Proverbs Thought of the Day

What does wisdom look like? What does folly look like?

These are both abstracts, characteristics that can't be drawn. Yet the Bible paints of picture of each in a way that is simple to understand.

Wisdom is pictured as a woman who sets out a feast:

"Wisdom has built her house;

she has hewn out its seven pillars.
She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;

she has also set her table.
She has sent out her maids, and she calls

from the highest point of the city.
"Let all who are simple come in here!"

she says to those who lack judgment.
"Come, eat my food

and drink the wine I have mixed.

Leave your simple ways and you will live;

walk in the way of understanding."

- Proverbs 9:1-6

Ever planned a party? There are so many details to take care of! If you skip something, don't have enough refreshments prepared, fail to invite someone, it can turn into a disaster. Wisdom prepares her feast and sends out a personal invitation to all. She makes sure everything is taken care of so her guests can feel welcome. Sounds very classy, doesn't it?

Folly's invitation isn't so elegant:

"The woman Folly is loud;

she is undisciplined and without knowledge.
She sits at the door of her house,

on a seat at the highest point of the city,
calling out to those who pass by,

who go straight on their way.
"Let all who are simple come in here!"

she says to those who lack judgment.

"Stolen water is sweet;

food eaten in secret is delicious!"

- Proverbs 9:13-17

How crass! Folly is loud, undisciplined, lacks knowledge, yet she manages to attract the simple with her promises of excitement. What is the end for those who follow her?

"But little do they know that the dead are there,

that her guests are in the depths of the grave."

- Proverbs 9:18

Yikes! Doesn't sound like the kind of party I want to go to! Not everything that sounds fun is wise. Think carefully before taking that next step: is it wise, or am I stepping into the house of Folly?