Week 22 Proverbs 1
Proverbs is manual – a guide – for living in a wise way.
It’s safe to say that Solomon figures I shouldn’t just live a spontaneous undirected random casual self-directed crowd-influenced easy-going devil-may-care life. His view is that I need to find The Way. The Way informs & directs & focuses me. Walking The Way is what Solomon calls the path of wisdom.
So – broadly-speaking – there are two possible avenues:
1) I can decide to do what I decide to do for whatever personal or group reasons that go into making my decisions (Solomon thinks this kind of action-taking is foolish. He doesn’t exactly name it The Fool’s Way…but that’s the idea).
2) I can decide to do what I decide to do based on the code of The Way (Solomon doesn’t call it The Wise Way…just The Way).
Choosing which way to follow isn’t a purely neutral choice. Solomon says foolish people have already decided to despise wisdom and discipline. They reject the Lord. Ignore his advice. Love their own way. Hate knowledge. So when a foolish person decides not to choose The Way it’s really hardly even a choice. It’s more like just carrying on as usual (if my default is to hate The Way why-in-the-world would I choose it?)
Anyway…Solomon begins by mapping out my options: a) I can try to start following The Way or b) I can disregard it.
Note: quote from Proverbs 1:7 (NIV). And see 1:22 24 25 29.