May 10

May 10 - Today from Proverbs 10 we look at verse 23
"A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom."

This is a proverb of contrasts. The first thing we can note is that fools lack understanding. Of what? Of life the way God meant it to be. The contrast continues to reveal not only in what stimulates the fool and the man of understanding, but how it stimulates them.
There is a difference between the terms used for pleasure and delight here. For the fool, pleasure is a goal. Fools pursue pleasure by executing plans of evil conduct. For the man of understanding, delight is a result. Men of understanding pursue wisdom and are delighted when they find it. The difference between the fool and the man of understanding is the object of their pursuit in life.
The fool finds pleasure. The writer of this proverb doesn't deny the reality that pleasure is to be found in evil conduct. What is evil conduct? It is the perversion of life the way God meant it to be. For instance, a man and woman are to discover sexual delight in the sacrament of matrimony. One man, one woman, a commitment to love and honor one another 'til death do they part. That's life the way God meant it to be. Pervert that sexuality and make pleasure the goal and you come up with all kinds of evil conduct in order to achieve the goal of pleasure. The fool will indeed find pleasure in it, but will never find the deeper meaning of life and the delight of the hidden benefits of a life-long relationship while he continues to pursue pleasure. Moments of pleasure eat away at the sustenance of life. One can extrapolate this principle into every sort of evil conduct. Sin perverts. Righteousness brings understanding and delight.
Did you ever get a glimpse into a new truth? I mean like when you're reading the Bible, or meditating on a biblical principle and suddenly the Holy Spirit illuminates that passage or thought and it becomes a brilliant key which serves to unlock several other truths for you? Delight is hardly adequate to describe the feeling that comes over you in such moments. It so surpasses pleasure that you can hardly contain the joy that wells up in your heart. That joy comes from knowing that the revelation did not come from within yourself, but that the sovereign and eternal God of the universe chose to reveal it to you. It is but one more indication that your Father in heaven delights in YOU!
I have lived the life of the fool and indeed have found pleasure in evil conduct. But those pleasures are memories at best. There is no substance to them - at all. But God rescued me from that road to death. By His grace I now live the life of the man of understanding who pursues wisdom. I have been delighted in ways unspeakable through my relationship with my heavenly Father. There is tremendous substance in wisdom and understanding. They have eternal value. There is no comparison. The fool died when I gave my heart to Christ, and I became a brand new creature (2 Cor. 5:17). The fool seems but a faint memory now, another lifetime. I would not go back; there is not enough pleasure in this world. My goal is to continue to pursue wisdom, and to do it with passion. It is frustrating at times when Jesus is more knowledge than presence. But I guess that is one of the reasons why He gave us the gift of faith. We have something to fall back on when the perversions of life may seem to be more real than life. One day we will be free from the very presence of evil conduct - forever. I look forward to that day, because I will then truly be home. But until that day, His grace is sufficient.
What are your pursuits in life today?