Proverbs 16:22 (ESV) … “Good sense is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but the instruction of fools is folly.”
Trust is a dangerous thing. It means placing our welfare, our well-being, in the hands of another. Therefore, trust is only as safe as the thing or person we’re trusting in. Sometimes we don’t have any option. For example, if we must have emergency surgery in a hospital, we must trust the doctor or die. Other times we do have options. We might decide not to invest our money with a given person because we don’t trust him to look out for our best interests.
We must make the choice of whether to trust. In those situations, we look at the past to guide us in the future. If the person or thing has demonstrated trustworthiness in the past, we are comfortable trusting him or it for the future. If the person or thing has not demonstrated trustworthiness in the past, we are not comfortable trusting him or it for the future. It is as simple as that. That is why Solomon spends so much time telling us the results of wisdom and the results of foolishness. When we see how consistently foolishness produces pain and how consistently wisdom produces joy, there is every reason to trust God and follow his principles of wisdom in life.
The fool is blind to such insight and charges ahead in his foolishness, proving himself to be a fool in the process. But when wisdom calls out in the streets, she doesn’t know who will respond in wisdom and who will respond in foolishness. The old proverb says, “A word to the wise is sufficient.” And so it is. If there is any capacity for wisdom in the heart of the hearer, he or she will respond in faith and obedience to God.[1]
In Christ & Friends Always,
Bro. Chris.
