Learning from Foolishness

Hey friends, welcome to another word of encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our devotional for today is titled, Learning from Foolishness, and it was written by Con Campbell. A man walked into a convenience store in Wollongong, Australia, and put a $20 bill on the counter and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer?

$15. We all act foolishly at times, even if, unlike this thief, we're trying to do the right thing. The key is how we learn from our foolish behavior. Without correction, our poor choices can become habits, which will negatively shape our character.

We'll become fools who lack sense. Sometimes it's hard to admit our foolishness because of the extra work it requires. Perhaps we need to reflect on a particular character flaw and that's painful.

Or maybe we need to admit that a decision was made hastily and next time we should take more care. Whatever the reason, it never pays to ignore our foolish ways. Thankfully, God can use our foolishness to discipline and shape us. Discipline isn't pleasant at the time, but its training yields good fruit in the long run. Let's accept our Father's discipline for our foolish behavior and ask Him to make us more like the sons and daughters He intends us to be.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is taken from Ecclesiastes 10, verses 1 through 14. As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left. Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are. If a ruler's anger rises against you, do not leave your post.

Calmness can lay great offenses to rest. There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the sort of error that arises from a ruler. Fools are put in many high positions while the rich occupy the low ones.

I have seen slaves on horseback while princes go on foot like slaves. Whoever digs a pit may fall into it. Whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them. Whoever splits logs may be endangered by them.

If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. If a snake bites before it is charmed, the charmer receives no fee. Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips. At the beginning, their words are folly. At the end, they are wicked madness. And fools multiply words. No one knows what is coming.

Who can tell someone else what will happen after them? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for using our foolishness to teach us to be wise. As you chisel away at all of the foolish ways in us, we pray that discipline and intentionality will help us to do away with the silly things that we so often do. May we learn to walk in wisdom and grace as we humble ourselves before you. Thank you, Lord Jesus. It's in your name that we pray. Amen.