Recently, I happened on a web site that featured a large button that said “Download this … Perfectly Safe!” It then started to automatically download something. But my browser was smart enough to stop it and ask me if I really wanted to allow that download to continue. Of course I said “no.”
But what if I had been feeling adventurous that day, and decided to allow the download just to see what it was. And suppose the result had been a virus that wiped out my hard drive, or malicious code that stole my identity. Would you feel sorry for me? I don’t think so! There was plenty of information available to me to warn against doing anything so stupid. If I decided to ignore that available wisdom and do it anyway, nobody would weep for me when I reaped the inevitable results of my stupidity.
I bring up that scenario because it highlights the way I read the following passage:
Proverbs 1:22-23 How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And fools hate knowledge. 23 Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.
What those verses say to me is … if I ignore the wisdom God makes available to me in life, neither He nor anybody else is going to feel sorry for me when I pay the price for my foolishness and rebellion!
God has made His wisdom for handling the issues of life available through His word. If I choose to neglect, reject, or simply overlook that divine wisdom, I needn’t expect sympathy from God.
That’s not to say that God doesn’t give grace when we mess up. He certainly has rescued me many times from my own foolishness. But it is to say God has no problem letting “scorners” reap the consequences of their refusal to heed His wisdom.
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.
Father God is not the kind of parent who pats a deliberately rebellious child on the head and coos “poor baby” when disaster results from our rejection of His wisdom. He will chasten us.
And He won’t feel sorry about it.
Ron Franklin
