I was late for something. (Note to new readers: This is unusual for me.)
Getting ready for church this morning, I got carried away in front of the mirror. You know how it is, ladies. 
So I drive to church, rush in, wind-blown and out of breath, and I had to sit in the balcony with the other “late people.” What would my mother think?
For some reason I was more focused on the study than usual. Something about it resonated. The pastor spoke about Proverbs 1:20-33, titled “The Call to Wisdom” in my Bible (MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV). Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, King Solomon, son of the great King David, wrote:
Wisdom calls aloud outside;
She raises her voice in the open squares.
She cries out in the chief concourses,
At the openings of the gates in the city
She speaks her words:
“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.
Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
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,
When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the LORD…
The pastor focused on verses 26-28, which I’ve highlighted in the blockquote. Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? Our good and glorious Creator laughs at us and mocks us? How can this be? The god of secular humanism isn’t mean; he’s nice and flexible and tolerant. In his kingdom, we can do whatever we want (as long as it’s between two consenting adults, of course).
But not in God’s kingdom. In the chapter, wisdom is personified, calling out to us in the street, but we turn away. We prefer our own will and our own standards of morality. God warns that we will suffer the repercussions of our rejection and rebellion. He will laugh at us as we suffer the consequences of our sin. He will mock us as we fear our own destruction coming to us “like a whirlwind.”
This is the God no one likes to talk about. They prefer a pacifist Jesus multiplying bread and fish over a vengeful God pouring out his wrath (which we deserve), but God is all of these things and much more.
Jesus revealed the consequences of our rejection of him as the Messiah. “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin,” he told the unbelieving Pharisees. “Where I go you cannot come.” (John 8:21)
Christ is also speaking to you. Will you heed the call to wisdom and follow him, or will you die in your sins? As a just God, he must punish lawbreakers. But he is also merciful. He sent another to suffer for our crimes. I don’t know why he did that for me, but I’m eternally grateful.
Will you accept God’s mercy before it’s too late?
{ 11 comments }
La Shawn,
Thank you so much for the reminder that not only do we serve a merciful and loving Lord, but we serve a righteous and just Lord as well. The wonderful thing about our Lord is that once we have accepted his call, we can rest in Zephaniah 3:17:
“The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
This is the only reason I keep coming back LaShawn. It is because you are not ashamed of your Christianity, and despite our ideological differences, that is what I love about you!
I’m touched, HiRez. Thanks. We agree on the most important thing in the world: the need of a Savior to reconcile us to God.
This is so true, and it’s what a lot of people forget. When the media was all focused on The Passion of the Christ, a lot of them were complaining that the movie didn’t show the “nice” Jesus, the “Let the little children come to Me” Jesus. That side of Jesus is most important *after* we’ve accepted Him. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It’s the part you have to face first.
The liberals want to make Jesus into a “good teacher” who “helped people.” While he obviously did that and more, lots of people are “good teachers” who “help people.” What makes Jesus special over all the others? Because He is God. Ann Coulter pointed out that fact in one of her columns.
Amen, amen and amen! La Shawn I am so thankful I found your blog (just yesterday) and I just bless you ! Loved your entry today.
My pastor discussed the importance of living a Christian life with view of the end in mind. We need to be heavenbound and remember God forgives us…even though we tend to beat ourselves up right! You’re beautiful!
Thanks, for the comments, everyone!
Thanks, Stacy. God is good all the time, and we need to keep telling the world about him, even when they mock us. Jesus Christ promised to return, and some days I want it to be soon. I plead, “Come Lord Jesus!”
Not in front of people, but you know what I mean!
Interesting how many times the word “terror” appears in this passage. The same day I heard of the suicide-attacks on 9-11, I thought of such uncomfortable readings as Isaiah 10(”O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger…”), Isaiah 63(”…He became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.”), and I Kings 11(”And the LORD stirred up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite…”). Hard stuff, not popular, but IT’S IN THERE, and we can’t cut it out.
Thanks for this post, LaShawn, and may God give us more preachers of righteousness like your pastor.
I agree. My favorite bible for daily readings is “My Utmost Devotional Bible,” NKJV. Every day you read first a paragraph from Oswald Chambers that is tied to a scripture reading, then a bit from the Old Testament, a bit from Psalms, a bit from Proverbs, then a bit from the New Testament. At first I didn’t like it (I usually read and study whole chapters of the bible at a time), but it has grown on me. Reading them together helps me see the continuity of the bible as a whole, and to see the Mercy in the Old Testament and the Justice and Judgment in the New Testament. I’ve read through it twice, and I keep coming back to it for daily readings. (Unfortunately, I haven’t finished on time yet. It generally takes me a year and 3 or 4 months to finish.)
P.S. I’m the same Elizabeth B, we’ve moved to Alabama a few months ago and I’ve just now put up my new e-mail–somehow our computer was still sucking down mail from our Ohio server. We move again in 10 months, but we broke down and got e-mail that will move with us, so we should have this one for a while.
(Ecclesiastes 10:2), “The heart of the wise man is
on his right, and the heart of the fool is on his left.”
(Psalms 111:10) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.
(Psalms 128:1) Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways.
(Psalms 145:14-20) The LORD upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. {15} The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. {16} You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. {17} The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. {18} The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. {19} He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. {20} The LORD preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
(Psalms 147:11) The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy.
(Proverbs 1:7) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(Proverbs 8:13) The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.
So many more good ones… all demonstrating that secularism and leftism are bereft of both goodness and wisdom.
And unless you can hate evil, you simply cannot have complete faith.
Pacifism is NOT a religious value derivable from the Bible. Pacifism infects contemporary “religious” thought like a malignant virus.
I’m a big fan of the fact that this passage personifies wisdom as a woman
How wise.
Perhaps, the laugh is more like God’s expression of disgust and disappointment due to His people’s disobedience: “Hah, why would you do such a thing when I told you not to, knowing what the outcome would be?”
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