Wisdom shouts in the street;
in the public square she raises her voice.
Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
“How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
mockers hold their mocking dear,
and fools hate knowledge?
You should respond when I correct you.
Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
I’ll reveal my words to you.
I invited you, but you rejected me;
I stretched out my hand to you,
but you paid no attention.
You ignored all my advice,
and you didn’t want me to correct you.
So I’ll laugh at your disaster;
I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you,
when terror hits you like a hurricane,
and your disaster comes in like a tornado,
when distress and oppression overcome you.
Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;
they will seek me, but won’t find me
because they hated knowledge
and didn’t choose the fear of the Lord.
They didn’t want my advice;
they rejected all my corrections.
They will eat from the fruit of their way,
and they’ll be full of their own schemes.
The immature will die because they turn away;
smugness will destroy fools.
Those who obey me will dwell securely,
untroubled by the dread of harm.” (Common English Bible)
I don’t know about you, but I find that the older I get, the more I realize I don’t know.
What I’m trying to say is that, as I move along in this life, I am discovering more and more how much I need wisdom.
Wisdom is more than being smart, intelligent, or even having some common sense; it is to gain a basic foundation of sound knowledge and instruction, and then having the ability to put that knowledge into practice, applying it to the specific concrete situations we face daily.
In other words, to be wise is to make decisions, engage in actions, and speak words that are appropriate to a given circumstance.
Conversely, stupidity has less to do with one’s intelligence quotient (IQ), lack of education (degrees), or ability to speak well (erudition). To be stupid means that a person is too stubborn to accept help, take advice, or learn from their mistakes.
The Foolish Person
Instead, a stupid fool relies on their own short-sighted opinions, looks for easy ways out of trouble, and generally expects others to think and act the way they do. And that approach to life can literally get you killed. I can testify to that as a hospital chaplain who has been around a lot of death.
The telltale signs of a foolish person are:
- Refusing to change, even if it means having a better life, or even to keep living
- Ignoring the advice, correction, or rebuke of another person
- Being cynical and sarcastic most of the time
- Mocking and talking down to others
- Disliking books and reading; or just generally not wanting to learn or consider new ideas
- Freaking-out when any little thing doesn’t go their way
A person characterized by those things will face disaster, likely sooner than later. That will happen, not so much because they tend to get into trouble, but because they do not have a solid spiritual, emotional, and mental foundation of internal support to draw from. So, when disaster hits them, they fall over and crumble, like a house with its foundation built on sand.
Fools won’t find God in the mix of their hardship since they did not look to the Lord to begin with. And even in the midst of their adversity, the fool would rather blame God than seek God’s help. Indeed, stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance.
The Wise Person
The wise person, however, is careful to set aside time so that they can learn about God and God’s Word. They seek to know God’s commands in order to live honestly, ethically, responsibly, and justly.
Wisdom has taught them humility, obedience, and acceptance. When the storms of life hit the wise, they are safe and secure in a house built on the rock; the wind and waves shall not blow them over.
People who have sought wisdom can remain calm in the midst of trouble; rely on their acquired experiential knowledge in hard situations; and have faith that doing what is right and just is its own reward.
Wisdom is still calling out, just as she did all those centuries ago to the ancients. Amidst all the noise, bustle, and confusion of our contemporary society, you can hear the clarion voice of Lady Wisdom above the fray – that is, if you are bending your ear to listen…
Almighty God, the Creator and Author of my life, help me learn to read what you have written on my heart. Give me discerning eyes, a steadfast spirit, and courage of heart to look within me in order to understand how to reach outside of me. And once I have begun to read you aright, give me the generosity to help others to read you, to sound you out one letter, and one word of radical giving at a time. Amen.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 