Proverbs 1:25

The Creator God kindly offered Lady Wisdom as your guide. Do not consider making light of God’s will for your life. Do not choose your own way over God’s way for you. The first chapter of Proverbs has severe warnings for those that neglect God’s kind offer of wisdom in creation, providence, conscience, scripture, and teachers (Pr 1:20-32).

Your worst nightmare is coming, and God and Lady Wisdom will laugh at you and mock you (Pr 1:26-27). You had your chance. In fact, you had many chances, but you were not interested in God’s gracious offer of wisdom (Pr 1:20-25). You were daydreaming; you were too busy; you were talking instead of listening. You treated His counsel as nothing, and you rejected His reproofs and warnings. Now it is too late. You are in serious trouble.

Before you judge this commentary as too harsh, read the proverb in its context. Get a view of God and Lady Wisdom’s ferocious judgment against impudent hearers (Pr 1:20-33). Who would best explain this text? Elijah, John the Baptist, Jesus, or Paul? Or do you prefer compromisers like Joel Osteen, Jimmy Dobson, or Benny Hinn? To get a full dose of the hammer and fire of God’s word, you need to leave the Girl Scouts (Jer 23:28-29).

If you attend a contemporary church or get your religion from a televangelist, you do not know the great and terrible God of the Bible (Deut 7:10; 10:17; Ps 47:2; 66:5; 99:3; Heb 10:31; 12:29). You have been nursed on purpose-driven flavored formula by a politically correct nursemaid, when the warning of this proverb deserves a thundering blast from one of God’s wild prophets. Your worst nightmare is coming. Who will get your attention?

The great God of heaven offers wisdom through the natural creation, parents, the Bible, and His preachers. He will not force you to listen to them – you can daydream, rebel, and do things your way – but He will grind you to powder for rejecting them (Pr 1:20-33; 29:1; Mal 2:1-3; Matt 21:43-46; Luke 8:18). He does not believe in your personal rights; He declares you personally responsible for how you treat Him (Pr 12:1; 28:9; Lev 26:18).

If you marry for love, instead of the fear of the Lord, He will laugh at your 50 years in marital hell (Pr 31:30; 30:21-23). If you choose Benny Spock’s or Jimmy Dobson’s child training ideas, He will laugh at your calamity and shame as spoiled brats ruin your life (Pr 17:25; 29:15). If you despise His rule to work hard at a boring job, He will laugh as Ponzi schemes and network marketing scams destroy you financially (Pr 12:11; 13:11).

If you choose to commit adultery against His many warnings, He will laugh at the death and hell that follow (Pr 2:18; 5:3-13; 7:24-27; 9:17-18). If you disobey or mock your parents, even by facial expressions, He will laugh as eagles eat your eyeballs (Pr 20:20; 30:17). If you emphasize physical appearance over character, then listen for His laughter as the world treats you like a grunting sow with a nose jewel (Pr 11:16,22). If you make light of your rulers, He will laugh at your coming calamity and ruin (Pr 24:21-22)!

He who laughs last laughs best! You may be laughing now at the efforts made by parents and pastors to get you to consider your ways and reform your life. You may smugly think you have things figured out and do not need to listen to them. But God will soon be laughing derisively at you, as anguish and terrors take your soul down into oblivion, like a tornado or hurricane destroys everything in its path (Pr 1:26-30; Ps 2:1-5; 37:13)

Reader! How do you treat God’s offers of wisdom? Does the natural creation humble you daily about God’s existence? Do you obey and honor your parents? Do you take time each day to read the Bible and meditate? Are you attentive and focused with a ready mind to hear His preachers explain it to you? If you are lax in one or more of these areas, there is trouble coming. He will not help you, even when you beg for help (Pr 1:26-30; 28:9).