August 1

Aug 1 - Today from Proverbs 1 we look at verses 28-31
"Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice but spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes."

You really need to read the entire chapter in order to get a proper perspective on this passage. This is not God speaking in the first person; it is a literary form known as 'personification', giving animation to an inanimate object. The object speaking in this case is wisdom. The basic lesson contained therein is this; "Wisdom is best learned through instruction and applied through action." Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Let's look at a practical situation:
When I went into basic training before serving as an infantryman in Viet Nam, I didn't know much about taking instruction. Basic Training is just that. It is a time and place where trained and experienced people take a bunch of cocky, self-serving 18 and 19 year old 'boys' off the street and break them down to a place where they learn to respect and yield to authority. I hated it! But, it was very effective for the next step in training; AIT - Advanced Infantry Training. Here I learned about every weapon I would likely be using. I learned about the unique ways of the enemy I would be facing, and how to counter their warfare. I learned how incredibly dependent we fellow soldiers were to be on each other in unfamiliar field conditions. I learned how to read topographical maps. I learned that my M-16 rifle was to be a part of my anatomy, and how to take it apart and put it together at night in a rainstorm. I learned all of this through lots of instruction. I grew up a lot in those six months of my life. When I was finally shipped to the front and was placed in a real war there was little time for instruction. You had better know what you are doing when the bullets are real and the terrain is unfamiliar. There I learned that the foxhole is no place to make a determination that you're going to learn warfare. I learned that fear can freeze your mind and that your reflexes can save your life. Reflexes which were instilled through hours of repetitious instruction and training. If one had chosen to remain cocky, to goof off and to just get by rather than to pay attention and learn in Basic Training and AIT, one was in serious trouble when sent to the front lines.
Wisdom is learned through instruction and applied through action.
That is a rather intense example, but the analogy is perfect. We learn about the reality of life through God's Word. God has sent and preserved His Word that we might receive proper instruction. He encourages us to read, study, meditate upon and memorize His Word so that when we get into a crunch situation which might cause the mind to freeze, the Word which we have hid in our heart will be a life-saving reflex. Whether it is through temptation, discipline or spiritual warfare, His Word is our sure weapon. If we choose to ignore serious study, to get by and to 'goof off' with lesser important things, then when we need the wisdom to get through a serious situation - it won't be there. There is nothing of God's Word stored inside that will reflexively respond. "They will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes." By ignoring God's instruction, the only thing we can depend upon in those crunch situations is that which we have chosen to depend on in the calmer times - our own ways. They work fine when there are no real bullets and everything seems to be going our way. But our ways are so myopic when we are thrown onto the battlefield. It's a comfort to know that God sees the big picture - ALWAYS - and we can fully depend upon His ways.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -God, Isaiah 54:9