Are You Simple, or What?
Scripture Reading — Proverbs 1:20-33
How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?”
Imagine getting an email, text, or tweet saying, “How long are you going to stay a simpleton? Signed: Your friend Wisdom.” No doubt, you’d wonder which of your friends would send such a message.
Here the proverb writer uses a literary device called personification, which ascribes personal qualities to a thing or concept. Personified, Lady Wisdom shouts, “How long are you going to act foolishly as someone without understanding, refusing to learn what you need to know?” Any one of us may have heard similar words from a friend or parent: “When are you going to wise up?”
All who want to follow Christ must never suggest that believing in God’s love shown in Jesus calls for being simple. The Creator of this amazingly complex world is the God we must fear, leading to the knowledge of how to live in his world. Recall that Proverbs begins with this truth: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).
Each one of us must answer Lady Wisdom’s question for ourselves. It’s our responsibility to answer with the kind of lifestyle and choices that show we seek the wisdom to walk obediently in God’s ways. The choices are ours to make—wisely.
Creator, God of wisdom, help us to see that our world needs us to know you as the source of life and of the knowledge about how to live in your world—all to your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
About the author — George Vink
Pastor George Vink has served as a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church for more than 30 years in British Columbia, Montana, Michigan, and California. He and his wife, Shirley, have four married sons and nine grandchildren.
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