The book of Proverbs is a wisdom literature book. As expected, it is filled with teachings about wisdom, prudence, moral behaviour, virtues, and the likes. One of the common themes in that book is to seek wisdom; to fear the Lord because it is the beginning of wisdom; to seek wisdom more than gold, and the exhortation is recurring throughout the chapters. Moreover, in the book of Proverbs another theme we see often is the warning of the father to his son against the foolish person or the adulterous woman. In the bible, the fool is often associated with the sluggard, the wicked, the mocker, the proud, and altogether they form the type of people to avoid at all cost and to not imitate in any way for their habits lead to destruction.
Unfortunately, we live in a society where morality is no longer to be found, a society that encourages many bad behaviours among which is laziness. With all the technological gadgets and the advance in technology, we have everything we need to continue to keep us lazy and on our bed. The bible’s depiction of the lazy person is never in a good light. He is often described as someone who brings poverty (Proverbs 6:10) or like in Proverbs 26 as someone who buries his hand in the dish and is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth (Proverbs 26:15). This is by no means flattering, if you continue to read in the following verse of the same chapter, you see that “the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly (verse 16, emphasis mine)”. I have personally only equated laziness with not wanting to work, being “disinclined to activity or exertion” as the Merriam-Webster dictionary puts it. But the bible takes the definition one step further and simply warns the readers against all type of laziness for, it is foolishness. Another very interesting characteristic of a lazy person is that the lazy person is not prone to wait, does not want to wait and will use any means necessary to avoid waiting. Therefore, when you have impatience coupled with a disinclination to work you find many temporary solutions to problems, quick fixes, cut corners, poverty, time wasted and more. Sadly, we have become accustomed to laziness, for example, we are good procrastinators of important work we must carry, and we often use the excuse of being “busy”, while the truth of the matter is that we are simply lazy; the irony of it all is that we do give the appearance of busyness. We like to keep tasks at hand for tomorrow as though tomorrow were promised. James warns us in chapter four saying we should be more humble recognizing that we are small creatures whose lives appear as a mist and then vanish; additionally, we ought to include the Lord in our plans making because we do not know what tomorrow will bring or whether or not we will be alive to do what we had planned tomorrow. He therefore cautions us to not boast about time we do not control (James 4:13-15). There are many reasons why the bible warns us against foolish people. I will highlight three here.
The first reason is that the foolish person does not fear the Lord. Because he is wise in his own eyes, the foolish disregards authority, disregards honour and simply looks to his own understanding and ways to navigate life. Such attitude is a direct opposition to God, it is filled with pride. And we know that there is only One God, the creator of heaven and earth, the One who commanded his people to love Him and Him only, the One who will not share His glory with anyone; the only One that must be honoured, revered and obeyed. No wonder God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Being foolish is simply displacing God and equating one’s self with God.
The second reason that the bible warns us about foolishness is that it leads to destruction. In Proverbs 9, folly is equated to a woman – undisciplined and without knowledge – who calls out in the street to those passing by, those who go straight in their way in order to make them turn away from their way. She lures them like an adulterous woman with many lies such as “stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious” yet only the dead are her company. All those who come to her (folly) are headed for destruction. Being wise in his own eyes does not bring you anywhere but closer to death. What is striking is that fools detest turning from evil, they enjoy their predicament (Proverbs 14). Unfortunately, a foolish person not only leads himself to destruction but also his companions. Just like Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15 “bad company corrupts good character” so it is with those that walk with fools, they become corrupted. There really is enmity between a foolish person and God because the foolish person represents all that God hates, he is not in the image of God while practicing his foolishness rather, he is in the image of his father who is the father of lies.
The third and final reason the bible warns us against foolishness is that it is self-centered, it only thinks about its pleasure even when it is not time for pleasure. In Ecclesiastes, we see the fool only concerned with feasting, and enjoyment but nothing that will make him think and ponder about his life. Fools are simply in quest for what or who will make them happy at all costs, they are not concerned about the welfare of those around them, they are only concerned about themselves.
There is so much that can be said on this topic of foolishness and its ramifications in our daily lives, how it appears in many forms such as laziness, mockery, lying, irritation, impatience, etc.; how it is easy to not think that some of our actions are foolish and that they can lead to death; how it is easy to think of foolishness as simply an attitude that can be shaken off easily with not impacts but the warning in the Word of God is clear. Foolishness is not to be sought after; wisdom is. Wisdom fears the Lord, wisdom puts God in his right place in our lives, wisdom brings us closer to God, wisdom creates in us characters that are found in the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). Wisdom keeps us closer to the Lord, it allows us to reflect our Maker. Let us seek wisdom!
A Word Aptly Spoken 