Pursued, not abandoned

Fools hate to be told they are wrong, so they refuse to ask wise people for advice. Intelligent people want more knowledge, but fools only want more nonsense. (Proverbs 15:12, 14)

Before we begin, let me assure you that I was a fool for a long, long time. I hated to be told I was wrong, refusing correction, not believing I could learn anything from the situations at hand. I continued in my folly until one day God asked me if I liked looking and behaving like a fool. As you might imagine, I even argued with God about my 'rightness' and the other guy's 'wrongness'. What a silly thing it is to argue with God! I recall the day when I finally laid that 'folly' and 'false front' before him, only to find I didn't really like the 'real me'. Perhaps that is why I tried to cover the real me up with all that folly! It was even hard for me to believe God could love me as I was, but he never stopped showing me how much he loved the 'real me'. In fact, it was the 'real me' (and you) he died for!

Fools hate to be told they are wrong. They don't like to be corrected. They struggle with being 'at fault' in circumstances where they haven't done things well and the consequences are beginning to 'hit the fan'. Some fools run the other way, while others just continue to engage in the folly, revealing to everyone that they lack the good judgment to stop, listen, and learn from their folly. The fool pursues the folly with ardent enthusiasm, not easily put off by the attempts at correcting their behavior, much less their way of thinking. I wonder if it is hard for God to really get hold of the fool's heart because the fool doesn't listen and doesn't believe anything is wrong with his behavior? The good news is that God never stops pursuing the fool - it just might take a while for the fool to come around to God's pursuit!

We can all engage in foolish behavior from time to time, but when we give ourselves over to such folly repeatedly, we begin to deceive ourselves into believing it is okay. The fool actually believes their own 'made up' perception of the situation. They have come to a place where they have even deceived their own heart into believing the 'made up' parts of their life. Maybe that is why God doesn't let them go but pursues them just a bit harder. Maybe they need his 'tough love' in order to realize their 'ardent enthusiasm' has really dug them into a very dark and lonely place. The more they dig, the harder God pursues! I am glad God doesn't abandon the fool to his own foolishness. Aren't you? Just askin!