When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.
Proverbs 19:3

It amazes me every day people that blame God for their trouble.  Couple things in this verse stand out to me.

Man’s folly: This is man’s doing, his sin, his efforts, his action, not God’s.

Man’s way: This is not the way of the righteous and it is NOT God’s way, this is man causing trouble for man’s plans.

Man’s ruin:  “Give um enough rope they will hang themselves” was the advice I got as a young man from a wise pastor.  The sad part is that this takes time, when we see the problem we want to address it (and often should).  When the other person is bent on their own self will rather than God’s… sometimes they have to come to ruin before they can see the problem. (Often we find ourselves trying to protect the people affected as the train wreck of a person’s ways lead them to ruin.  )

Man’s heart rages:   the Hebrew root behind this rage is foaming or burning.  When we set our will against God’s it is like we are a rabid dog foaming at the mouth lashing out no our pain and fever biting everything around us … even the hands that fed us, clothed us, took care of us.  (Hosea 11:3-4) Lashing out at God.  What despair must we sink to in our own sin.

There is danger when we set our ways above God’s ways and when the “world” we create comes crashing down around us we tend to lash out at the Salvation that was offered to us.  To deny God the proper place of authority in our lives…

This is what Jesus said when he rebuked peter:

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Matthew 16:23-24

Man’s folly came because he set his heart against God in the first place.  Another lesson in this is that this happens to Christians as well as UnChristians.

We are often very quick as Christians to see error in the lives. doctrines and worship of those around us.  Much easier to see sin in others, not so easy to see in our own lives.  We must be on guard to “deny” our selves and take up the cross of Christ, following HIS ways rather than our own.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9

 

Leave a Reply