Repentance and Discernment

"Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding... Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding... If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers who go right on their ways: Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell" (From Prov. 9). Here we see the classical Bible illustration of the two spirits that we can follow after, the one being God's Spirit, and the other the spirit of the world, meaning Satan's spirit. The beloved apostle told us that there is both a "spirit of truth, and [a] spirit of error" in this world, which we can follow (I Jn. 4:6). Those two spirits are represented here in Proverbs 9 by the woman of wisdom and the foolish woman. You may note that both women called out to those who were without understanding to come into their respective houses to eat with them. Both of these women had something to offer those who lack understanding, and the one who's offer is accepted will own your soul or mine.

The truth is that as long as we're in this world we have the ability to choose to follow after God's 'Spirit of truth,' or to follow after Satan's lies. Both God and Satan are close to people who are in need, and who lack the understanding about what path to take in their lives. Whatever circumstances we may find ourselves in, there will be an offer from both sides of the spiritual fence, to go in their respective directions. Both of these spirits will give us thoughts as to why we should go in their particular direction, and the one we choose to shut out will be the loser and will not win our soul. The other will be the winner, and we will bear the fruit of the spirit that manages to gain us to its side. Note that the woman of wisdom in the story exhorts us to "forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding." In regard to both of these spirits seeking to gain us to their side, James told us, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (Jas. 4:7). If we keep ourselves purified by the power of the holy Ghost, we will have the strength to resist the devil, and as James said, he has to flee from us. When we stand off the devil and choose to go God's way instead, we gain divine understanding of the path of holiness. As it says, "the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Our text clearly informs us that someone who has wisdom can be taught and corrected, and will become wiser thereby. The reason is simple, and it comes back to what James said about "submitting [ourselves] to God," or humbling ourselves to God. A humble heart can be taught or reproved without being obstinate and resistant. When someone who is stouthearted is corrected they will buck and resist, as our text also tells us. The woman of wisdom let us know in no uncertain terms that whether we choose to be wise or foolish, we will be the one who will either benefit from it, or suffer consequence by the choice. Only you can choose for you, and only I can choose for me, what we care to be.

The characteristic of the foolish woman, who represents the spirit of the world, is that she is 'clamorous,' which is to say loud, or outspoken. That demonstrates and immediate distinction between the two spirits, because the scriptures clearly tell us, "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding" (Prov. 17:28). Again the scriptures clarify this trait of foolishness, saying, "and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words" (Eccl. 5:3). Unlike what this world thinks, wisdom is marked most often by quietness and restraint, not by a going on of constant talk. Our text also tells us that the foolish woman is 'simple,' which is basically to say stupid; and that she "knows nothing." So while a foolish person may be full of words, what they have to say is generally worthless, and does no one any actual good,especially themselves. The next thing we see about the foolish woman is very key to the whole understanding, and that is that she appeals to a person's inclination to hide things, rather than to bring them to light. It's worth repeating for sure: "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." This is particularly important to understand when it comes to failure, which is somewhere we have all been at one point or another, to one degree or another. If we have fallen short in something, the only right thing to do about it is to open it up before the Lord for what it is. The beloved apostle gave us the straight, simplistic way to remedy a failure of God's holiness: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I Jn. 1:9). It's interesting to note what he said just before that as well: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I Jn. 1:6,7). Things that are opened up are exposed to the light, whereas things that are hidden are hidden somewhere in the dark.

The spirit of this world wants us to be hiders, and to keep things in secret that should be opened up. I really can't stress the significance of this element enough. The apostle Paul added the following to the discussion: "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid" (I Tim. 5:24,25). Both men gained that wisdom from the one who IS Wisdom, who also told us the following: "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops" (Lk. 12:1-3). It is clearly not the Spirit of God that would lead us to be secretive about things that should be opened up to God, and sometimes to men as well. This is not to say that we can't have things that are kept to ourselves, just not things that need to be exposed. Of course the final depiction of our illustration of the foolish woman, or the spirit of error, is that those who follow that spirit are going to end up in hell. In fact the scripture clearly says that those who lack understanding and choose the wrong path, don't even know that they are headed straight to hell with both eyes open, as it has been said. So allow me to say what it is that actually motivates our decision on which spirit we choose to follow, and which path we choose to take in our lives. It is very simply a choice of moral taste. Whatever we are more inclined to morally will cause us to naturally believe the thoughts that are injected into our minds by one or the other of these spirits. Men today have lost sight of the stark reality that there are things that are distinctively good morally, and that there are things that are distinctively evil morally. God has given us a conscience that bears witness to his nature, and therefore when it's all said and done no one has any excuse to choose to be evil.

Seeing that man got himself under the power of sin, God sent his only begotten Son to pay the price for our sins, to redeem us from the power of sin, and to give us freedom to serve God in holiness. Anyone who refuses that offering from the Almighty will be held accountable for their rejection of his love, and of his Son's suffering and death. Jesus gave us a perfect summary of the Gospel, and of man's accountability to it: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God" (Jn. 3:16-21). That sounds a whole lot like some of the stuff we've already covered here, for sure. It comes back to whether we choose to live openly in the light, or whether we would rather hide things in the dark. Like Jesus said, those who are inclined to morally good and wholesome things, are going to naturally come to the light; and the contrary part will remain in darkness. I'll close with something from the woman of wisdom, and that is that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." To clarify that saying, I'll borrow from Job's wisdom: "And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding" (Job 28:28). So we must be able to acknowledge that there are things that are morally good, and things that are morally evil. Then if we are wise we will do as Job said, and we will fear God and depart from evil. It really is that simplistic. Amen.