Proverbs 1:20-33
20 Wisdom calls aloud outside;
She raises her voice in the open squares.
21 She cries out in the chief concourses,
At the openings of the gates in the city
She speaks her words:
22 "How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.
23 Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
25 Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
27 When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the LORD,
30 They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
32 For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil."
The call of wisdom out of knowledge is to be heard and heeded by those with ears to hear, those who fear the LORD. We hear wisdom from God crying out from His servants, out of His word, and from the creation stamped with His divine fingerprints all around us. Even a quick forensic analysis of the creation and our sin of the fall’s crime scene tells us we need a deeper understanding of His knowledge to gain wisdom. Wisdom asks the scorner skeptics and God hating foolish ones to pay attention to her cries instead of hating the knowledge of the Holy One (Proverbs 9:10). When wisdom rebukes, we should turn (repent) and He will pour out His Spirit on we who do not know Christ, the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). How this simple passage on wisdom points us to the gospel! Yes, God makes His words known to those who heed His Word of wisdom, for apart from God’s Spirit (John 14:26), we are unable to fully grasp what the knowledge offered us, let alone gain this wisdom from above (1 Corinthians 2:10, 12, 16). But for those hearing the call of God, refusing and rejecting this knowledge of wisdom, because they sneer at His good counsel and refuse repentance, they will taste the judgment we all deserve apart from the grace which has opened the eyes and ears to Him who have had ears and eyes opened by God to faith and repentance. Those who mock and reject Him will feel the terror, distress, and anguish of their souls instead of life-giving wisdom and bliss in the joyful knowledge of God. These will call out to God when troubles come, but will not hear an answer because they refuse to hear Him. All their seeking will be fruitless in their rejection of the word’s knowledge and wisdom in the fear of the LORD. When men reject God’s counsel and despise His correction of their error, they partake of what they sow (Hosea 8:7, 10:12) instead of the goodness of God. Those who do not follow God’s ways of wisdom but choose their own way over His find only the unsatisfying illusions of fruitfulness of their own imagined fancies which do not last nor truly satisfy. This is fatal. But those called and heed in the fear of the LORD find eternal security without fear of the eternal torment of judgment for refusing God’s knowledge and wisdom of the good news (1 John 4:17-18). We who have been given this knowledge and wisdom have this understanding and peace with God. We who have heard and heeded fear no evil therefore because His fingerprints have been impressed us to demonstrate we are forever His (Ephesians 1:13-14).
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