Loud Voices

I've been in Proverbs lately. The first chapter includes,

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?" (Prov 1:20-22)

Proverbs is all about wisdom. Proverbs is, in fact, the quintessential example of "wisdom literature." In more than one place, Solomon personifies wisdom as a woman urging listeners to come to her, sometimes in direct contrast to the adulterous woman luring fools to her bed.

So here she is -- Wisdom -- crying out in the street. Why is she crying out? Because the streets are noisy. Because the call of wisdom is drowned out by the call of the world around. For us, it would most likely be said that Wisdom is drowned out by the media, from television and movies to Internet and smartphones. You'll have to listen carefully to hear Wisdom calling in all that din.

In 2018 Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick-Fil-A, was castigated for contributing some $1.8 million to "anti-LGBT causes." That would never do. But no one bats an eye when Jon Stryker of the Stryker Corporation forms a foundation that contributed $58.4 million to LGBT programs and organizations and added another $30 million himself. Nor do they care about the conglomerate of billionaires that are funding the movement. We don't care. You can tell, given the "yawn" offered by America at the Super Bowl ads touting LGBT as normal and, perhaps, preferable. You can tell by the fact that most don't much care that drag queens are invited into libraries and schools to give "story hour" to children. You can tell by the reality that "gender fluidity" advocacy is reaching a fever pitch despite science's certainty that there are only two sexes. You can tell by the fact that even Christians are losing sight of the fact that "marriage" has a definition ... and it's not the one we're seeing in common use today.

Wisdom cries in the street. The streets seek to drown her out. Instead, they'd ask you to listen to lust, to personal preference, to moral anarchy. The "adulteress" is much more compelling than wisdom ... and much more devastating in her outcomes. So Wisdom says,

"Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster." (Prov 1:24-33)

We will get what we ask for.