One For the
Guys
A Lesson from
Proverbs 9
From
Mark Kiesling
Have you ever
had two different women trying to win your heart? Before you answer, let me tell you about
two women battling for your attention every day. Their names are Wisdom and Folly. They are as different as night and day
but very similar in their methods.
Proverbs 9
tells us how each calls out to us with the same invitation. "Let all who are
simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment. Face it guys, don’t we all lack
judgment from time to time. While both women offer the same invitation, an offer
of food and drink, their motives are as different as the women
themselves.
We’re told
how Wisdom works to build the house, works to prepare food and wine for us and
prepares a table where we may dine.
After all of the preparations, she invites us in, "Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk
in the way of understanding.”
It’s an
invitation with a promise. Dine at
her table, taste of her labors and live by walking in the way of
understanding. But wait there’s
more! She tells us how to gain true
understanding.
"The fear of
the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,” she says, “and knowledge of the Holy One
is understanding.” Then,
she offers another promise, “For through me your days will be many, and years
will be added to your life. If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you
are a mocker, you alone will suffer."
With so great
an offer and so great a promise, why would we even look in the direction of
Folly? Yet, we
do.
Folly is
described as loud, undisciplined and without knowledge. She offers the same initial invitation.
"Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack
judgment. But instead of a promise, she makes a suggestion. She gives an offer of a different kind.
"Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!"
How
many men turn from Wisdom and fall into the trap of Folly? Her offer is one that appeals to man’s
flesh. She calls to that part of man that finds delight in fruits eaten in
secret. Her invitation also includes a promise. It’s mentioned as a final
warning by the writer, “But little do they know that the dead are there, that
her guests are in the depths of the grave.”
Sometimes
things aren’t quite as “sweet’ or “delicious” as
advertised.
When
given the choice between dining with Folly or Wisdom. I hope you’ll choose the one that will
add years to your life. Years not
spent in a desperate search for worldly pleasure but years spent in the eternal
presence of the Father of Wisdom.
"The
fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,” she says, “and knowledge of the
Holy One is understanding.”