Jon Taylor – Lead Pastor

The book of Proverbs is painful sometimes in it’s clarity and ability to be brutally honest and in-your-face. Take this verse: “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?” (1:22 NIV) It’s pretty clear how Solomon felt about the simple, the fool, and the mocker. So why is it that so many of us can find ourselves spending so much time in the chair of the simple, or the fool, or the mocker?

It is possible for us to spend so much time in one (or more) of these chairs that we won’t be able to get out of them! Here’s what happens when we decide we aren’t going to listen to wisdom.

Wisdom says, “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them…” (Proverbs 1:23-32 NIV)

Mockers, you have to admit you’re not the smartest person in the room and that you need wisdom. Fools, you have to start caring about wisdom and seeking it because it’s not just about you: it’s about everyone who loves you and depends on you. Simple, you need to understand your lack of experience doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with you, but you need to ask for wisdom.

Not sure, or don’t think you’re in one of these seats? Ask someone who loves you and knows you really well and that you trust – “Am I stuck in one of these seats? Do you see this about me?” Then be courageous enough to listen and then to ask God: in light of my past experience, my current circumstances and my future hopes and dreams, what’s the wise thing for me to do?

Stop playing musical chairs. Get out of whichever chair you are in and move towards wisdom!