Life is in the Listening, Destruction in the Deaf Ear

Last week we began our pursuit of wisdom in the book of Proverbs, and we saw from the start of this book just how God truly does want us to be wise! He doesn’t leave us to our own devices, He offers us this skill for living! But it all begins in fearing Him, in humbling ourselves and acknowledging that He is the Lord!

We know that Solomon is the author of this first section of the book, and in v.8 we see this lovely picture that we’ll see a number of times and is common in wisdom literature of that day, of a Father instructing his son. Encouraging him to listen to his advice and the advice of his mother! That’s the picture that we want to have in our minds throughout this book, it’s not just a collection of wise sayings, but the counsel of a loving father to his son! The counsel of a loving God to His chosen people!

This morning we’re jumping over to v.20, and here the wisdom that is offered is personified. It takes the form of a woman, Lady wisdom. And as she calls, the stakes couldn’t be hear! Life and death are on the line!

There are some voices in life we can safely choose to ignore, like the person in the shopping center trying to sell us the Sky TV package, or the person on the phone that apparently knows you’ve been in a car crash (that you didn’t even know about), and wants to get you compensation, or the person in school who always seems to have some negative comment about you! There are other voices though that to ignore could be costly, like the advise from a doctor concerning your health, like the instruction of a manager in work, or teacher in class. But there are other voices that to ignore is a matter of life and death! If you don’t listen, you don’t live!! And that’s what we see in our passage this morning!

So let’s read it together, and allow the imagery to grab us, picture it in your mind and heart v.20-33...

Wisdom’s Passion (v.20-21)

We see in these first 2 verses just how passionate lady wisdom is to reach her audience! This is not a picture of indifference, it’s not some apathetic, half-hearted effort to make her case! Wisdom cries aloud, raises her voice, cries out! She is earnest to get the attention of those around her!

Have you ever felt so passionate about something, that you’ve thrown off all restraint and cried out in earnest!

I’ve mentioned before about the time I lost Anna at Lady Dixon Park, and I ran about that place crying out at the top of my voice, ‘ANNA, ANNA!!’ I didn’t care that there were loads of people there! It was more important that if Anna could hear me she heard me! I didn’t even consider what others thought of me!

Do you remember Jesus in …There are some things so important restraint is thrown out!

Look also at where lady wisdom is making her passionate appeal. in the street, in the markets, at the head of the noisy streets, at the entrance of the city gates. She is crying out right where the rubber hits the road! She’s fighting to be heard where the people are and in the daily hustle and bustle of life! The market place was the place of commerce and trade in ancient Israel, it was hub of activity, the place everyone had to go to buy the essentials for life! The city gates where the place the elders would sit and hear the cases and make their judgments. Wisdom is not hiding away in a little bubble, She’s right at the heart of day to day life in every area! She’s fighting to be heard right where life is unfolding!

There are 2 things that I think we need to see from this...

God offers us wisdom, He seeks to grab our attention, right in the midst of our busyness and noise! He wants to speak to us, not just during our quiet times, not just in a church service when we sit quietly. He is there, offering us wisdom in the office when the deadlines approach, in the home when we’ve dinner to make, washing to do, kids to care for, in school when we’ve exams coming up and home-works to do, in the car when we’re cut off by that driver and we’re late for an appointment!

God is not absent in those moments, He’s not silent! He fights for our attention in the madness of life! Listen for Him! I think the main way the people of Israel would have understood this, and the main way we can practice it is through meditation on Scripture…This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Just as wisdom passionately cries out, and goes to where the people are, shouldn’t we do the seem as we offer a lost world the One in whom all wisdom is found! Not waiting for people to come to us, but going to them, and earnestly offering them life! Joining the local football team, the local book club, the local gym, the local slimming world, not mainly for those things, but rather because that’s where the people are, and they need the gospel!!

Notice Wisdom’s passion.

Wisdom’s Promise (v.22-23)

It seems that lady wisdom here has been calling for some time! She’s been standing in the streets passionately crying out but those who pass by love their ignorance! The simple love being simple, the scoffer delights in their scoffing!

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil...

But look what is promised if we will hear, if we will listen…v.23...

If those listening will turn, if they will repent! There’s still a chance, there’s still opportunity for the simple to make a wise choice! If they’ll turn from the road their walking, and go in the direction of wisdom, more will be given to them!

And we see the reality of that in life don’t we? Bad choices tend to lead to bad choices! Sin always seeks to lead us into further sin! It’s like a vicious circle that is hard to break from! Whereas good choices lead us in paths of righteousness! As we choose wisdom, wisdom makes itself known to us. There’s a beautiful picture of this in , But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.

Wisdom is not a one time decision, it’s something that the more we embrace, the more it becomes part of us! The more we listen and submit to God’s Word, the more that Word actually begins to transform us! It doesn’t just answer our questions, it shapes how we even ask the question in the first place!

I don’t know if there are many spider-man fans here, but if there are, you’ll be familiar with one of his enemies Venom. There’s this black substance that once someone embraces it, it begins to alter who they are. It doesn’t just enable them to do certain amazing things, it actually starts to change the very things they want to do!

God has promised, if we’ll listen, if we’ll turn at His words of Wisdom, then will continue to grow in it, to know more of it in our lives!

And isn’t that the picture of the Christian life! When we first hear the gospel, when we first repent, turn from living as though we are god, and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all, then it’s not just a one time act! Rather God’s Spirit comes and dwells in us, He begins not just to enable us to live a life pleasing to Him, He actually changes our hearts so we want to live that life, we desire to please Him, the more we submit, the more we want to submit! It’s called sanctification! And the work continues until we get to glory!

Wisdom’s Promise

Wisdom’s Punishment (v.24-32)

The wisdom that is offered is not an open ended deal. As this father instructs his son, he wants him to see there is only so long that it’s voice will be heard, only so long that it’s hand will be stretched out for grasping! And if the offer is ignored, the outcome is disaster!

That’s the picture we see here with lady wisdom, these simple ones that she has been crying out to have continued in their hard hardheartedness, they’ve continued to cover their ears,

Just like you’d see a child when they don’t want to listen to the instruction of their parent!

And look at Wisdom’s response…v.26-27...

As one writer says, this isn’t a laugh expressing heartlessness, but rather a laugh as you consider the absurdity of choosing folly.

Imagine it…someone sits on death row, guilty of countless crimes, and throughout their sentence leading up to that day, there is an offer on the table, turn to me and your guilt will be removed, your punishment taken, you will be freed, you’ll be given life, peace, joy, fullness. And the person turns their head in defiance!

It gets to the point where when the distress comes, wisdom’s response is mockery! You fool, you deserve what you now face! The storm clouds are gathering, the tornado is about to hit, there’s no avoiding it, there’s no place to hide! And when it does, they’re on their own!

Even though they’ll then want wisdom, it’s too late! Lady wisdom has long since left, they had their chance, they heard the persistent cries, but they did not choose the fear of the Lord. They believed the Lord to be irrelevant, His Words to be unimportant! Like we heard last week, these people missed the starting point of it all, they failed to recognise who it was speaking, and thought their own way was more trustworthy! So they’re left on that way, v.31-32...

The words of Paul in come to mind.... For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen...

It is an awful thing to be given over to the desires of our own sinful foolish hearts! To be left to ourselves, to our own devices! But that is the plight of all who reject wisdom!

The picture of Christ and His offer of eternal life is obvious here, just as is the result of all those who reject it! ...O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Maybe you’re here this morning and up to this point you’ve ignored His voice, you’ve thought you know best! His offer won’t be forever, His voice won’t sound endlessly! And when the storms of life come, and the storm of God’s wrath comes on that final day, it will be too late, and you will have your fill of the foolishness you’ve chosen! But right now, if you can still hear this offer, it’s not too late! Respond in faith, listen, turn, repent, for the prize of wisdom is just incredible!

The Prize of Wisdom (v.33)

Don’t we all want to dwell secure! If you look around our neighborhoods, if you look around the world, our security is one of the goals of life! We see the fences around our houses, the security lights, CCTV, burglar alarms, we see the investment in military, in the latest fighter jets and defense mechanisms, we have our online protection with virus prevention and passwords, we have our critical illness, life insurance, etc.

We love security! Every wants it, because everyone fears disaster in whatever form! But here we see Lady wisdom offer us the only place where true security is found, and that’s in listening to her. Turning at her reproof, humbling ourselves before the Lord Almighty!

Because the reality is, no matter how much security we invest in in this life, the storms will still come! The troubles and trials of life can not be held back, we’re not immune to brokenness of a fallen world! But in listening to wisdom, in the fear of the Lord, we can dwell secure!

Remember what Jesus taught in . ...everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The storm comes against both houses! But only one dwells secure, only one doesn’t need to be in dread of disaster! Only one is able to stand!

What will you do when the storm hits and your health fails, listen for wisdom’s voice, ..though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

What will we do when the storm hits and our marriage starts to unravel, listen for wisdom’s voice,...fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

What do we do when the storm hits and we’re faced with the stresses of daily life, the crying baby, the arguing kids, the school bully, the unpleasant work colleague, Listen for wisdom’s voice......In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”…

The storms still come, and when they do they hurt, they’re dangerous, but God enables us to stand!

Obviously there is a storm coming like no other, and it will hit every single person in this world. It’s the storm of God’s wrath! But there is a place in which we can dwell secure, there is a refuge that means we can be at ease without dread of disaster. His name is Jesus Christ. And on the cross He took the disaster for us, He bore it so that we would never have to! He faced the storm so that we could know a future paradise in His presence!

Wisdom is personified here as this earnest lady. But even she finds her fulfillment in the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us! What a Savior, what a Lord! Let’s make sure we listen!!