Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Wisdom to Deal With the Foxes of Simplicity and Gullibility



UV 1531/10000 Wisdom to Deal with the Foxes of Simplicity and Gullibility
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Proverbs 1 v 32
Simplicity of mind and heart along with gullibility are two foxes that afflict a whole lot of people. Simplicity of lifestyle is a virtue but not simplicity of mind. It makes us an easy prey to the wicked and scheming. We will tend to believe every story we hear. Gullibility leads to us getting fooled and turning bitter with everyone. This is the reason Jesus said, “ Be shrewd as the serpent but gentle as the dove.” A good number of people in this world devote their entire lives to misleading others or leading them down a garden path with a view to getting access to their resources. The Lord therefore exhorts us to be wise and cautious. There are a hell of a lot of foxes of great cunning and guile as well as wolves in sheep skin roaming around looking for simple and gullible people to devour. A lot of faithful people mistake faith for gullibility. They believe everyone who comes with the name of God. We should develop the capacity to look through the surface, to discern below the level of the superficial. The Lord wants us to be able people, not gullible people.
In my current assignment, I have come across hundreds of people who placed their faith in some “get rich quick” or “get blessed quick” schemes and lost their money and considerable peace of mind for years together. Everything of some quality takes time. Hence, the moment someone proposes a magic wand solution, we should be wary and put ourselves on guard. The Word warns us against the “prosperity of fools.” Such prosperity is a bubble of delusion waiting to burst. Scripture says clearly, “ Test everything” including prophecies to see if these are really from God. Another way of safeguarding ourselves is to consult many advicers who have both knowledge and experience as scripture says that “there is safety in a multitude of advicers.”
We should also be careful not in confiding all our secrets or to unburden our hearts with all and sundry. We need not tell everything to everybody. When Nehemiah went to survey the ruined walls of Jerusalem, he at first went alone. He did not tell anyone what he had on his heart. Similarly, we must adopt this principle of “ need to know”. Does the person we are currently speaking with need to know a particular information or not? We need to share appropriately with the apt persons at the apt time. If there is one person who we can tell everything, He is God. He has promised that if we lack wisdom, we should ask and He will give liberally. It is not a one time filling with wisdom but a daily seeking of the Lord’s wisdom. Like faith, there is a generic wisdom that flows from the fear of the Lord and there is a specific type of wisdom suited for different situations in our lives. Solomon was given wisdom in judgement and decision making to solve disputes between his subjects wisely. David was given wisdom in combat and warfare and so he chose to fight Goliath not with a heavy sword and shield but with a sling and stones. Moses was given the wisdom to delegate based on the advice of Jethro, his father-in-law. The widow in Jesus’s parable who offered her only coin to God was given the wisdom of offering her all to God and so be blessed. We need wisdom with our finances. We need wisdom with our family and every relationship.

Prateep V Philip


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