The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
People don’t consciously desire and pursue the title of fool. It’s not most people’s aim to be a fool. But like knowledge and wisdom, this an earned degree. You just don’t wake up one morning wise and knowledgeable, nor do you wake up a fool. Wisdom takes time, patience, experience, application. So also does the folly of the fool.
Paul writes, (Romans 1:22) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, They were professing something different from reality. They were saying things that were not so. Words are cheap! Does the fool despise wisdom and instruction aloud for all to hear? No, he professes what is not so. It’s not his words but his deeds that proclaim him a fool. James said, (James 1:22) Be ye doers of the word…
To myself and all that will listen: How can you dare hope to procure wisdom, and knowledge, and descretion, and understanding without a determination to have it? Where is the hunger? Where is the yearning and longing for the things of God? Saul said, (1 Samuel 26:21) I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. How little of our time, our desires, our aspirations are given to God? Yet how much we err? But what do we profess by our actions? What deeds do we change? What do we do different? If we don’t desire, then we must despise. If we don’t aspire, then we must abhor. If we don’t love, then we must loathe. (Proverbs 1:22) Fools hate knowledge.
Our kind and merciful, heavenly Father, in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, this fool bows before you. How I dread the judgement seat of Christ when all that is hid will be revealed; every second of the day; every thought of the imagination; every expression of our being; every beat of our heart. All will be revealed. He that searcheth the hearts; He that sees the good and the bad; He that knows the thoughts of man and the secrets of the heart: Turn on the lights! Reveal our true desires. Reveal our true way; our true path; our true destination. Amen.