The Invitations Of Wisdom And Folly

God’s laws were not given to make our lives difficult, but to make them full and meaningful. To miss this important point is to accept Folly’s invitation to walk the path of the fool. The Bible describes the godless with these words: “There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin” (Psalm 36:1-2). But as for the righteous, the Bible says, “The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (Psalm 147:11).

But there is a second part of Wisdom’s invitation: Wisdom’s invitation is a call to avoid deception. The woman Folly is “undisciplined and without knowledge” (v. 13). Her call sounds the same as Wisdom’s invitation at first: “‘Let all who are simple come in here!’ she says to those who lack judgment” (v. 16). But her message is quite different: “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” (V. 17). She claims that evil is fun and more pleasurable than good. Folly is actually a prostitute who tries to tell her customers that illicit pleasures are better than true love. Her manner and speech are deceptive as she swaggers and sways. In reality she has not prepared a meal for anyone, she only promises that there is food to steal. The writer says that those who follow her fall into a trap: “But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave” (v. 18). Some here may be being deceived and seduced by the woman folly as she appears in Internet pornography and cyber relationships. It is a deadly trap that will destroy you. Still others are buying this cultures attitudes on truth and morality. You want to cast off restraint. Beware of walking that dangerous road.

The apostle Paul warned: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8). The deceit working in the world today is the attempt to claim that there is no transcendent, objective truth. Everyone has their own truth, and you should not try to impose your truth on someone else. Truth has fallen on hard times. The idea that God is the author of truth, and that the world is held together by his truth is no longer accepted in the public square. Truth is not discovered, according to current thinkers, it is created. Each person constructs their own truth within their frame of reference.

Derek Bok, president of Harvard, expressed this form of thinking when he said, “Today’s course in applied ethics does not seek to convey a set of moral truths, but tries to encourage the student to think carefully about complex moral issues.... The principal aim of the course is not to impart ‘right answers’ but to make the student more perceptive in detecting ethical problems when they arise.” That may sound fine until you realize the assumption is that there are no moral truths, and each individual should make up their own mind after careful thought. The deception goes like this: if there is no truth then I get to make up my own truth. If there are no “right answers” then I can go by my answers and follow my own standards rather than God’s. If there is no God, I get to be God. If the woman Folly can win us over here her deception is complete.