Proverbs 1:24-28 (2)

Wisdom Rejects

Okay so we left off in vs 24 and the way these verses brake down in Proverbs can be a little tricky some times

Last time we went through vs 20-23 and in those verses we Heard the call of Wisdom

Wisdom was Personified by the Author and She Speaks

there were four little points that we made out of the verses… Who remembers any of them ?

1) Wisdom speaks: wisdom speaks in many different ways to us , through Gods creation and through our conscience, we all naturally because we are a creation of God, know the difference between right and wrong , good and evil

we don’t always listen to wisdom, even though wisdom speaks, she’s loud and we hear her doesn’t mean we always listen to her

we don’t always put the knowledge we have to use, we don’t properly apply the knowledge

So Wisdom Speaks !

2) Where does Wisdom Speak ?

According to proverbs Wisdom speaks everywhere

she speaks in the crowded streets,

she speaks in places of life that are confusing

she speaks in areas of our life that need work

she speaks during times that are most difficult

wisdom speaks through other People ( EXPOUND)

wisdom speaks everywhere so we have no excuse for not hearing when she calls

Its funny when you think about this because how many of you have ever heard someone give a lame excuse when they did something wrong? How many of you have given a lame excuse because you did something wrong ?

We have no excuse for excuses! In reality you know what the right thing was to do but you chose not to do it and you chose not to listen to the wisdom that was trying to speak to you.

we are all guilty of shutting out wisdom at some point in our life

Wisdom speaks, Are you listening

3) The 3rd point was, Who does wisdom speak to ?

wisdom speaks to everyone,

everyone can use a little more wisdom

we are never too smart to gain more wisdom

No one knows everything and no one ever has enough wisdom

What trips me out is when I hear people talk about the word of God like they know everything, Sometimes when you talk to people and they read a book out of the bible they develop this mentality that they never have to read it again because they know all about it, thats pretty weird because when God speaks to us through His word, he can reveal new things to us through the same passages we have already read ! We are never in a place where we know everything.

4) The fourth Point from last time was , What does wisdom Speak to you ?

Wisdom in the context of the verses is offering us an invitation to turn from our evil ways and to receive the gifts she has to offer

we through wisdom have the opportunity to come to a place of repentance and to surrender ourselves to the Lord

wisdom when we allow her to speak to us will change the heart ( Wisdom never gives bad advice )

when we surrender to her, she will make her words known to us

Wisdom, where do we hear it speaking to us ? Gods word, you want to become a wise person, read Gods word and apply the knowledge you gain to areas of life that need it and you will become wise ( the word of God has an answer for everything)

You look around church today and you see all these old “WISE Guys” they have become wise because they have allowed wisdom to speak to them through years and years of being in Gods word ! ( expound )

so those were the 4 little points from last time

Today: We are going to go through vs 24-28

Solomon is still talking to those that refuse to listen to Wisdom and her call, specifically the ones he’s talking to in verse 22, the simple ones, the scorners, and the fools

so Lets start

Proverbs 1:24 “24 Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,”

Proverbs 1:25 “25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,”

earlier we mentioned that wisdom calls out and that she calls out loud, she’s calling out from everywhere and in these two verses we see the rejection from the fools, simple minded and scorners

thats the thing about wisdom, wisdom is very persistent and tries extremely Hard to grasp our attention to try and follow her

wisdom is trying to offer us guidance and point us in the right direction

thats a scary place to be and a prideful place to be when we are rejecting Wisdom,

when we reject wisdom we are essentially saying that we are smarter, and know better than the things she is trying to help us with or guide through

I cant help but picture the amount of times my parents would try to speak wisdom into my life and i Flat out rejected it

A-lot of that is pride and my thought process was always that i knew better and that they didn’t or couldn’t understand me

but the truth is, my parents are a-lot older than me and have walked down probably many of the same roads that I was walking down, but there they were trying to speak into my life to try and help me save myself ( share a story expound)

A great example of this in the Bible is found in 1st Samuel Ch 15 when King Saul was commanded by God through the Prophet Samuel to utterly destroy all of the Amalekites, Saul chose to spare the king and the resources that were left

Saul chose to reject the wisdom of the Lord and as a result the consequence was that His reign and his families rule of the Israelites would end

It gives us a great picture of what happens when we reject wisdom

Proverbs 1:26 “26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,”

Proverbs 1:27 “27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you.”

okay so this may seem pretty Harsh , it may seem as though some of us are thinking that God mocks us when we don’t listen to the wisdom that is offered to us

thats not what this verse is saying , this is an illustration of what naturally happens when we don’t listen to the wisdom that has been given to us

there is a sense of mockery that comes along with disobedience, when we go against what we know to be right and trials happen or horrible circumstances happen, mockery is naturally something that follows

when we go through something or make a bad decision , how many of you are like Dang it i should have done it the other way, or shoot I should of Listened to my parents……

Ignoring wisdom is guaranteed consequences, when we make a bad choice its usually almost always too late to reverse that choice

you cant turn around and say ohh whoops can i Get a re do on that decision….. life doesn’t work that way

Wisdom is the right action that is based in knowledge, and calamity/ destruction comes from the wrong choice that is rooted in selfish desire

the mocking in this verse has everything to do with remembering the advice that was ignored… The famous I told you so is what we see here

Once wisdom is overlooked and pushed aside we have to deal with the consequences

Proverbs 1:28 “28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.”

so at first wisdom called and they ignored and now they are calling for wisdom and she ignores

theres this cause and effect that we can not escape as believers especially when we follow the ways of the foolish. We can expect to deal with consequences and calamity because we ignored the cries of wisdom

when we ignore wisdom, we cant expect to have sympathy

Wisdom has no Plan for us once we have rejected her

Its not like we can beg for wisdom as we are going through a trial that could have been avoided if we listened to wisdom

(Share a story where I should have listened to Wisdom when she was speaking to me. )

Share the Story of Ryan and I in Havasu Off-roading His dads truck exploding the back window out ( Ryan wouldnt listen and put it in 4wd Low Gear )

Theres this awesome quote that I came across for this Devo that Ill read to you and it says this

i. “Wisdom does not laugh at disaster, but at the triumph of what is right over what is wrong when your disaster happens.” (Waltke)