because it is seductive: it appeals to our self-centered natures. It makes us feel good and feeling good is paramount today. We don't want to feel badly about anyone or anything. Perhaps it is because the world's words, having wormed their way into our willing hearts and minds, seem somehow filled with wisdom. And, after all, if "everybody" is thinking "that" way, it takes courage to provide a different perspective.
Winston Churchill offered a thought about courage: "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Profound. We have become a timid lot, we followers of the Way. We are willing to listen when we should stand up to speak; and we stand up to speak only when the audience is "safe." Who we look to for counsel (walk in the counsel) who we hang around with (stand in the way of) and where we sit to learn (sit in the seat of) affects our spiritual happiness. It takes courage to change your associations. We are to be in the world, not of it. And this verse in Proverbs strikes me as a reminder of how easy it is to be "of it."
Who are you afraid of most? The bear or the fool?
Copyright (c) 2006 by P. Griffith Lindell
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