Day 42: Foxhole prayers - Proverbs 1 vs 20 -33
20-23 Wisdom shouts in the streets. She cries out in the public square. She calls to the crowds along the main street, to those gathered in front of the city gate: “How long, you simpletons, will you insist on being simpleminded? How long will you mockers relish your mocking? How long will you fools hate knowledge? Come and listen to my counsel. I’ll share my heart with you and make you wise.”
24-27 “I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you - when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you.” 28-31 “When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes.” 32-33 “For simpletons turn away from me to death - fools are destroyed by their own complacency. But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.” Proverbs 1:20-33 New Living Translation
It's not a good idea to put one's hopes in a foxhole prayer! The old saying is that ‘there are no atheists in foxholes!’ That's probably true of sinking ships and viral plagues too. When faced with life threatening situations people often reach out for God, even though they'd ignored Him all their life. In God's grace people can be saved in desperate situations - it happened to the man on the cross next to Jesus who cried out for salvation, and Jesus promised he would be in paradise - but today’s reading shows that people must not take for granted that God will hear them when a crisis hits.
Interestingly, 'Wisdom' is personified here as a woman crying out to people bustling about in the city square. (The Bible is not a 'sexist' book as some insist). What was she offering people in vs 20-23?
Verses 24-31 give a fearful possibility of what might be the result of a 'foxhole prayer' when the only reason for praying was not remorse for sin, but simply to save one's skin! And before anyone suggests 'Wisdom' was being cruel – look again at what she testifies against the people of doing throughout their lives who were now suddenly seeking her favour? (I counted at least 6 charges against those who hated the wisdom of God.)
Verses 32-33 sum it up well. There's a huge difference between complacency about our soul and true obedience to God's wisdom. It's a life and death difference.
2 Corinthians 7 vs 8-10 is a good example of how we should respond to God's wisdom, even when it pricks our conscience! The apostle writes: “I'm not sorry now for the severe letter I sent you . . . I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you . . . but now I'm glad I sent it because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways! It was the kind of sorrow God wants His people to have (about sin) so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”
May we be those who embrace God’s wisdom each day of our life now, and not leave it till when life is slipping away.