He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous (Prov 2:7)
Ignoring The Wisdom Of God Brings His Displeasure Upon Us: Prov 1:24-28
24) Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25) But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26) I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27) When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28) Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
INTRODUCTION:
Solomon explains the grave consequences that are faced when wisdom of God is ignored.
EXPOSITION:
24) Because I have called, and ye refused;I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Wisdom now explains what will take place if her gracious invitation is refused….
She has called out, issuing a personal invitation to come and hear her words, which was utterly rejected. She has extended an open hand of offering and yet no attention was given to it.
This is describing the WILLFUL rejection of the words of wisdom. It is making an INFORMED CHOICE to not heed its call, nor respond to its offer.
“I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way [that was] not good, after their own thoughts;” Isaiah 65:2
25) But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Those who have chosen to reject wisdom’s offer has dismissed (or sent away) wisdom’s advice and be content knowing the correction is awaiting them.
“But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.” Ps 81:11
26) I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Because wisdom has been purposefully refused, the results of that choice must be faced without divine comfort and aid…
1. Wisdom will find pleasure (shown in laughter) in justice being issued. This justice will be in the form of withholding of grace resulting in ruin.
2. Wisdom will bring to remembrance the rejection of her invitation (the purpose of the mocking) when the rejecters are facing dreadful, alarming times.
Here, again, we see the Lord’s knowledge of justice eventually being performed as a source of His pleasure…
“The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.” Ps 37:13 (KJV)
27) When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28) Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
When the troubles rush down like a windstorm resulting in the uprooting of life (like a tornado); when there seems to be no escape and troubles must be faced there will be no hope. This is because the Lord does not honor the seeking of Him, when forced to do so.
In this case, He is sought for personal gain alone apart from any desire to submit to, nor trust in, Him. He will not respond, nor will He show Himself to rebellious, selfish seekers.
Throughout the Old Testament, we have example after example given of those who reject the Word who then face troubles as a result. We are to learn from these examples and seek the application of His truth in our lives…
“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape], if we turn away from him that [speaketh] from heaven:” Heb 12:25
SUMMARY:
Solomon graciously warns each one of us of the results of our rejecting Wisdom and the futility of seeking the Lord out of self-serving motives. These result in displeasure before the Lord and His ultimate rejection. By God’s grace, let us all heed the words of Wisdom and come before His presence trusting in Him and in submission to His will.
By God’s grace, let us all study these proverbs diligently, giving them the value that they deserve.
May the Lord bless us as we receive this sound wisdom and then “Think On These Things”.
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I see the verses 27 and 28…and the explanation of those verses as seeking God in selfishness..but often times doesn’t it take disaster to occur in some people’s lives to turn them toward God…and I believed that no matter what… if people turn to Him…he would accept them. I guess I’m not understanding the concept and meaning of those verses….Diane
Hi Diane,
These verses can be difficult to understand that is for sure. I struggled with these verses for awhile myself when I was in Bible College. I believe the idea is this…. if we are sorrow simply because we are facing the RESULTS OF OUR SIN that is not a godly sorrow and repentance. When we do this we are basically saying… I am not sorry that I have sinned against God, I am sorry I got caught and I am now facing the punishment for those sins. The Bible talks about these two types of sorrow …
“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, [what] clearing of yourselves, yea, [what] indignation, yea, [what] fear, yea, [what] vehement desire, yea, [what] zeal, yea, [what] revenge! In all [things] ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” (2 Corinthians 7:9-11)
Maybe to help you a bit… if a murderer stood before his jury and said…. I am sorry for what I have done… I am not sorry because I killed someone, but I am sorry that I got caught, I am sorry that I will be facing punishment and, especially, I am sorry I am facing the death penalty. IF I KNEW I WOULDN’T GET CAUGHT, I WOULD DO IT AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT.
My prayer would be that the jury would not show him any leniency at all. His sorrow would be simply based upon selfishness and would be centered upon the punishment not the sin. For justice to be done he would receive the highest penalty possible due to his lack of sorrow for the murder he has committed. Likewise, in our example, because the Lord is not only a loving Lord, but a just One as well, He has no choice but to punish those who commit sin and are unrepentant concerning the acts of sin they have committed. They may be sorry for the punishment that they face, but that doesn’t mean they are sorry for the sin they have committed.
This is the type of attitude on display in this section of Proverbs. It is this typoe of “sorrow of the world” that cannot result in forgiveness from God.
I hope this helps a bit.
Thanks for a great question.
Lord bless you.
Thanks Rob…That’s helpful in understanding the passage much better…Diane
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I nominated you for The Versatile Blogger Award. God bless, Lori
http://lorischulz.wordpress.com/2013/01/10/the-versatile-blogger-award/
Thank you so much for the nomination. It is only by the Lord’s grace that SIH ministry exists. He is the One that deserves all the praise for what He has done. May the Lord continue to bless you my friend.
Reblogged this on My Delight and My Counsellors.
thank you Rob for sharing with me
I want to thank you for being the encouragement that you are to me, and bless you by nominating you the following three awards that Cathy Craig Neil blessed me with: The Shine on Award, The One Lovely Blog Award, The Blog of the Year Award 2012. http://diasolifeontheborder.org/2013/01/11/a-tip-of-the-hat-to-my-fellow-bloggers/
Blessings, Dave
Thank you so much for the award. Our Lord deserves all the credit for the SIH blog. May the Lord continne to bless you.
When we reject words of Wisdom, we go our own way . . . and our own way will lead us away from God and on a downhill slide. How foolish!