Wisdom’s Call to Repentance – Proverbs chapter 1, verses 20 to 33
The tragedy that stunned the world
In 1912 the unsinkable Titanic, after ignoring 7 warnings, struck an iceberg and sank with great loss of life. “It is a lamentable fact and a remarkable coincidence that the sinking of the Titanic was caused by an iceberg the report of which she had transmitted by radio. . . . Had she but heeded the one warning that she transmitted she would probably have saved herself.” (from the 1912 official report)
Wisdom’s warning
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
21 on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:22 ‘How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
Proverbs 1:20-23
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.
Wisdom is personified as a woman calling out in the public space. Wisdom is accessible, we don’t have to go far to find it. She says “turn around!” But we are poor listeners. “How long!” she cries – “Listen, listen, listen… “
Wisdom’s rejection
But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you –
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.28 ‘Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
Proverbs 1:24-30
they will look for me but will not find me,
29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord.
30 Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
Here is rejection, beyond simple ignorance. Fools may mock wisdom, simple may ignore it, but wisdom will have the last laugh. Sounds harsh, but this is poetic truth, for those who “hated knowledge … and spurned my rebuke” v29-30, who hated wisdom and God. Yet help is available to all who turn to God, as the thief on the cross received. But the time will come when there is no more time to repent.
Wisdom’s reminder
they will eat the fruit of their ways
Proverbs 1:31-33
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.’
Uncontrolled desires lead us to sin and sin gives birth to death. Lust lures us to the cliff’s edge, but Wisdom calls us back, “turn!” v33
Jesus was also ignored, rejected, and killed, but He rose again for us. There is hope! “Turn!” Turn to Him.
