Pursuing Wisdom - Rejecting Folly

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All of life is a choice between wisdom and folly. We are all born foolish (Proverbs 22:15), but like we learned yesterday, we can all become wise, if we reject folly.

In the book of Proverbs, folly is also, like her counterpart wisdom, personified as a woman. She calls out to those who are naive. Her ways seem pleasant at the time, but in the end, her ways lead to death.

Notice the style of folly, and how it compares to an adulteress:

The Adulteress:

"For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice...a young man lacking sense...in the middle of the night and in the darkness...a woman comes to meet him, dressed as a harlot and cunning of heart. She is boisterous and rebellious, her feet do not remain at home...she seizes him and kisses him...I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh...come, let us drink our fill of love until morning...for my husband is not at home...with her many persuasions she entices him; with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter...he does not know that it will cost him his life." Proverbs 7:6-23

"For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharper as a two-edged sword. Her feet go to death...she does not ponder the path of life; her ways are unstable, she does not know it." Proverbs 5:3-6

The Woman of Folly:

"The woman of folly is boisterous, she is naive and knows nothing. She sits at the doorway of her house, on a seat by the high places of the city, calling to those who pass by, who are making their paths straight: whoever is naive, let him turn in here, and to him who lacks understanding she says, stolen water is sweet; and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the declare there." Proverbs 9:13-18

Characteristics Of A Foolish Woman

She trusts in her own heart (Proverbs 28:26)

She tears down her house with her own hands (Proverbs 14:1)

She does not listen to rebuke (Proverbs 13:1)

She despises wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7)

She hates being reproved (Proverbs 9:8)

She gossips/spreads slander (Proverbs 10:18)

She is lazy (Proverbs 6:6-11)

She is boisterous (Proverbs 9:13)

She is naive - she does not know she is foolish (Proverbs 9:13)

Unfortunately we all are women of folly so much of the time - it has to do with our sin natures. We cannot be wise without the source from which all wisdom flows.

Tomorrow, we will see the ultimate source of where we find wisdom, and the hope in which we can be redeemed from folly.