Proverbs 26:12-16 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 26:12-16, which read,

v.12 - Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool than for him.

There are fools and then there are fools.  Solomon is pointing out someone who thinks he or she is greater than the wisdom of God.  He compares this fool with the common fool who is just blindly following the crowd.  Levels of foolishness seems to be given here.  When someone gets to the point of promoting themselves above the wisdom of God it puts them in another category to be reached with the wisdom and hope of God.  Solomon will now give us a description of this type of fool in the next four verses.

v.13 - The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road!  A lion is in the open square!"  

There is no lion but the saying of things like this brings great attention to oneself.  It is like yelling "fire" in the theater or crying "wolf" to get others to come.  The person who thinks they are wise in themselves will say things that are not so and many times they are things very outlandish to get your attention on them.  Maybe this is the "clickbait" of the internet these days.  It is an eye catching title to get you to follow the link to an article or video that might not even be about what the eye grabbing promotion promised.

v.14 - As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard in his bed.

Another description of the one who is wise onto his or herself is someone who sleeps when they should be up and going.  The day is upon them and chores need to be done but they are still in bed rolling from side to side like the door on its hinges and sleeping the day away.  Of course this can be done when you are up also.  You can be a sluggard on the job.  You can be a sluggard at school.  You can be a sluggard in the church.  You can just keep turning on your hinges, turning in bed to avoid the light and not attend to what needs to be done.  Usually there are many excuses used to stay in bed for another minute or two.

v.15 - The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.

The one wise in his own eyes is also very selfish.  The dish is for everyone but what does he or she do?  He or she grabs a whole hand full not thinking of the others in line behind them.  They are selfish even with the effort put forth to get up to the bowl a second time after others have gone through.  Maybe there is an utensil to use for the contents of the dish but that is not big enough for what they want.  They use their hands to grab as much as they can and who cares about who is behind them.  "They should have got in line sooner" is going through the mind of the fool.  

v.16 - The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a discreet answer.

The number seven is used in the Bible for completeness.  This would be a perfect counsel of seven men giving the same answer that was focused on the problem rather than on themselves.  The one wise in his own eyes, the sluggard, can't even see the counsel that is before him.  One study Bible put it, "the ignorant are ignorant of their ignorance."  They have had not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, but seven counsels of the same answer which was given discreetly in a way of thinking of them in relationship to God's wisdom and they reject it for what they think is right.

The one wise in his own eyes will draw attention to oneself.  The one wise in his own eyes will make excuses to not put forth the effort and stay in bed a little longer.  The one wise in his own eyes will be selfish and not think of those who are in line behind him or her who are hungry too.  The one wise in his own eyes will reject repeatedly God's wisdom given in the vain of "speaking the truth in love."  This is definitely a certain type of fool who is taking it to the max.  He or she is hard to reach and one not to be.  Let us pray.

"Lord, we are capable of all these things.  Help us to see when we are getting wise in our own ways.  Help us to see when we are being selfish and disregarding Your counsel.  Help us to be diligent to point others to You rather than to ourselves.  Amen."

Pastor Adam