Hear my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. (Proverbs 1:8-9)

---

Proverbs 1:7 tells us that fools despise wisdom and instruction. Would you be interested to know that the Hebrew word for fool is eviyl (ev-eel’). It literally means:

• one who despises wisdom
• one who mocks when guilty
• one who is quarrelsome
• one who is licentious
• to be perverse

By this definition, according to Paul in Romans 3:10-18, we are all fools.

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

And then, Paul tells what evil looks like.

• “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”
• “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
• “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
• “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”
• “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In Proverbs (1: 8-19), we see much of the same description of evil. And, we see its consequences. It takes away the life of its possessors. (v19b)

This life is full of trials and temptations. The voice of enticement to worldly riches, fame, satisfaction, and power cries out to us loudly and continuously. Too often, if we are not careful, it will drown out the voice of wisdom.

As we grow in the instruction, knowledge, and understanding found in God’s word, we will come to see the joy of our trials (James 1:2). We will cease to make provision for our flesh as more and more we shed our old man and put on our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14). We will gain wisdom.