God in Our Lifes
God in our lives. There is no point to have money if we do not have God. For example, “Great wealth without the peace Of God has little benefit” (1 6; 28:6). Also, ‘Wealth gained through corruption will eventually be judged” (22: 16, 22-23; 28:8, 20). There are so many proverbs on wealth and poverty, but the general idea is that working hard leads to wealth, and laziness and corruption leads to poverty. These are general principles that can be followed but are not always perfect in design.
The book of Hebrews also speaks of sides and folly, especially chapter 9. For example, in Proverbs 9, two women are compared: one is wisdom and one is folly. The one named Wisdom built her home around seven pillars and prepared a feast for everyone who wanted to attend. She even cried out loudly so that everyone could hear her invitation. On the other hand, the woman of folly cried out even louder. She is without knowledge but still cries out to those “who are straight on their way’ (Provo. 9:15).
Her main target is believers who are following God and she will keep crying louder and louder. This applies to the world today because it is easier to give in to the woman of folly, because she is screaming so loudly. Just as the book of Proverbs compares diligence and laziness, it also compares wisdom to folly. It is almost as if they are on opposite sides of a scale and one will always weigh more in our lives. Hinds and Yates explain that the book of Proverbs “continually presents a sharp contrast between the life of wisdom and the life of folly” (p. 263).
Wisdom and folly is “often a contrast between righteousness and sidedness,” and the contrast is not for a person with “street smarts,” but a person with a close relationship with God (p. 263). This means that it does not matter how many education degrees a person has, if they are not close with God, and fearing God, they cannot possibly be wise. This would apply to a wealthy business owner who seems to have it all, but does not have God so he is a fool. Smartness from the world’s perspective is not wisdom in God’s eyes. Bibliography Hinds, Deed and Gary Yates. Essence Of the Old Testament: A Survey. Nashville: publishing, 2012.
