Wisdom and Folly
Our SoulPerSuit group going through the book of Proverbs has been contrasting wisdom and folly.
What marks a person as a fool?
What makes a person wise?
Are fools destined to be fools forever? Is there any hope?
What does the world consider wisdom, and how does it compare to what the Lord defines as wisdom?
Is there a foolishness that masquerades as wisdom?
Is there wisdom that appears to be foolishness?
I only have an answer for the last question today.
Comparing "The Enticers" to Lady Wisdom in Chapter 1 of Proverbs, I get a sense of secret whispering and the low tones of the foolish sinners. "The Enticers" want to keep their ways under wraps, speaking out of the sides of their mouths. They're keeping it cool, looking acceptable on the surface.
Not so with Lady Wisdom! She's in the busy marketplace, at the corners of the streets, shouting her invitation to the world- "Come to me and find life! Ask me and I shall pour out my riches!"
Wisdom is willing to look like a fool in public so that she may save just one ignorant youth from destruction. Wisdom makes a ruckus. She makes a spectacle of herself. She causes a scene. Without concern for her own reputation or the opinion of her neighbors, Lady Wisdom pleads with any who will listen.
Someone else was scorned and despised. He called out to the spiritually ignorant wherever and whenever he found them. He shouted in the marketplaces. He stopped traffic. We esteemed him not. There was nothing within him that we should be drawn to him. And he did not consider equality (and social standing) with God something to be grasped. We thought he was a fool.
Jesus Christ was willing to become a fool in the eyes of the world in order that he might purchase us from the slave market of sin.
"And if that makes me crazy, they can call me crazed. I'm happy to be seemingly naive..."
What marks a person as a fool?
What makes a person wise?
Are fools destined to be fools forever? Is there any hope?
What does the world consider wisdom, and how does it compare to what the Lord defines as wisdom?
Is there a foolishness that masquerades as wisdom?
Is there wisdom that appears to be foolishness?
I only have an answer for the last question today.
Comparing "The Enticers" to Lady Wisdom in Chapter 1 of Proverbs, I get a sense of secret whispering and the low tones of the foolish sinners. "The Enticers" want to keep their ways under wraps, speaking out of the sides of their mouths. They're keeping it cool, looking acceptable on the surface.
Not so with Lady Wisdom! She's in the busy marketplace, at the corners of the streets, shouting her invitation to the world- "Come to me and find life! Ask me and I shall pour out my riches!"
Wisdom is willing to look like a fool in public so that she may save just one ignorant youth from destruction. Wisdom makes a ruckus. She makes a spectacle of herself. She causes a scene. Without concern for her own reputation or the opinion of her neighbors, Lady Wisdom pleads with any who will listen.
Someone else was scorned and despised. He called out to the spiritually ignorant wherever and whenever he found them. He shouted in the marketplaces. He stopped traffic. We esteemed him not. There was nothing within him that we should be drawn to him. And he did not consider equality (and social standing) with God something to be grasped. We thought he was a fool.
Jesus Christ was willing to become a fool in the eyes of the world in order that he might purchase us from the slave market of sin.
"And if that makes me crazy, they can call me crazed. I'm happy to be seemingly naive..."
Labels: Proverbs, SoulPerSuit, wisdom and folly
paper lantern of the day Friday, January 25, 2008
6 Comments:
Hey, I get it! That last line matches the Nichole Nordeman song you've got spinning on your sidebar. :) Me a smart girl. I can figure stuff out.
I appreciated your distinction between wisdom and folly here. It encourages me to be willing to be a fool for my convictions. Some of those convictions are stronger than others, and my willingness to be a fool increases in proportion to the strengths of those convictions. But it's a good marker for my head to keep inside of it as I go.
I came over to say that I linked to you today. Thanks for asking me about my muse so long ago (thus, the link and a new way for me to think about why I write, even when I feel Foolish).
Anyway, so glad I came and landed upon this post. I've really been thinking lately about how hard it is to be true in my writing. There are those who think me a fool for my words about God. It's nice to think I may just be standing with Wisdom in the square.
Blessings...
C:
Knowing that Someone Else was unconcerned with popularity on our account lends us bravery for our own stand in the marketplace, doesn't it?
Still, it's a supernatural thing that any of us doesn't crumble under the pressure.
And I always thought you were savvy. ;)
L:
My mind is being turned upside down through Proverbs 1. Wisdom doesn't always appear wise or polished. And what often seems like the most logical course of action is, in fact, foolishness.
Thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit and his leadings and proddings, or we'd all be hopeless wanderers.
Your muse is led and empowered by the Compassionate One. I, for one, see that as incredibly wise.
To both of you girls: I'm wishing you were here with me in this study. (Seasons and stages, I know, I know.)
As I read this today, I felt the same. Wishing I were with you in it. Sigh. But I found my own way to be with you a little. I responded with something over on Love Notes to Yahweh. Oh, and I linked here again. It's a wild, Erin-linking day.
L.
:)
I love you, Erin. Thank you for loving me. And for so often directing my eyes back to Him whom we adore.
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