Have you ever attempted to help someone by giving them a warning when they are about to do something they will regret? Did that person heed your advice, or did they ignore your warning only to find themselves in deep trouble? We all have times, I think, when we make irrational decisions that inevitably will cause us problems. Sometimes it can even be when we ignore warnings from the Holy Spirit. Solomon tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7 ESV)
When we look at this verse, the first thing that pops out is the statement, “The fear of the Lord.” This is not the kind of fear where we are terrified or afraid of God, but it is a reverential awe and respect for Him and His teaching. The Enduring Word website states, “This fear of the Lord is not a cowering, begging fear. It is the proper reverence that the creature owes to the Creator and that the redeemed owes to the Redeemer. It is the proper respect and honoring of God.” As we respectfully come to Him when we encounter situations where we need wisdom, He will instruct us so that we can succeed. We must remember that the first thing we need to do is to go to God and ask for His help and His wisdom regarding what is happening. He is our best source of wisdom.
Notice that our verse also states that those who ignore wisdom and instruction are fools. It reminds me of the old commercial, where a daughter has a bad headache and she is trying to do something, and her mother is trying to help her, and the daughter snaps at her mother, “Mother, I can do it myself!” We can be that way with God when He wants to instruct us with wisdom. We can be so full of ourselves, thinking we know it all when we know very little, and God comes and says, “Maybe try this,” and we tell Him, “I can do it myself.” How foolish for us to ignore His guidance. We can get ourselves into a great deal of trouble by not listening to His wisdom, and then when everything falls apart, we find ourselves coming to Him, embarrassed that we didn’t listen, asking for forgiveness, and now open to His instruction.
In his commentary on Proverbs, J. Vernon McGee says that the foolish don’t learn anything from the wisdom given to them. They try to do things on their own, maybe they do the same thing over and over, only to find that the results never come out in their favor. The adage, “The description of insanity is doing something over and over again but expecting a different result” seems to fit in this situation. We can be so stubborn and want our will, not listening to sound advice or instruction, ignoring wisdom that is offered, that we don’t learn from our mistakes.
The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom from God. He can give us instructions for every situation we may face. Many verses in Proverbs are nuggets of wisdom we can take with us so that we can live in a way that will give God glory, help us in tough times, and show us how to solve issues we may face. Our job is to take the wisdom God gives us, apply it to our lives, and learn from each situation. Wisdom is going to God for the solution to our problems and heeding His instruction.
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