"Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention"
It is an amazing thing that God can stretch out His hand to people and they can ignore it; they can pretend that they don't need His help. God is calling through the voice of wisdom, and yet we have such a natural affinity to selfishness that we don't want to hear the sound reason of the triple-win. All we hear screaming at us is “go for the maximum to win for yourself." "What do you want?"
What we should do in any given situation that is available to us, we often just don't want to pay attention. I am amazed at the number of times I have asked people, "What do you think you ought to do in the situation you are facing if you were to really do what you think God might want?" and they come with the right idea. But that is not what they will do because it doesn't feel right to them; or because it is too hard; or because it takes too long; or because they have a few people telling them that they deserve to get what they want. So they ignore wisdom for some reason and happily go down the fool’s path of selfishness.
When you are at those choice points this coming week or in your life, realize that wisdom is there somewhere seeking to give you God's direction and the best possible course of action for the long run. But you have to want it. You have to pay attention.
This verse in the first proverb is the turning point to understand the warnings and consequences of foolishness. Solomon wants you to know that it is not penalty-free if you ignore wisdom. It is not that you don't get the benefits of wisdom, you get the calamity and difficulty and penalties of foolishness. God, through wisdom, is saying “I was there trying to guide you but you didn't want any of my wisdom; you only wanted your self-focused wisdom.” And so for that reason all kinds of problems and difficulties will come to you. The fool’s road is not just less beneficial than the wise road; it is full of land mines, sharp cliffs, and whirlwinds.
When you look back at the replay of your life, the Lord Jesus will be pointing out those choices that you made that swung your life and aimed it down the drain. Will Jesus point to the decisions that you make this week as good decisions or bad decisions? The choice is yours. Wisdom is stretching out its hand.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz