Wisdom has builded her house. She hath hewn out
her seven pillars. She hath killed her beast.
She has mingled her wine. She has also furnished
her table. She has sent forth her maidens. She
cryeth upon the high places of the city. Whoso
is simple, let him turn and hither. As for him
that wanteth understanding, she sayeth to him,
Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine
which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish and
live, and go in the way of understanding. He
that reproveth a scornor geteth to himself shame,
and he that rebuketh a wicked man geteth himself
a blot. Reprove not a scornor, lest he hate thee.
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give
instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet
wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase
in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
For by me thy days shall be multiplied and the
years of thy life shall be increased. If thou
be wise thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if
thou scornest thou alone shall bear it. A foolish
woman is clamorous. She is simple and knows nothing.
For she sitteth at the door of her house, on
a seat in the high places of the city, to call
passengers who go right on their ways. Whoso
is simple, let him turn in hither. And as for
him that wanteth understanding, she sayeth to
him, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten
in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that
the dead are there, and that her guests are in
the depths of hell. Last time we talked about
the call of the wise woman. This week, we're
going to talk about the call of the foolish woman.
Who is the target audience of the foolish woman?
Those that are simple. Those that want understanding.
We find that the audience is the same as the
wise woman. When we are in need of understanding,
there are really only two choices. The wise woman's
house and the foolish woman's house. What are
the attributes of the foolish woman? Well, she's
clamorous, she's simple, and she knows nothing.
She's clamorous, so that means she's loud and
calling attention to herself. She's simple, she's
not educated, she's not seeking education, and
there is no depth educationally, spiritually,
or relationally. She knows nothing. American
culture does not value knowledge. The pervasive
attitude is, I don't need to know this, I will
never use this, so I don't need to pay attention.
For many, the attitude is, it's too hard to learn,
I will just Google it. Let me just say, you don't
know what God is going to call you to do in the
future. You don't know what skills you're going
to need in the future. If you blow off knowledge,
biblical or otherwise, you may not have the tools
you need when you get where God is leading you.
Prepare now. The foolish woman says that she
has everything that the wise woman has, but really,
she does not. And if we are going to be wise,
we have to be able to discern what wisdom is
and what foolishness is. The sales pitch is the
same. Can you tell me one thing that you prefer
the name brand over the generic? For me, it's
paint. Menards used to have a free paint with
a rebate. I tried it once. It was runny, it was
streaky, and now I always pay for the name brand
paint. The paint was advertised to be the same
as the name brand paint, but it was not the same.
I couldn't tell the difference until the paint
was on the wall. I remember wearing my, another
one is I remember wearing my first pair of Clarks.
They were so comfortable, a really great shoe.
They were leather and held up well. After a few
years, I was looking to buy them again, but as
I tried them on, they weren't anything like they
used to be. They felt cheap and unable to hold
up to the wear and tear. It used to be a good
product, but the company was sold and the new
owners were trying to increase their profit margin.
The logo was the same, the price was the same,
but the product was not the same. A lot of us
get our information from social media. We follow
people to learn how to do things or because we
enjoy how they do things or we find them entertaining.
There are a lot of hacks or how -to videos. Whether
we notice it or not, the people we follow have
a worldview. And though it may not be obvious,
our thinking is shaped by the people we listen
to. What we consume with our eyes either aligns
with the wise woman or the foolish woman, and
we need to be able to discern what wisdom is
and what foolishness is. One way we know whether
who we are following is wise or foolish is if
they're appealing to their audience in a sensual
way. I mean, appealing to the five senses, specifically
sexual appeal. We know from Proverbs 7 that the
foolish woman is called a strange woman. That
means a woman who is an adulteress, a woman who
appeals to the sensual or sexual desires. The
idea of the foolish woman calling to those who
pass by is extremely relevant in our society.
Women sell everything. Men like it because they
see the woman and they think if I buy the product
I get the woman. The woman thinks if I buy the
product I am the woman. Social media is driven
by the sensual appeal, specifically the sexual
appeal of people selling, people driving up the
amount of followers and increasing the amount
of likes. The method by which people become influencers
is by being clamorous, calling attention to themselves.
They must do things that get the attention of
the viewers. While social media is not all bad,
we need to be thoughtful about who we're following
by critically thinking about what it is that
is appealing to us about their account. Are we
listening to the call of the foolish or the call
of the wise? Our bodies are the temple or the tabernacle
of God. First Corinthians three and six. The
temple was a movable structure where God interacted
with men. There was no sign on it that said, temple
meet with God here! It was plain and drab. All
the beauty was on the inside. The embroidery,
the gold, the beautiful color was all on the
inside. 1 Peter 3 .3 says, For in this way the
holy women of former times who hoped in God also
used to adorn themselves Being subject to their
own husbands Just as Sarah obeyed Abraham Calling
him Lord and you have proved to be her children
if you do what is right without being frightened
by any fear It is the call of the wise that says
focus on the inside It is the call of the foolish
that calls us to focus on what others can see
We often focus on the apeal of our clothes, our
homes, our food, our vacations, our dogs. We
can spend an awful lot of time on our outside,
but it is the inside of us that matters. It's
our relationship with our husbands and our response
to his leadership that will actually matter.
The world tells us it is the beautiful woman
on the outside that will have the amazing husband
and relationship. But it is the woman who can
respond well to leadership and has good character
that is really attractive to God and man. Here
we come back to the fact that it is the preparation
of our character that drives our success, prosperity,
and well -being. The earlier we start intentionally
preparing our character, the sooner we will find
the blessing and prosperity of the Lord. I can
tell you that I see the Lord blessing people
at the age of 16 and 17 because of wise choices
they made when they were nine. I see people in
their 20s being blessed because of choices they
made when they were in their teens. And I have
seen women making changes in their 30s and 40s
and watched as their lives started overflowing
with blessings. We can follow the call of the
wise woman at any time. Though the call of the
foolish woman sounds similar, we can discern
the difference and make better choices that will
pay off in the years to come.