“The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.” Proverbs 14:18
September 22, 2023
Wisdom tells us that we sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character. The book of Proverbs is filled with wisdom M&Ms that melt in your mouth, and not in your hands. There are some things you might like to inherit, but folly is not one of them. Life is hard on those who value themselves more than they do God. Folly is more than just slap-stick comedy (e.g., Laurel and Hardy and the piano). Folly is the product of sin, things we do and say. It is evil’s harvest. There are a lot of euphemisms for folly that attempt to soften what is spiritual stupidity; senseless, dumb, tragic, mistaken, misspoke, crazy, disorder, shortsighted, a lapse in judgment. A lot of things that human beings do are loopy but not sinful. Let’s stay with sowing the seeds of sin. There are follies of omission like neglect of one’s marriage, or children, disregard of one’s faults, or carelessness concerning one’s health. As Richard Lovelace remarked, to flee from God to some far country and to search for fulfillment there is to find only “black-market substitutes.” One of the follies of old age is to have stored up memories of squandered opportunities, neglected meaningful relationships, and having chosen the wrong values by which to live. An alert! We should cultivate most carefully those faculties which are most usually impaired in old age. Memory is one of these: “We should occupy our memories, therefore, with things most worthy to be remembered; and then much may be done by practicing them. Sloth and neglect will ruin any faculty” (“Old Age Anticipated,” Rev. Reuben Smith. In the book, Nearing Home, Comforts and Counsels for the Aged).
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“Our God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.” Isaac Watts