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,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.”
Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom is precious, valuable, and surprising to many, loud. She shouts in the open squares and calls at the city gates for the simple ones to come and learn. The call of wisdom in these verses reveal the power and clarity of natural revelation. Natural revelation refers to the way God reveals Himself in creation and history. Every pagan knows it’s wrong to lie and dishonor your parents. And yet people who reject wisdom still traffic in these sins, unwilling to confess them.
Young people ought to lack wisdom. It would be odd if a six-year-old wanted to balance his budget or understand the difference between whole and term life insurance. But once someone is thirty and can take on a load of unwise debt or go to jail for unwise actions, the stakes are high. Put another way, simplicity has a shelf life. “How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge” (v. 22). Learning things is by definition uncomfortable. To learn a new language means your pronunciation for a good while will sound foolish. To figure out how a computer works means clicking on strange things and wandering into digital dead-ends. And most of us know how bewildering it is to look at a car engine and wonder how in the world it gets us down the road. But if you stick with it in patience and humility, knowledge comes and then wisdom–knowing what to do and when. Wisdom here is a moral issue, and to refuse to grow in it is culpable–a deeper and deeper rebellion against God: “Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20).
Wisdom leads the humble to seek the grace of God. Many people put off the call of God to walk in wisdom thinking, “I’ll do it later”, not taking into account that refusing now will make them more likely to refuse later. We should ask ourselves, “If I do this, who will I become?” Solomon describes the fallout of rejecting wisdom. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they will eat the fruit of their own way when destruction comes. Proverbs is full of these sober warnings and rather than be discouraged, those hungry for wisdom love it: “whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”