"The Fool's Way"

"The Fool's Way"

       

    By definition, the fool does not know he is a fool.  "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes" (Proverbs 12:15).

    Moreover, even the wise sometimes act foolishly without knowing it.  Solomon, possessed of an abundance of God given wisdom, nevertheless succumbed to temptations that should have been obvious to one so blessed with the light of God: "And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.  And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods" (I Kings 11:6-8).

    No excuse exists for the waywardness of fools, or for the wise who act foolishly.  The light of God fills the world as the greatest of all influences.  "The true light… lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).  The greatest foolishness of all may actually be our failure to know when we are acting foolishly.  We therefore require our Lord's ongoing illumination to keep us from the way of the fool, and to inform us when we have wandered down such a path without knowing it.  "For Thou art my light, o Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness" (II Samuel 22:29).

    In and of ourselves, the default position of humanity is foolishness.  "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have every one turned to His own way" (Isaiah 53:6).  Believers do well to acknowledge this truth about our flesh, which will remain susceptible to deception throughout our present lifetime.  Thankfully, the light of God inhabits our spirits through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We also possess the gift of the Bible, God's lamp of Truth, and Christians illuminate each other as we walk together with our Lord.  The fact remains, however, that the fool's way still beckons us, and still hides its true nature to the degree that the wisest among us can sometimes treads its dark paths without realizing their waywardness.  Avoiding foolishness requires that we remember this clear and present danger that is far more present than it is clear.  Solomon's father David discovered such truth about himself, and offered a prayer we do well to frequently echo in order to avoid the fool's way, and also to know when we are stumbling thereupon…

"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults."

(Psalm 19:12)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.

(Psalm 19:12)