Did you know that in Proverbs 9, the voice of wisdom and the voice of folly are actually calling out the exact same thing? At separate times in the chapter, they both call out, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!" And then they both promise pleasurable things to those that walk in their door. So, if they are calling out the same thing, how do we know which voice to follow??
Familiarity.
If we spend time gleaning wisdom, we'll learn to recognize that it is a different voice than the voice of folly. Where do we find wisdom? In God's Word! In the parable of the Good Shepherd in John 10, Jesus says that (his) sheep know the voice of their shepherd and they follow it. How do they know his voice? Familiarity. They are with the shepherd and they get used to hearing his voice. They also flee from the voice of strangers, because they don't know the voice of strangers!
Proverbs 7:4 says, "Say to wisdom, 'You are my sister' and call insight your intimate friend."
Proverbs 3:15 says, "She [wisdom] is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her."
And Proverbs 4:7 says, "The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you..."
Listen to God's Word, make it your intimate friend and turn away from the (hopefully unfamiliar) voice of folly.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear..."
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These thoughts are gleaned from a simple Bible study book I am going through on the book of Proverbs called "God's Answers For Today's Problems" from The New Inductive Study Series by Kay Arthur and Pete
DeLacy. Look for my review of this Bible study in tomorrow's post!
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