The Dread of Evil

Proverbs 1:23-33

So, here’s a newsflash: I’m not a cook. Oh, I can whip up a few things if needed but let’s just say my cooking skills are pretty limited. When Patti and I were first married she discovered that quickly. For example, on one occasion I felt I needed to help her make the gravy. I thought it was too thin and it should be thicker. Apparently, I wasn’t aware of the process needed to thicken the gravy because I just dumped in a bunch of flour. That’ll do it.

Yep, that did it all right. Soon it was so thick you could break a wooden spoon just trying to stir it. Patti just sat back and let me help with a certain, “I told you so” look on her face. Of course, I couldn’t admit it was a disaster—my male ego was at stake—so I pretended it all looked fine and shoveled it out of the pan and onto my mashed potatoes. I even pretended for a few bites that it was really good, just like mom used to make.

Eventually the jig was up. I couldn’t pretend any more. It was terrible. Like eating wallpaper paste. Yes, it was true, I had totally messed up the gravy. I admit it. Patti was right. There, I feel much better now…. confession is good for the soul.

Messing up the gravy is one thing. Messing up your life is quite another. The problem with fools is they won’t listen. Everybody makes mistakes. We all blow it from time to time. That’s really not what we’re talking about here. The fool simply refuses to face reality, the gravy is terrible, you messed up, admit it!

Look around. As a culture we are so sure we know a better way to live. What could God know? Things will be so much better with me in charge, right? I would suggest the defining religion of our day is secularism. It has been forced on us in almost every environment under the myth of neutrality. 

We’ve taken God out of our schools and the public square as if He’s irrelevant to real life. Apparently, God needs to stay in church where He belongs and not come out and bother the real thinkers of our day. Sadly, the true God is not even welcome in many churches today. This is not neutrality; it’s secularism and it suits a culture of people that want to be their own gods just fine.

But at what cost? What if we don’t really know what we’re doing? What if the price tag for our rebellion is more than we want to pay? Then what? Well, then we pretend the gravy is really good and just keep eating it because we’re unwilling to admit our way is the wrong way.

Look around. How’s it going? Do you see a culture of happy people flourishing? Does this really taste better? How long will we blind ourselves to the obvious reality that what we’re doing as a culture is going to destroy us unless something changes?

Lady wisdom pleads with people to listen. She promises to reveal a better way (v. 23). But we won’t listen. We neglected her counsel and didn’t want her reproof (v. 25). So she’s going to laugh at our calamity that comes like a whirlwind and mock when our dread comes like a storm. In our distress we will call on her but she will not answer and we will seek her but will not find her (v. 28).

The result of that is we will eat of the fruit of our own way. The waywardness of the naïve will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them (v.32). 

What does this mean? It means if you eat enough bad gravy, you lose your taste for what good gravy should taste like. You start thinking that bad gravy is the only gravy there is, so you keep eating it. We become so consumed by our own foolishness we can no longer see out of the darkness to the light.

This does not mean that God sits and laughs at our pain or mocks our dread. It means the truth exposes how foolish we’ve become. Wisdom mocks our calamity by exposing our foolishness for what it is. The truth is out. Our way is not better. It’s a disaster. It’s hard to eat it’s so bad. But fools won’t admit it. They just keep pretending everything is fine.

There is a better way. “But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil (v. 33). It’s not too late for anyone who is willing to face reality and turn to God. Admit it, your way didn’t work. It’s time to listen to lady wisdom and do life God’s way.

But here’s the deal. The truth mocks the calamity of the day. It exposes it for what it is, and people don’t like that. They don’t want to be told their way of making the gravy didn’t work. The naïve will just keep eating bad gravy because they were told it’s good. The mocker will attack and try to silence anyone that suggests that the gravy could be better, and the know-it-all fool will never admit better gravy exists. 

If you are going to be serious about skillful living you have to accept that the culture around you will not admire you for it. You expose their folly, and they will resent that. Not only will they continue to eat bad gravy, but they will refuse to admit it’s bad. They happen to like wallpaper paste gravy.

We are called to be light in the world, but Jesus said people hate the light because it exposes their deeds and their deeds are evil (John 3:20). Skillful living is not the easy path. Don’t expect lots of applause or appreciation from those unwilling to face their own foolishness. But you will live securely and be at ease from the dread of evil. “O taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8).