Probing Proverbs 1:32–33
"For
simpletons turn away from me—to death. Fools are destroyed by their own
complacency. But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of
harm.”
As we finish up this first Proverb, after seeing that God does
draw some boundaries, God places the “ball” back in our court! Whether we like it or
not, our Lord has delegated, for the most part, the “flavor” of
our life under our control! We do not control where, when or how we are born.
We do not pick the geographical, social, or economic conditions of our family.
The problem is that some theologians seem to present God as the One accountable
for everything in our lives. Scripture does not support that, no matter what
man made “isms” do! God is responsible for everything, true! Nothing…once
again so we understand it…NOTHING happens in this universe that God
is not responsible for! Understand, to be responsible means that you alone
allow what happens to happen. God is Sovereign, everything that has ever
happened, including sin, God allowed. The problem is some take His Sovereignty
to the point that He is accountable for everything. That is nonsensical and
fails completely the test of Scripture. 
To be accountable for something means
you caused it to happen. For example, I give my teenage son my car to drive to
a party. He gets drunk and kills someone on the road. Who is responsible for
that accident – I am. I gave him my car, which was under my control. I allowed
him to be in charge of that car. However, who is accountable for that accident?
My son is, he took what I entrusted him with and then added things that would
lead to an accident. He caused the accident, not me. God directly does control
many aspects of our life, but for the most part, whether we enjoy or dread our
life, He leaves that up to us.
This is the reminder at the end of this Proverb. God compares
the life of those that do not listen to Him versus the life of those that do
listen to Him.
There are two issues that leap out at me in this Proverb.
First:
“Fools are destroyed by their own complacency”
OUCH! Complacency – I resemble that remark too much in my
life. This word has caused more destruction to many a Christian’s
walk. “I
can’t
do consistent devos” or “I can’t get into discipleship” or “I don’t spend time in the Word, Prayer, Worship,
Etc.”
Why? Because I can’t FIND the time. Complacency convinces us that time can be found
–
never happen! The only person I know that has ever found time is a person that
found a watch that was on the ground because someone dropped it! Time is never
found, it is MADE. That happens when our will confronts complacency and wins.
Stop waiting for life to happen. Find out what God is doing and make the time
to get involved. Make time to meet with Him. Make time to be involved in
discipleship. Make time to reflect about your life and where God wants you to
be. Make time – waiting for it to find you is exactly what the enemy wants.
Second:
“But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.”
How can this statement be true? I know many believers that
follow the Lord that are harmed, and have a lot of violence in their life. So
is this Proverb true? Jesus said the Word is truth and the truth will set us
free. We must ask difficult questions if we really believe the Word is true.
The key is in understanding the Big Picture, which is the context of these
words. Peace here does not mean absence of war or violence. This is that peace
that settles the question of one’s eternal existence. Wisdom teaches how to
live forever, and when we follow that we have the peace that whatever the
circumstances, we are safe eternally. That is what gave the martyrs of the
early church the ability to boldly stand for Christ amidst the flames and lions
of death. Notice we may experience harm, but not the FEAR of it. We fear only
the One that can destroy the soul, so we don’t fear at all because He is our Dad!
Matthew 10:28 “Do
not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather
fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
“The so what?” Do
you understand that how you experience life is more up to you that anything
else? Are there things in your life that you do not like? Do you blame God for
them? Why? What are they? If God made it happen, what should you do? If God
left it up to you, how should you approach that? We all serve someone, who do
you serve…yourself or God?
