Deep thoughts on a Tuesday night...

20 Wisdom calls aloud outside;
She raises her voice in the open squares.
21 She cries out in the chief concourses,[b]
At the openings of the gates in the city
She speaks her words:
22 “ How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.
23 Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
25 Because you disdained all my counsel,
And would have none of my rebuke,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your terror comes,
27 When your terror comes like a storm,
And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 “ Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the LORD,
30 They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
32 For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.”

These HARSH verses from Proverbs 2 are really poignant to me tonight. I know that they most obviously apply to unbelievers, but how often do we, as believers, ignore God's rebuke to us and choose complacency? How often would we rather believe in our own idea of God rather than walk in the fear of God? And how often do we choose our own way rather than listen to His counsel? And we are filled to full with our own worthless fancies, which are poison to us and put us in bondage to them. I know the answer for me is FAR TOO OFTEN. And we still belong to God, and he doesn't give up on us (thankfully) but we miss out on all the wisdom and blessing, service and life He has for us as we become entrapped in our own ways, and then we reap the consequences of a life lived for SELF. Thank God that He came to set us FREE from that sort of life! If only we would choose to live like it more often.