The Lord is no respecter of persons and definitely not a fan of fools. He dedicated an entire book to help us rid ourselves of what He establishes as foolish ways. Primarily I think because they lead to hurt, harm and danger – ultimately separating us from one another and from Him.

Stranger Danger
The Fool is Dangerous – a danger to himself and others. But why? What makes him foolish in the first place? The fool is blind. He doesn’t understand his propensity to cause harm. His actions can be likened to that of a bull in a china shop – at least they can have a similar unfortunate effect.

Why is The Fool Blind?
The Fool is blind because he abides far from The Light. Consequently The Fool lacks and even abhors wisdom. As one publication puts it: “Fools choose to value that which has no value. They choose to accept corrupt knowledge [behavior, and experiences] instead of that which leads to wisdom…” The Fool will be a stranger to those walking in The Light, and vice versa. In fact The Fool must be a stranger to The Light Bearers, for it is written: 1) “Escape quickly from the company of fools…” (Proverbs 14:7), and 2) “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (Proverbs 13:20). Stranger Danger!

Yet – let The Light Bearers not be fooled into a sense of false pride, for it is the power of The Light within us that heals blindness. It’s no light of our own. When we forget this truth, we become like fools, prone to blindness; stumbling and falling;’ tripping over the preceding pride, suffering the consequences – harming ourselves and others.

The State of Folly
Folly or foolishness can be acute – situational and temporary or a perpetual and chronic condition. And like most weakness or sickness, the acute can escalate to chronic in the absence of appropriate treatment and intervention. It seems we are all susceptible to one degree or another. For the Writer of Romans puts it this way.

“I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it..” Romans 8:17-20

So are foolishness and sin synonymous? Sometimes – as this reference in Psalms suggests “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.” (Psalms 5:5). Yikes!

At the very least foolishness and sin are closely related – if not interrelated – one easily giving way to the other, and spawning a vicious cycle, and downward spiral if left unchecked. It looks something like this:

Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Psalms107:17

The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. Proverbs 10:8

A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. Proverbs 18:7

The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools. Proverbs 3:35

The severity of these cause and effect admonitions are intended to steer us away from the after effects of folly that produces both undesirable immediate temporal – as in the here and now, and eternal consequences.

One writer notes the following observation related to Newton’s Third Law of Motion: To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.

“… Newton’s law has to do with the physical. However, it can be observed in regard to the fool, that his actions of disobedience, unbridled speech, anger, and knowledge without wisdom will result in opposite and equal consequences… The Bible is full of examples of people engaging in actions which are foolish and the negative physical consequences which follow. These are only partial consequences though. Physical consequences do not fully equal the opposite force of foolishness. Nor are they always consistent. Not every foolish action is going to have physical consequences. There are spiritual considerations which must be taken into account to balance out the equation.”

The Antidote
The Christ. To choose Him and learn what it means to revere Him is like Kryptonite to folly. He calls it the beginning of wisdom – and only the beginning … To seek after Him, to dwell with Him, and to follow Him can only result in greater wisdom still. This course, alien to its detractors, produces good fruit – unfortunately a result also alien to those preferring the passage of the fool. He is after all, according to His Word, a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Wise or Fool, both are rewarded. We get to decide the type of reward we want our temporal and eternal life to yield. One writer wrote:

“The fool and the wise are both rewarded by God in direct value to the deeds they have done in life. The equations of a man’s life can be changed from negative to positive and from positive to negative. An individual can choose to be foolish or wise or back to fool again. Great are the consequences of all selected choices.”

I would agree – with two exceptions grace and mercy. Thanks be to God that He has also made a way of escape from the ravages of our own folly. It’s not quite a linear equation after all.

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