“Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate: “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise.” Proverbs 1:20-23 NLT
Solomon & others nail this truth all through the book of proverbs. Wisdom is way louder than we think.
It’s just that we are DEAF to it or have highly selective hearing. God is not quiet about being known and telling us how to live the life we were intended to live – our best life is to follow the pattern, the path God designed for us.
Wisdom personified, shouts in the streets and cries out in the places where societal decisions are made… in public. Wisdom does not hide, nor make backroom, secretive deals to benefit those who have God-given authority and power to lead us. Wisdom does not do double-speak, it does not serve word-salads. It’s prevalent not private. It’s forthright not fake. It’s determined not dodgy. Wisdom has nothing to hide, but openly declares its availability to all; even the (“pthiy,” naive) simple, the (“luts,” scoffer, turning truth into rebellion) mocker, and the (“kesil,” morally disrespectful) fool.
Wisdom asks the soul-splitting question, “why do we hate knowledge?” I would ask, “why do we deafen our ears to drown out wisdom’s cry?”
When God says He is always right, true and just, we want to challenge it. Or worse, we want to disprove it with our own foolishness. We say, “I know better,” “I can do better,” than God himself. Even though wisdom is loud and clear, we want to challenge it by being defiantly louder. Come on, you see it in yourself, just like I see it in me! Solomon lived his life as a warning; he had it all, lost it all and became the dumbest man on the planet – consumed by idolatry and unfaithfulness. Wisdom (God) plain-speaks, “I will share my heart with you and make you wise…” IF we’ll listen and obey.
Prayer
Dad,
I seriously lacked wisdom as a young man. I was happily content playing the fool! When you changed my life, you also challenged me to discipline and wisdom. Learning it was hard, but it yielded so many benefits. Most of it was learned from this book of Proverbs. Reading and memorizing it as a young man, I knew it was working in me. I pray that wisdom continues to be loud in my life and that I don’t tone it down to lean on my own ways and understanding.