Deadly Warnings

05.26.13

Proverbs 1.32-33 32 For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; 33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” (ESV)

Strong words hurt, but they also help. Strong words are like lancing a boil: they hurt like [bleep] but get the job done. And as complex and intelligent as we are, it is sometimes helpful to have someone say, “HEY STUPID! KNOCK IT OFF!!” We usually listen even if our little wings get clipped. Strong words in the right context help us to stop doing disastrous things…like getting killed.

I think the word ‘killed’ is a strong word. Another Bible version uses the word destroyed but killed is much better for describing the consequences of turning away and complacency. To see the warnings and ignore them is just plain stupid; and many lose their lives to stupidity.

A young man in our town was using a substance called Tannerite in an inappropriate way and blew most of one his hands off when the substance exploded. Not to be harsh, but to help I sometimes tell my son when he decides to do something unwise (like hyperventilating at school until he passes out): remember ___ __________. No offense; just a reminder of the sometimes deadly reality of ignoring the warnings.

The Bible is full of deadly warnings. We’re warned of the consequences of stupidity, and of ignoring God, and the folly of selfishness, and seeing people as objects, and withholding forgiveness, and all sorts of things…not to mention the reality of wrath; God’s wrath: irrevocable and implacable. Wise people heed the warnings and live; fools don’t. Fools die.

The narrative here in Proverbs 1 is that of Wisdom calling out to people: Hear me and heed me. Those who choose to hear and heed will reap the rewards; those who don’t will suffer the consequences.

Today, I am older and wiser (experience will do that) but I am still prone to fits of stupidity and failing to heed; heeding calls for humility, and dang, if that doesn’t just rub me the wrong way at times. But rubbed wrong or not, the rewards of humility are far greater than the consequences of arrogance….

Father, help this old fool to get it by hearing and heeding the deadly warnings. May I not be like the one who looks into Your perfect word like looking into a mirror and then walks away and forgets what he saw. Fill me with Your Spirit to be wise and humble – I need You, Amen.