A little too enthusiastic?

Have you ever blamed someone else for something you really should have taken responsibility for? It is like you know you initiated the matter, but then it escalated out of control, and you don't want to step up to take responsibility. Have you ever done this with God? We forget that he knows the intention of our hearts and sees the foolishness of our actions, but it as though we want to shift the blame to him. It is that person you brought into my life, God. It was because you didn't intervene sooner, God. It was that circumstance, God. Anything or anyone other than us - even God - is to blame. People ruin their OWN lives by their OWN foolishness, but that doesn't give them the privilege to blame God or others for THEIR foolishness.

Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord. (Proverbs 19:2-3)

Do you know what 'enthusiasm without knowledge' really is? It is doing, THEN thinking things through! We might not realize it, but when we jump at this opportunity or that one, THEN think about the decisions we have made, it could be we are already reaping the consequences for the 'wrong choice'. I don't take a lot of time to make a grocery list. I just find the items we need and purchase them. I get a few things that look good in the ad and save a little money. When I buy a car, that is an entirely different matter. I take time to research the basic price, package price, taxes, fees, and cost of insurance. I might look a bit 'wishy-washy' by taking so much time to purchase the vehicle, but I have made hasty decisions in purchasing one before and regretted all the repairs I had to put into it. Haste isn't our best friend - it almost brings chaos and unnecessary complications into our lives.

I take responsibility for my decisions rather than blaming God or others for my 'hasty choices'. It isn't always the easiest thing, but I know it is the right thing to do. My life got way too complicated by MY compromises, not God's. My relationships got messed up by MY choices because of my actions, not God's. Did anyone else play a part? Maybe, but when we take responsibility for our actions, listening to what God tells us led to the chaos or consequences, and then learn from those 'hasty decisions', we are less likely to make them again. Don't blame others when at least some of the blame belongs to you. Don't accuse God of 'allowing' you to make mistakes when you clearly didn't consult him in the matter. Own up to those mistakes, allow correction to come, and then take note of how to avoid them in the future. You are doing yourself a great favor when you do! Just sayin!

Ruining your own life

² Ignorant zeal is worthless; haste makes waste.  ³ People ruin their lives by their own stupidity, so why does God always get blamed? 

(Proverbs 19:2-3)

Ever hear someone say, "Why did God let this happen to me?"  It is a natural question to ask whenever something bad happens in life.  We somehow feel that we did not "deserve" this moment of disappointment, season of loss, or depth of difficulty that we are experiencing.  Solomon gives us insight into how these "bad things" sometimes come into our life exclusive of God "doing" anything to orchestrate them.  He tells us that it is our own ignorant zeal - hasty decisions, careless answers, silly compromises - that get us into the "soup" we are in.  Uh oh...now the truth is revealed!  People ruin their own lives and God gets the blame for our own silliness - that is what he puts forth to us in this passage.  So, rather than asking why God allowed something to happen, we might do well to examine what was in our own heart that lead to this result!

⁸ Grow a wise heart—you'll do yourself a favor; keep a clear head—you'll find a good life. 

(Proverbs 19:8)

A wise heart is both the result of taking advantage of learning from what God provides as direction for our lives and of determining what is beneficial in our pursuits.  People with good sense restrain themselves.  Restraint is one of the most difficult things for us to learn.  Restraint is nothing more than having a system of "checks & balances" by which we "run through" a decision before taking action.  In the end, the results are usually better because they have been thought through with some level of consciousness.  Our thinking is often clouded by whatever is the most demanding thing in our life that day - it could be the needs around the house, the chaos at the office, or the inner turmoil of emotions on edge.  Solomon reminds us that we need a "clear head" in order to process life correctly (with wisdom).  

It takes time to "clear your head" - haste does not give us the "time" we need for the decisions of the day.  When we compromise the investment of time, we compromise the outcome of the decision.