How to Live Securely and without Dread

Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square…

At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

“How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing & fools hate knowledge?

Turn to my reproof: I’ll pour out my spirit on you!

I will make my words known to you!

Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; & you neglected all my counsel & didn’t want my reproof…

I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm & your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they’ll call on me but I won’t answer; they’ll seek me diligently but they won’t find me –

- Because:

• They hated knowledge &
• They didn't choose the fear of Yahweh.
• They would not accept my counsel,
• They spurned all my reproof.

So … they shall eat of the fruit of their own way & be satiated with their own devices. For:

• the waywardness of the naive will kill them, &
• the complacency of fools will destroy them.

But he who listens to me 

shall live securely & 

will be at ease from the dread of evil.
                     Proverbs 1:20-33

Read this section again and again, and three things become clear:

1. Wisdom is offering herself to us, and trying desperately to get us to listen to her, accept her teachings, and even her rebukes.  She will sometimes be hard to hear, and hard to accept. 
2. Refusing to listen to her will result in our personal calamity – and when it comes, she will not rescue us.  Instead, she’ll laugh at us for deliberately putting ourselves in the situation of our own choosing. 
3. Accepting her words and rebukes … results in a life lived without fear or dread.  We will prevent many disasters in our lives.  Still, some storms will come, but we’ll be prepared. 

Read it again and again until it soaks in.  Then make Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (and this blog) your friend, 3-5 times a week, just a bit at a time. 

Learn and apply the teachings of Mother Wisdom.  She is our guide, and her rewards are huge.