One may not be “wise” and yet not necessarily be a “fool.” Young men especially are urged repeatedly in the Proverbs to acquire wisdom; to seek for it like buried treasure (Proverbs 2:1-7). Clearly, wisdom is not yet something they have, for they are admonished to go out and find it. Yet, simply because they LACK wisdom, is not to say they are fools, for one of the definitions of a fool in Proverbs is someone who refuses to seek for wisdom (Proverbs 1:22).

This then leads us to our first principle; Christians must seek wisdom. Ok, I agree, this does not seem like rocket science, but I am amazed at the number of Christians who do not understand that wisdom is obtained by diligently seeking for it. It does not come automatically over time just by gaining life experience nor do we soak it up by osmosis just by listening to a few good sermons (or reading a few good books!). Most Christians know James 1:5 which says, “but if any lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives all men generously and without reproach and it will be given him.” And I am sure, that you yourself are familiar with Christians praying and asking for wisdom; you have probably done so yourself many times.

But I do not think James 1:5 can be understood in isolation from what the rest of the Scriptures also teach about wisdom. James knew the Proverbs, and understood what Solomon had written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. James was not contradicting Solomon, but rather reminding Christians, that wisdom comes from God. Yes, wisdom comes from asking, and God promises to give it; but that wisdom is not some sort of supernatural revelation that appears out of nowhere; it comes from diligently seeking it in the Word.

Sadly, Christians are not well known for doing the diligent labor necessary to acquire wisdom and often suffer the consequences in living foolishly. This does not mean that we are necessarily fools; but we might well have been ACTING like one; i.e., people can act like a fool, without being a fool, simply because they might not know any better (perhaps no one ever taught them any better). Perhaps they are just doing what they have always done, which is the widely accepted way of doing things and have never thought anything about it.

For example, the idea that germs cause disease, universally accepted today, was a radical concept just over a hundred years ago. The simple act of a doctor washing his hands before treating different patients was considered ludicrous. Scalpels and other surgical instruments were routinely wiped off with a dirty cloth before the doctor operated on the next patient. Not unsurprisingly, infection, gangrene and post-operative death was common. Even the smallest wounds could fester and kill the patient. Wounded soldiers routinely had entire limbs amputated because there was no way to treat the infection from a small bullet hole. Woman and babies routinely died as doctors unwittingly carried diseases from one mother to the next. But were these men “fools?”

Well, some of them were, because when one doctor pointed out the correlation between cleanliness and disease, they ridiculed him to the point, literally, of driving him insane. Remember, one of the Biblical definitions of a fool is someone who refuses to learn from his mistakes. But eventually other doctors saw that there was a relationship between washing one’s hands and a decline in infectious diseases. They then changed their behavior and have since saved millions of lives. However, for a long, long time, thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of people DIED because doctors acted foolishly. They did not understand the way that God’s creation worked, and as a result, people suffered unnecessarily.

We can legitimately extrapolate this to the way Christians live their lives, and the effects it has on their socio-economic situation. Christians may well be ACTING foolishly, not necessarily because of any moral problem on their part, not because they are in willful sin or rebellion, but because they lack wisdom. They do not know how to get the wisdom that God promised and consequently, are living contrary to the way that God has established His creation to run. They then suffer the inevitable result.

Think of it this way; you promise to feed your children. Your ten-year-old son asks for some breakfast. You tell him to go to the cupboard, pull down a bowl, then go to the pantry and get some cereal, and then go to the refrigerator for some milk. You have provided just what you promised, he asked for food and you told him where to find it, but it requires a little effort on his part to obtain. What would you think of a child screaming and crying “My Daddy won’t feed me?” If the child refuses to do what you told him to do and goes hungry, it is not YOUR problem, but his. And as a good father, though you would rebuke and correct your son, you would let him go hungry until he got off his chair and did what you told him to do! And if he still sat their whining and crying, you might even have to spank him a bit, to give him an incentive to obey you AND feed his tummy!

Sadly, many Christians appear to expect to be spoon-fed their entire lives. God promises wisdom to those who ask of Him, and then gives it richly in the Scriptures (with the Proverbs being one of the clearest places). But most Christians will not take the time, or the effort to study those Scriptures. They then go spiritually hungry, complain about their situation but never do what they have to do be fed!

Now getting back on track; as mentioned before, the difference between a fool, and a man who just lacks wisdom, is that the godly man will LEARN from his mistakes, while the fool continues in his folly. A fool WILL NOT CHANGE. He will not take advice (26:12, 16, etc.), he does not seek after wisdom (1:22), he is perfectly happy doing the same thing over and over again no matter how disastrous the outcome (26:11). One of the classic definitions of insanity is someone doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result. Yet, many professing Christians live just this way. They are in one financial emergency after another, their lives are an ongoing economic disaster, and yet they continue to do the same dumb things sometimes it seems without ever “getting” the connection between their actions and their situation. Often, they will not seek counsel, but delight in speaking their own mind. They want to justify, rationalize, find mitigating circumstances why what they did was “OK.” However, the one thing they will not do is change the behaviors that impoverish them.

Take for example a family that does not control their spending; let’s call the father “Bob.” “Bob” allows his family to amass considerable credit-card debt, paying exorbitant interest rates every month, because he does not carefully budget their finances. Say “Bob” then receives financial counseling to take out a small mortgage on his house so that he can replace the high interest rates of his credit cards, with the significantly lower interest of a home equity loan. Now the family still has debt, but “Bob” is in effect saving hundreds of dollars of month with a lower interest loan. However, if “Bob” does not change the behaviors that got the family into trouble in the first place, their situation could get even worse. If they continue to live beyond their means (and if they are so foolish so as not to tear up their credit cards) then they could well end up amassing NEW credit card debt on top of their new mortgage payments! Now they have a mortgage AND high interest debt!

Sadly, all too many Christians live just this way. They rob Peter, to pay Paul, using one credit card to pay off another. They risk losing everything, not to mention the stress and pressure of living in daily debt because they will not change the behaviors that got them into trouble in the first place. Such people often complain about their situation, but are not willing to change the attitudes and behaviors that keep getting them into trouble.

These people need to read carefully what is being written here. Maybe they are just unfortunate souls who lack wisdom, and do not know any better. But maybe, just maybe, they are fools, who need to be rebuked and not coddled. Christians have to ask themselves some very hard questions if they want to change their economic situation; are they willing to seek wisdom, to value it, to cherish it, and then do what is necessary to apply it in their lives? Will they receive sound, godly, and wise counsel and make the necessary changes, or will they insist on continuing to do things their own way? The answer to that question reveals whether a man is poor because of a lack of wisdom, or destitute because he is a fool.

But what is this “wisdom” that is so important to have? Though we gave a brief definition earlier, a more detailed explanation is perhaps now in order. I would argue that the Scriptures define wisdom as understanding, accepting and applying certain unchanging and universal principles based on the character of God that are built into the very fabric of creation. Proverbs 3:19 says, “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens…” All creation was designed by God to reflect His nature, being and glory (Psa 19:1ff). Proverbs 8:22 says of wisdom, “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, from the beginning from the earliest times of the earth.” Thus not only did God USE wisdom in creating the earth, He also POSSESSED wisdom as a part of His immutable nature. Therefore, since all of Creation reflects God’s nature, and wisdom is a part of that nature, it is a part of the very fabric of reality.

Wisdom is the knowledge of the One True God and of His ways; “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Pvbs 1:7). God, because He is God, is the standard by which all other things are measured. Thus, the way that God does something IS the right way to do it. Men must then conform their ways to God’s or suffer the consequences. They must submit to His Law. They must humble themselves before Him, and in the words of the Apostle Paul, “walk in a worthy manner” (cf. Eph 4:1).

Now, God’s ways are NOT our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa 55:8ff) and much of what we “know” to be true, isn’t really. Sin is the basic orientation of men to be as “gods” themselves (cf. Gen 3:5) wanting the world to revolve around them and to determine good and evil for themselves. It takes a sovereign act of God in His grace to redeem man from this self-orientation. Sanctification is the process whereby we put off the old nature in rebellion to God, and learn to walk in the new nature of Christ (cf. Eph 4:17ff). Therefore, it takes time, diligence and conscientious attention to study the things of God to achieve wisdom.

In Joshua 1:8 God says, “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have success.” God gives us His Law (i.e., the entirety of His commandments, statutes and ordinances revealed throughout Scripture) by which we are to govern our lives. It takes time and thought and attention to detail to work out all the implications of His commands, and by the grace of His Spirit conform our lives to it. Notice that prosperity is conditional upon being careful to do according to “all that is written in it.” The “all” is important. It is not just academic understanding of theology that is required, but conforming our lives to God’s ways. Sadly, some Christians just do not seem to get the connection.

There is much confusion and misinformation about the Law that God required Joshua to meditate upon. Some see it as a legal code given to ancient Israel and therefore no longer relevant to us today. But think with me, if the Law were a straightforward legal code, why would Joshua have to meditate on it? When a traffic sign says, “55” mile per hour, you do not need to think about it, you just have to obey it! But God commands us to MEDITATE upon His Law, so that we might be careful to do according to all that is written in it. What is He getting at?

The Old Testament Law is NOT really a legal code (at least in the way we think of such things) but rather specific applications of certain unchanging moral laws built right into the fabric of Creation. These moral laws are summarized in the Ten Commandments, but the Old Testament also gives us “case laws” which are specific ways that this summary is to be worked out in various situations. We are to study what God tells us to do HERE, so that then we can figure out what He wants us to do THERE. That’s why they are called, “case laws”; they give specific information about how the moral law (i.e., the Ten Commandments) is to be applied to specific situations or “cases.”

The Westminster Confession requires us to study to determine the “general equity” of the Old Testament Law and see how it applies today (WCF 19:4). The Confession understands that there were certain unique laws given to Israel but others that apply to all people, in all ages. Many portions of the Old Testament Law was largely typological in that they pointed to Christ; i.e., contained pictures and shadows of Jesus and was intended to lead the people to Christ (e.g., the oft called “ceremonial” laws that concerned certain aspects of worship). But at the same time, were God’s commandments just arbitrary rules and regulations that are simply irrelevant now that Jesus has come?

Think about this example; one of the Old Testament case laws required a railing to be placed around the roof of a house (cf. Deut 22:8). Is this just an obscure “ceremonial” law applicable only to ancient Israel? Or were there reasons why God gave this specific command; reasons that apply to everyone, in all times? Let’s look at this situation in more detail; in those days, roofs were flat, and when the weather was pleasant, people went up at the end of a day to eat and fellowship where it was cool. The roof was actually like a modern living room. Now if you walk around a flat roof at night, when the lighting is poor at best, and with no railing, it is likely that someone is going to fall off and be seriously injured or even killed. The Law stated that if the homeowner did not put a railing around his house, and someone fell off and died, he was considered “blood guilty.” This meant that he was responsible to the civil magistrate and could be held accountable.

Now does God require railings around roofs today? Generally speaking, no, because most of us have peaked roofs, and we do not entertain up there. But what about the situation where we happen to have a deck off one of our upstairs bedrooms? Does God require you to put a rail around that deck? I would argue, yes, He does. The general equity of this Law here is that we are required to take certain actions to prevent accidents, and if we do not, then we can and should be held liable. The specific law is no longer applicable (at least to most of us) but the principle (or “general equity”) behind it remains valid and binding. If you live in a city up North where it snows in the winter, you probably know that if you do not clean the ice off your sidewalk, and someone slips and injures himself, you can be sued. This is a direct modern application of this same Old Testament Law.

But to understand these things, you have to think about them, to meditate upon them. You have to know what God says about roofs and railings, and consider how this applies to other principles that concern how we are to treat one another. We must then prayerfully consider what it is that God is getting at. You then need to think through how this universal, unchanging principle applies to YOUR situation. The result of this process is called “wisdom.” Thus wisdom is, understanding how God’s commands apply to specific life situations. It also implies a willingness to change our lives accordingly; there is no virtue in having knowledge, without application (1 Cor 8:1).

Conclusion; Christians can suffer from economic troubles because they lack wisdom, and live foolishly. They do not live according to the way God has created His world to operate. Wisdom will take time and diligence to acquire. The fool is a man who refuses wisdom.

Proverb for Further Consideration

8:32 “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates an, waiting at my doorposts. For he who obtains me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me injures himself all those who hate me, love death.”

11:14 “Where there is no guidance, the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory.”