Walking Wisely in a World of Fools

A wise person is one who effectively says, Lord, would you give me the directions?

And even though it seems upside down, I don't know better than you. How do you walk wisely in a world of fools? It's not having all the answers, it is knowing how to go to the answer.

It is having a living, vital, open, honest, committed relationship with the written word and the living word. Knowledge is increasing rapidly, but is the world becoming a better place? More than ever, we need wisdom to navigate life's challenges. The book of Proverbs offers timeless truths for discerning right from wrong and living successfully. Today's message unpacks Solomon's advice on what separates wise people from fools. Discover how fearing the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge and why fools despise wisdom. Are you ready to live with clarity in a world full of confusion?

Here's Stephen Davey to help you do just that. In the preface of a commentary I have on the book of Proverbs, Robert Alden has these words to say. Since 1955, sheer factual knowledge has doubled every five years. Our generation possesses more data about the universe and human personality than all previous generations put together. Think of it this way, high school graduates today have been exposed to more information about the world than Plato, Aristotle, and the Apostle Paul combined.

In terms of facts alone, neither Aristotle nor the Apostle Paul could pass a college entrance examination. What I find especially ironic is that much of that quote is now terribly out of date. It was written in 1983, now way, way behind the facts. According to a recent report by the Education Secretary of the United States, technical knowledge alone is actually doubling now, not every five years, but every two years. Which means, follow this, students starting a four year technical degree, half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study. By the year 2010, it says technical knowledge is predicted to double every 72 hours.

Imagine in the 50s it was every five years, now it's every two years, by the year 2010 it will be every three or four days. The report went on to say that some of the top ten jobs in America today did not even exist in the year 2000. Which means we are preparing students to hold jobs that haven't been created using technologies that haven't been invented in order to solve problems we don't even know exist yet.

How do you get ready for that? Listen to some even more staggering facts. The number of text messages sent and received every day exceed the population of the world. Here's another, if you read the New York Times newspaper for just one week, you will have been exposed to more information than the average person came across in a lifetime who lived in the 1800s. How do you get ready for this generation? How do you manage the change all around you? How do you get ready to handle forms of temptation and pressure that was inconceivable twenty years ago? I mean the internet wasn't something we could even conceive of twenty-five years ago until Al Gore invented it.

Listen, when my twin sons were born, if you had asked me back then how would I talk to them about facing the problem and temptation of pornography, I would have immediately thought of how to shield them from a magazine. The truth is, with all our knowledge, the world is not a better place. In fact it's in the same mess it's always been in, the only thing that's changed is the speed of change and the equipment. All this information and technology has not transformed our world and so alumni today from noted universities have mastered information about a narrow slice of life but they can't make it out of the first grade when it comes to relationships. One author said that society today is populated with a bumper crop of brilliant failures.

He went on to say we probably do not have more fools than other nations but in America fools are better organized. The truth is knowledge is not enough. Even if it doubled every twenty-four hours, and it will one day, the world will still be full of educated failures.

Why? Because while some things change, some things never change. In other words the condition of the human experience may change and advance but the condition of the human heart does not. And so today there were three thousand books published in the world.

Every day, three thousand. Further proving the words of Paul to Timothy that the world is always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Second Timothy 3.7. That's why you can graduate at the top of your class and fail at the basic institutions of life. There's got to be more than knowledge.

There's got to be more than facts. That's what Proverbs is all about. We're just about finished with the introduction of the book but would you turn in your collection to the theme verse of Proverbs. It's chapter one verse seven. This is the theological premise of the entire collection.

This is the beginning point. Solomon writes, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Knowledge and wisdom and instruction are synonyms in this context to merely state the premise of the book of Proverbs.

They all combined allow a person to make a right decision for the right reason at the right time in the right spirit with the right result focusing on their relationship with God. And since fools are neither people who believe God exists nor desire a relationship with God, they ultimately and effectively despise knowledge, wisdom, and instruction. That's what the latter part of the verse means. Fools despise all the above that creates this relationship with God which means that a fool then is someone who is unable to make the right decision for the right reason at the right time and applied in the right spirit with the right effect or result. By the way, in the Bible a fool has nothing to do with IQ.

It has nothing to do with SAT scores. The fool is described in living color throughout this book. Let me quickly give you four or five characteristics that I uncovered of a fool. One, he is arrogantly unaccountable.

He is unaccountable. Solomon writes, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel, Proverbs 12 15. In other words, a fool is somebody who says they got all the answers they need and they are unaccountable, which leads secondly then to this, the fool is unruly. Solomon describes a fool's anger is known at once, but a prudent man conceals dishonor. In other words, he holds back dishonorable opinions.

He has a rule over his emotion. A fool is not, Proverbs 12 16. The fool is not only unaccountable and unruly, but unteachable. Proverbs 15 five says a fool rejects his father's discipline or training, but he who regards reproof is sensible. Solomon writes it this way in Proverbs 26 10, like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. In other words, he just won't learn. In fact, the fool cannot imagine himself mistaken. You mean I made a mistake?

Can't be. So the root of his problem is not mental. It's spiritual. Fourth, the fool is also uncontainable. Proverbs 20 verse three says keeping away from strife, literally ceasing from strife is an honor for a man. It's honorable to keep away from strife, but any fool will quarrel.

You talk about a guy fighting at the drop of a what drop of a hat. This is the fool who is uncontainable. Number five, the fool is not only described in Proverbs as unaccountable and unruly and unteachable and uncontainable. The fool is incorrigible. In other words, there is this irredeemable incurable side to foolishness since he denies the existence of God. It is God alone who can rescue him and the fool persists in denying the existence of God.

So then he is incorrigible, irredeemable. Solomon says, though you pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him. Here they are pounding away at the grain in that narrow container with that pestle. They've got that board and they're pounding away. You put a fool in there and you just pound away and you cannot separate foolishness from him.

This irredeemable quality. Sometimes you shake your head over the foolishness of people, don't you? I pulled a few Associated Press reports down as illustrations of foolishness you probably couldn't pound out of these people. This one from Texas, 45-year-old Amy Brasher was arrested in San Antonio after a mechanic reported to police that 18 packages of marijuana were packed into the engine compartment of the car, which she brought to the mechanic for an oil change. According to police, Brasher later said she didn't realize the mechanic would have to raise the hood to change the oil.

Pound away. Here's one from Ann Arbor. A man walked into Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan at 7.50 a.m., flashed a gun and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. So the man ordered onion rings. The clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. He'd have to come back at lunch.

He turned and walked away. Two men in Kentucky tried to pull the front off a cash machine by running a chain from the machine to the bumper of their pickup truck. Instead of pulling the front panel off the machine, they pulled the bumper off their truck.

Scared, they left the scene and drove home with the chain still attached to the machine, with their bumper still attached to the chain, with their license plate still on the bumper. Pound away. The message paraphrases this great text, you cannot pound foolishness out of a fool.

Why? Because at the heart of the issue is an unredeemed person. He's chosen his foolishness. One more, the fool is unholy. David wrote earlier in Psalm 14 one, the fool has said in his heart, there is no what? There is no God. And where there is no God, as one author said, all things are permissible.

You don't believe in God then the sky is the limit or the gutters the limit. That's why Proverbs says in chapter 14 verse 9, fools mock at sin. Literally translated, fools mock at guilt. They mock at guilt. They mock at moral absolutes you think you break. They say that your guilt over sin is just sort of some residue of the Victorian era. Get over it. It's too much religion in your background.

Shrug it off. That's why they can be brilliant engineers and doctors and mechanics and school teachers but utterly devoid of common sense, utterly incapable of selfless relationships, utterly wayward in moral attitudes and actions. You see by biblical definition, a fool is someone whose mind is closed to God, his conscience is seared to sin and his heart is fully devoted to self. The wise person on the other hand is one who fears God. He put it this way, the fear of the Lord. No wonder it's the beginning of true knowledge.

It's the beginning. The Hebrew word is an offshoot of the word forehead which suggests first or primary. One Old Testament scholar wrote, Solomon isn't saying it's merely a starting point of knowledge. What he means is, and you ought to write this word in the text or the margin, it is the foundation of knowledge. In other words, Solomon is saying the best of knowledge, the foundation of all true knowledge is a relationship of awe and respect and intimacy and worship with the faithful and true God. In Proverbs 9 verse 10, Solomon said it again only a little differently as he wrote, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You can render that it is the foundation of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One leads to understanding. How do you get ready for life?

And it's changing so fast. It's a relationship with the creator God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning or the foundation for knowledge. Well, if that's true, then we better understand what the fear of the Lord means, right? Since that is the foundation for knowledge or wisdom. This phrase, the fear of the Lord is a compound expression. You cannot figure it out by separating it, which many people often do. You cannot study the word fear, learn all you can about fear and then study Yahweh and all you can learn about God and then somehow put them together and think you know what it means. Many attempted with that expression.

It'd be like separating butterfly and studying all you can about butter and then studying all you can about a fly and then put them together and you have an animal that melts in the sun. No, Isaiah would speak of fearing God. Certainly the fear of God is a biblical concept in that we think of being terrified of God. That isn't what Proverbs means, but that's certainly a biblical concept. Isaiah saw God and said, woe is me, I'm doomed. Isaiah 6 5. The apostle John saw the glory of God and fell down on his feet like a dead man. It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. That's all true. So Solomon is saying here that the wise person is one who walks around with a sense of dread and fear with every once in a while a fainting spell when he encounters the living God.

No. I believe the best way to interpret this phrase is to let the Bible interpret it for us. The synthesis of scripture, that is the approach of the analogy of scripture and understanding scripture. You let scripture explain scripture. You get your concordance out and you just track through these phrases throughout scripture, often interpreting the true meaning.

Let me give you the results of my own study. Here are three living characteristics of someone who fears the Lord according to the way Solomon is writing. Number one, there is joyful delight in the word of God. David wrote, how blessed is the man who fears the Lord. Then he in this poetic parallelism will describe what he means, who greatly delights in his commandments. In Psalm 119 103, David writes, how sweet are your words to my taste, just sweeter than honey to my mouth. You say, okay, the one who fears the Lord obviously loves the word, but the fear of the Lord is more than just reading and loving the word of God.

Secondly, there is a passionate desire to apply the word of God. David wrote in Psalm 128 verse one, blessed is everyone who fears the Lord. Now here's the explanation who walks in his ways. Solomon spelled it out even more clearly in Proverbs 14 to he who walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but he was devious is one who does not walk in the fear of the Lord.

He despises God. So a wise person then who walks in the fear of the Lord is not only delighting in the word of God and then applying the truth of God to his life, but he also thirdly places his confidence in the promises of God. David wrote in someone 47 verse 11, the Lord favors those who fear him.

Now here's the commentary, those who wait for his loving kindness. There is the sense and nuance of confidence that God will keep his word and maybe for you fearing God today is simply waiting for him to fulfill his word. Maybe for you it is simply getting into the word, loving the word, maybe it's applying the word. These are the characteristics of those who fear the Lord.

Let me quickly ask and answer another question. How do you develop the fear of the Lord in order to walk wisely in this world of fools? How do you develop it? Well first by constant exposure to the word of God.

That's obvious, right? If the fear of the Lord is evidenced by the study and application of the word of God, then the way to develop even greater fear of the Lord is to study the word even more. So that would be the place to start. I found it interesting that more than seven million people each year go online to Merriam Webster's online dictionary. How many of you do that?

I probably do a million of those a year. One of the top words looked up is the word, if you can believe it, integrity. One college professor commented on this interesting search by saying, perhaps integrity is becoming so scarce its definition is now unfamiliar and people want to know what it means. See we have the idea that a wise person is a person who has all the answers about important things like relationships regarding integrity, communication, honesty, purity, etc.

etc. The truth is a wise person just seems to know intuitively, spiritually where to go for the answer. We know where to go to look. Have you ever talked about something relative to truth or common sense or how to live with a neighbor or a friend and they tell you what their view is and you know it is absolutely the opposite of wisdom. And you say well the Bible says and they'll say why would you want to tell me what the Bible says? Listen to what David wrote in Psalm 138, establish your word to your servant which produces in me the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is a relationship with the written word and the living word. Sadly then the way to develop the fear of the Lord is not just through the study of the word but through prayer. Listen to this prayer of David paraphrased in the message. Just listen to this, God teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course.

Give me insight so I can do what you tell me. My whole life one long obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments.

I love traveling this freeway. Give me a bend for your words of wisdom and not for piling up loot. Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets. Invigorate me on the pilgrim way. Affirm your promises to me. Promises made to all who fear the Lord. See how hungry I am for your counsel. Preserve my life through your righteous ways. Wow what a prayer. A prayer that will help us all swim in the ocean of change and information and get us ready to live wisely in a world of fools. Third not only does the word and prayer develop our wise walk and this relationship of truly fearing the Lord, the fear of the Lord is also developed through wise counsel.

That would be the third. Parents, peers, friends. Solomon wrote there is indeed safety in a multitude of counselors, Proverbs 11 4.

Remember a wise person and a wise counselor will not necessarily know all the right answers but they will take you where they are which is in the word of God and show you this is the prescription for life and wise walking. I came across this fascinating account of Chuck Yeager. His name is probably familiar to most of you. The rather famous test pilot in the 1900s, late 1900s. He was flying an F-86 Sabre over a lake in the Sierras when he decided to buzz a friend's house who lived near the edge of the lake.

Just come down low and just rattle his windows. During a slow roll as he made his approach he suddenly felt his aileron lock. This is the hinged part of the edge of the wing. If you sit on a big commercial plane and you look out the window you can see the pilot just sort of flipping them up and down to make sure they're moving. Yeager said it was a strange moment flying about 150 feet off the ground upside down when it locked. A lesser experienced pilot might have panicked with fatal results but Yeager let off the G's pushed up the nose and sure enough the aileron unlocked. He climbed to 15,000 feet where it was safer and he tried the maneuver again. Every time he rolled the problem reoccurred. He already knew that three or four pilots had died under similar circumstances.

But to date investigators were puzzled why this was locking or what the reason of their death was. Now he knew it was this aileron locking. He landed, he went to his superior with a report and the inspectors went to work. They found in his plane that a bolt on the aileron cylinder had been installed upside down which seemed right side up but this particular bolt had to be inserted with the head down inserted up rather from the top inserted down.

The culprit was found in a North American plant. An older man on the assembly line who had ignored the instructions about how to insert this bolt because you don't screw in a bolt upside down. You put it in from the top down. He knew better.

Yeager said nobody ever told the man how many pilots he'd killed. What a foolish man. A wise person is one who effectively says Lord would you give me the directions and even though it seems upside down I don't know better than you. I'll never navigate my way through this maze of information.

How do you walk wisely in a world of fools? This is the foundation. This is the primary thing. It's not having all the answers. It is knowing how to go to the answer. It is having a living vital open honest committed relationship with the written word and the living word. You cannot have one without the other.

So even when technology changes so fast in a few years they say it's going to change every it's going to double every four days. Everything can seem so unsettled you don't know what's coming. You cling with reverence to the rock. You apply with passion his revelation.

You rejoice in the promises and assurance of his redemption. This is how you walk wisely in a world of fools. Apply these truths to walk wisely every day.

That was Stephen Davey and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Today's message is called Walking Wisely in a World of Fools. Today's lesson comes from a 10-part series entitled The Quest for Hidden Treasure. Stephen has this resource available as a hardback book.

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