A need to remove the Noise

Proverbs 1:20-33

The following thirteen verses are a call to wisdom, and it seems wisdom calls out to us in many places, the streets, the marketplace, and entrance of the city gates.  Wisdom even raises her voice, why?  To be heard above the noise, yes noise is a more significant problem than most of us understand.  Most of us like the noise, when we get into our cars, we turn on the radio, when we workout we have a headphone in our ears and at home the T.V. or some kind of noise, for we fear the silence.  In the sixteen hundreds, a very wise man had this to say on the subject; “I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room.” (Blaise Pascal)

In verse 22 we are addressed as simple ones, does that bother you, do you argue with wisdom?  Yes, we tell her we know simple people, but it does not apply to us.  Let’s share these quotes; “There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”  

“Truly it is an evil to be full of faults, but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion.”  “The greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be wretched. A tree does not know itself to be wretched.” (Blaise Pascal)

I hope both you and I stop and give thought to being quiet, for in the Scripture we are commanded to do such, in Psalms 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  We also have the example of Jesus who often got up early before all the others and went to a quiet place to talk with the Father. 

Now give thought to verse 23, “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.”  Has God not made it clear that the ball is now in play and in our hands, what will you do with Jesus?  “In faith, there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.”  “Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair.” (Blaise Pascal)

Now the bad news is found in the following verses, beginning with verse 24. “Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand, and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.  Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.  For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice