Skip to main content

How Folly Keeps Us From The Bible - Proverbs 18:2

By

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. 
Proverbs 18:2

One of my favorite Proverbs, although it really shouldn't be. This part of God's word confronts my communication patterns like no other, particularly my listening.

Lets face it, culturally speaking, social media is making it easier to speak and harder to hear. Take me for example, this blog even. I am doing all the talking, expressing myself again...oh the hypocrisy of it all.

Since you are here, let me share an insight (I said insight, not opinion). There is a big difference there, I will have to explain that at a different time. For now, on with the insight.

The biblical notion of "fool" is someone who removes themselves from God. One who claims autonomy from God and lives as if he doesn't exist. One who rejects God as creator and the rightful parent of all mankind. The fool is the one who is "wise in their own eyes." The Bible is not referring to a fool as someone who lets their seven year old drive their car or someone who swims in a bikini made of duct tape (especially if you are a guy). Rather, a fool is someone who is indeed wise, but the source of their wisdom has nothing to do with the creator and sustainer of the universe, in fact, it rules him out of the equation. 

For the record, there are people who are not Christians who are very good listeners. They truly are more interested in what others have to say. Likewise, there are Christians who are act like idiots. They replace the "one anothers" of the NT with "one-up anothers."  You know they guy, they stand around the campfire and they are easy to spot, just look for the guy who caught the biggest fish and has the best technique and found the most cost-effective way... "you think that's something, let me tell you about..." 

Enough on that. If I kept going I would eventually realize I am that fool, and I don't want to add any more hypocrisy to my plate.

Let me get right to the point: this Proverb says something about why, if you are a Christian, you struggle with reading your Bible (and yes, I am assuming that if you are a Christian, you do struggle from time to time with Bible reading). Here is my thought:

Christian's don't really avoid Bible reading because they are too busy or they don't have enough time. One of the real reasons is because, truth be told, it isn't relevant to them and doesn't prove to be time well spent. In other words, "I have a million things going on and I have a lot of questions and decisions to make and quite frankly, learning about some guy whose name ends in "IAH" just isn't cutting it for me." Like the sputtering offense of the GB Packers, it just isn't getting it done.

When and where this is truly the case, Proverbs 18:2 applies: A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. If we look at Bible reading as our conversation with God we are essentially saying: "God, I know what I need, let me tell you...and quite frankly, I don't have time for your wisdom at the moment, it is irrelevant to me. Perhaps another time." 

Like a fool, I determine what I need. Like a fool, I tell God he isn't providing it. Like a fool, I refuse to listen to what he wants to say. Like a fool, I take no pleasure in understanding, only in expressing my own opinion, to God.

I want to leave you with hope. Jesus died on the cross for fools like me. He holds his hands out to fools like me and says come and eat and drink, take food at no cost, learn from me and I will give you rest for your souls (Isaiah 55 and Matthew 11:28). No matter how much I mess up and no matter how much I refuse to listen, he never gives up on me and never stops drawing me to himself. I am his child, after all.

This is the beauty of the gospel, that God does not treat us according to what our folly deserves but in grace because of the cross of Christ. He has everything I need, I will see that, if I simply stopped making my case and learned to listen. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Secret of all Failure is our Failure in Secret Prayer

By
“We may be assured of this—the secret of all failure is our failure in secret prayer” (12). So writes the anonymous author of the classic little book on prayer entitled, The Kneeling Christian (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids: 1971). He means that the reason we so often fall into sin or live in discouragement or fail to bear fruit is because we do not cling to God in Christ above all things. We do not diligently seek him or lean on him or plead with him or draw on his strength. We give ourselves to busyness over communion with God and in this way we seek to accomplish in our flesh what can only be accomplished in the power of the Spirit.  Giving first place to what our dear author calls “secret prayer” is indeed a key to the Spirit-filled life but let’s be clear: prayer is not magic, rather, it’s a relationship. It’s not as if we simply have to file requests with God, being careful to use just the right words so that we can get him to respond as we wish. God is not a vending m
Post a Comment
Read more

Deacons - How They Serve and Strengthen the Church (Part 1)

By
  One of the next important priorities for GCF is to establish deacons in the life of the church. On March 14, 2021 we were able to establish an elder team. Currently, we have a team of four elders overseeing the congregation of GCF.  However, there is more work to be done. I have come to see that establishing an elder team was the bare minimum that needed to happen for GCF to survive. I believe GCF now needs to turn our attention to raising up a team of qualified and willing deacons to serve the congregation so that it will not only survive but thrive.   I would like to begin a series of blogs on deacons to help us understand who they are and what they do in the life of the church.  In this blog let me provide three reasons why I think deacons should be near our top priority.  Number 1: It is Biblical. Paul instructs Timothy to install elders who will help him pastor the church. For whatever reason, it seems the churches in our circles treat the installment of elders as non-negotiable
Post a Comment
Read more

Does the Doctrine Divide? by Patience Griswold

By Anonymous
“Oh, I try not to talk about doctrine. It’s so divisive.” This is a sentiment that I’ve heard expressed, as well as implied, on many occasions, and one that raises the question, does doctrine divide? In answering this question, we must keep in mind a very important truth and that is that everyone holds to some sort of doctrine . “Doctrine” is defined as “a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group.” Regardless of whether or not someone publicly holds to a statement of beliefs from a particular church, every Christian, by definition, holds to a particular set of beliefs. As Carl Trueman observes in his book The Creedal Imperative ,       [W]hile Christianity cannot be reduced to doctrine, to mere teaching, it cannot be meaningfully separated from it, either. Even the most basic claims, such as “Jesus is Lord,” carry clear doctrinal content that needs to be explicated in a world where, as we have noted before, every heretic has his text and n
Post a Comment
Read more