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When Foolishness Is What We Need Most
As snow in summer and rain in harvest, So honor is not fitting for a fool. (Proverbs 26:1)
Amongst the Bible’s motifs is the idea of foolishness and wisdom–the fool versus the wise man, men’s foolishness and God’s wisdom. This theme plays out in Old Testament narratives but is also examined in the poetry of books like Psalms and Proverbs. Foolishness, it seems, is a dangerous myopia that refuses to acknowledge a standard or principle beyond itself. A foolish man is impulsive, stubborn, arrogant, looking inside himself for answers, blind to a higher power or the consequences of his actions.
Proverbs’ zingers spotlighting the fool and Psalms’ solemn proclamations about the corruption and godlessness that emanate from foolishness might rightly remind us of the self-absorbed “wisdom” of our current culture. But as we move into the New Testament, the floodlights blaze, and none of us can escape their glare. Paul’s epistles speak from the back row of the auditorium to take in the whole scene of our history with God: that through the millennia, men insisted they were ad-libbing a marvelous new story about themselves instead of rehashing an old, tired script; that it was God who was producer and director of the play, one that would crescendo in Christ’s self-sacrifice and resurrection on behalf of self-seeking fools like us. In His divine plot twist, those delivered from their foolishness through faith in Him could live a new kind of life, a life with vision for an unending future.
It turns out that despite our best attempts to get our part right, in spite of the best of this world’s wisdom and the gifts of temporal improvement, none of us could free ourselves from the human script and were even blind to the fact that no matter what we did, we were still playing the clown. That we fight the obvious in failing to acknowledge God’s natural revelation of Himself, to thank Him as the source of all good things, and we only dig ourselves deeper into foolish and futile pursuits. That God chooses to save fools who recognize themselves as such, to give believers a truly new story that reconciles them to God and to their neighbor, but only through a message that appears foolish to our natural eyes: 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” (I Corinthians 1: 18-19)
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 1: 30-31)
Proverbs 26: 3-5
1 As snow in summer and rain in harvest,
So honor is not fitting for a fool.3 A whip for the horse,
A bridle for the donkey,
And a rod for the fool’s back.
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest you also be like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
Lest he be wise in his own eyes.
Psalm 53:1
1 The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;
There is none who does good.2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,
To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
3 Every one of them has turned aside;
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one.Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.Proverbs 17:28
Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive.
Proverbs 18:2
A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.
Proverbs 22:15
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.
Proverbs 28:26
He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.
Proverbs 29:11
A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.
Luke 12: 19-21
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
1 Timothy 6:8-10
8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Romans 1: 20-23
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and [g]Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like [h]corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
I Corinthians 1: 18-31
18 For the [g]message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the [h]disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a [i]stumbling block and to the [j]Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For [k]you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many [l]noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the [m]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
Ephesians 5:15-16
15 See then that you walk [a]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Published in Group Writing
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Thank you for the reminders.
Thanks, Sawatdeeka.
And we are no smarter today than when these words were written. We may know more technically, but we don’t know what to do with it. And yet we feel that as we know more, so we are more intelligent, we can build more, and with that we are wiser.
Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? … For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified … to the Greeks foolishness … [to] both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Truly, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Being foolish is rarely a good thing. The realization that taking oneself way too seriously is a form of foolishness is invaluable.
Bepe Grillo in Italy, Zelensky in Ukraine and Trump were all politically successful by doing the necessary job of mocking ruling parties that seemed to rise in self-importance in inverse proportion to competence and quality of leadership. The pomposity of both Obama and Hillary Clinton that we were not permitted to notice in most settings became oppressive.
There was a clever funny performer named Mark Russel who had a small night-club lounge in the Shoreham Hotel in the last century. Whenever a new scandal or faux pas made the headlines, people would rush to book a table to hear what satirical song Russell had put together. His left of center tilt was invariably outweighed by the need to mock the target du jour. He later did some PBS appearances which were never as good as his earlier live work in the Marquis Lounge.
Will Rogers, HL Mencken… there is a great American tradition of humor aimed at powerful figures to inspire populist laughter. One of the most damaging pathologies of the modern era is the absence/suppression of laughter at powerful figures of the left.
This post is the first entry in this April’s theme: “Folly.” Stop by and sign up to offer your own wisdom or folly. You can take this in the sense of past and present or as meaning occasional. Or take it as you will, just so long as it gets you writing.