Several of the readings over the past few days have described God's warnings to Solomon and to the people he rules. "Follow God's instructions; obey God's commands, or else." Solomon seems to get that message and says so in the words spoken by the personification of wisdom of which he writes in the form of a proverb:
[The personification of wisdom says,] "Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." (Proverbs 1:28-33)
God's message through Solomon rings so true to me: "Listen up, world! If we have no awe, no respect for the Lord, then we'll get not what God gives, but what we devise on our own."
We humans have originated amazing developments--everything from row crops to rocket travel. But some of those same developments have caused or contributed to pollution, violence, exploitation, greed, and all kinds of inhumanity. Eating the fruit of our own ways and filled with the harvest of our own schemes, we seem possessed by insatiable hungers, thirsts, and desires still.
Who is willing to be taught wisdom today?
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