Harsh Word
Anyone who has read through the wisdom literature in scripture knows that the word “fool” is a very harsh term. In fact, Proverbs says that corporal punishment is intended to be used in order to correct them as one would an animal.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools.
Proverbs 26:3
The fool is presented as a person too committed to folly for one to reason them out of it. It’s not so much that they haven’t been told or couldn’t understand as it is that they don’t care.
While our society may consider itself “nicer than God” today for not so much as using terms like this, the reality is that a fool is not necessarily hopeless provided someone is willing to offer them correction. Perhaps where reason did not break through, consequence will leave a mark.
Hardened Foolishness
However, there is a verse which speaks of a person even more hopeless than the average fool.
Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
Proverbs 26:12
There is more hope for a fool than for him.
Instead of being indifferent to wisdom, this type of person counts himself wise for his rejection. It’s not simply that he thinks of wisdom as not important to him, but he’s elevated his foolishness as superior!
To be “wise in one’s own eyes” is not to acknowledge the wisdom one has. This verse isn’t talking about “a wise man knows that he knows nothing” in the most extreme sense. Instead, it is important to understand “in his own eyes”.
This is someone not in pursuit of wisdom according to anyone but himself. He has no need to consult what God has said is wisdom. He need not even ask his friends. He will decide for himself what wisdom is and then strive only for that.
Shockingly Common
A man who is given to reckless living may not be practicing wisdom, but he may also not consider himself to be a wise man. He doesn’t act so much out of a sense that his way is best as out of an indifference to pursuit of the best way.
While this can be disastrous, it can also simply be immaturity that naturally works its way out as a person is confronted with the consequences of foolishness. Throughout all of history, the world has had no end of fools. We’re born without knowledge that the stove is hot. While some take our parents word for it, others will find out for themselves the hard way. In either case, few continue to touch it intentionally once they know what a hot stove feels like!
What is truly disturbing is how this more hopeless brand of foolishness has seemed to increase. More and more people believe that wisdom is best found by blocking out so much as consideration of God and the council of others. Any correction is seen as evil on the part of the one correcting and any authority higher than themselves is seen as tyrannical.
Worse yet, some have the audacity to call themselves “Christian” while celebrating lawlessness as if it were a virtue. There are entire congregations of people who believe they’re best representing Christ by promoting the very opposite of his commands. They count themselves as more wise and loving for throwing off the “silly” traditions passed down from the faithful through the ages.
This is the spirit of the present age. A sense of “enlightenment” apart from God. They don’t compare themselves to the standard of scripture to determine how wise they are being. Their “wisdom” has been perfected by ignoring any evidence that what they’re actually doing is foolishness. Just as it is easy to make crime statistics go down when one simply does not report crime, people imagine they have avoided foolishness by simply declaring themselves the standard of wisdom.
Discernment requires that we tell the difference between those who are simply immature and those who have set themselves against wisdom. For one grace may be a mercy. For the other, it is a kindness that will not lead them to repentance, for they approve of their ways in their own eyes.
