Have you ever seen something that you wanted, but then looked at the price tag? It’s called “sticker shock.” What about this, have you ever wanted or needed someone’s help, but you are afraid to ask because you are afraid of what they will ask for in return? Sometimes, the things we want to do right now, may not seem like a big deal, but later down the road you pay a big price. For example, we all love a good hot now doughnut from Krispy Kreme. Most people can’t stop at just one. It may not be a big deal right then, but if we continue eating multiple doughnuts a day, eventually we are going to pay a price for it. This is what Solomon was warning us about in today’s text (not about the doughnuts). Proverbs 1:24-26 says, “Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes.”
Solomon uses a literary device in the book of Proverbs called personification. It is when you give human like attributes or qualities to an inanimate object. The most popular way he does this in Proverbs is by referring to wisdom as a woman. This is what he is doing in the text today. It is “wisdom” speaking about the high price people pay when they refuse to listen to her. In reality, it is God speaking here. He is telling us that He has the wisdom that we need for life, but when we refuse to ask for it or obey it, then we are going to pay a high price for it. I think we can see this all around us right now. We have ignored and many have mocked the Bible; yet the moment life gets crazy, we want to cry out to Him for help or somehow blame Him for what is going on. God is saying, you didn’t want Me before, why do you want Me now? You thought you knew what was best, so now I’m just allowing you to experience the consequences of your own choices. That might seem harsh, but it is one of the most loving things that God can do. By not bailing us out every time, we learn what true wisdom is. We start to see that as smart as we are, we don’t know everything. After trusting ourselves and seeing it not work out so well, we can see that we really should trust ourselves, and we learn that we can trust God.
Here is a very important thing for us to realize, it’s not enough to simply ask for wisdom. We need to ask for it, but then obey God’s wisdom. Jesus, in Luke 6:46 asked a question, “why do you call Me Lord, and not do the things I have commanded you?” That is an important question for us to consider. I have to be honest, there have been times where I’ve sought God’s wisdom, but then did my own thing. If I want God to bless me, then I need to not only seek Him, but I also need to obey His Word. If we don’t want to pay a high price for our faulty decisions, then we need to seek the wisdom that comes from above, and not the wisdom that comes from man. We can do this through prayer and reading the Bible. Prayer is us talking to God, and the Bible is how God talks back to us. So, do you have a decision you need wisdom about? Then spend some time on your knees in prayer, and then open the Bible, and allow God to talk back.
By His grace and for His glory,
Pastor Justin