You boys have saddled your bronc, now let’s see if you can ride him!”
–Louis L’Amour (Conagher)
“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.”
–3 John 11 (NIV)
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“The wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall.” –Proverbs 10:8 (NKJV)
“The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.” –(ESV)
“The wise in heart accepts commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin.” –(NIV)
We see again the contrast between the wise and the fool. The wise receives or accepts commands, while the fool, always contemptuous is referred to as prating/babbling/chattering will come to ruin and that final ruin is eternal judgment.
I understood rather quickly in Basic Training that when the sergeant said something you listened, then obeyed. There were not any questions, no “do I gotta” or “why” in adhering to his instructions. Let me digress, little questioners for there are always those one or two who don’t listen, understand, or think they know it all or know it better. Why challenge the person in authority, why challenge the instruction of the sergeant? But the prating fool would invariably do so. “Foolish people refuse to recognize wisdom, even when it is right in front of them.” (Dan Dick)
One time stands out in my mind. We were on the firing range and had been given explicit instructions on how to act and react. At no time! At no time were we to lift our weapons and turn. Of course, some fool, when his weapon jammed raised up. Within seconds, or faster if that is possible, a sergeant had his pistol out and up against the recruit’s head. He was just being a fool, not meaning to cause harm to anyone. but he almost had a serious incident and those sergeants on the firing line didn’t waste around. Know this that it was right tense for a few minutes–all because of a fool who thought he knew what to do, but did not listen to the instructions given.
Bob Beasley points out the with the clear illustration of people’s hearts being like soils (cf. Luke 8:5-8). “Some hearts receive the Word and, like water on sand, it sinks deep. These people grow in the Word and become sound in the faith. They become obedient to the indwelling Word. The chattering fool is just the opposite. He may be continually exposed to the Word, but it runs off his mind without ever getting to his heart. He may even chatter on about creeds and doctrines and theology, but without any real evidence in his life of the indwelling presence of the Word as applied by the Spirit. This person will come to ruin.”
Diotrephes, remember him? He is not one of the most famous people mentioned in the Bible, and the mentioning of him is by no means flattering. We read about him and his foolish actions in 3 John. He was a malicious person, a chattering fool, who opposed the Apostle John. Also he refused to welcome brothers in the faith. John said that his evil actions showed that he had not seen God. The evidence of his life pointed to the fact that the Spirit did not dwell in him. Or as Charles Bridges says he was, “Bold in his own conceit, while his life and temper fearfully contradict his fluent tongue.”
Some people talk a good talk. Listen to them, they seem to know everything. It is hard to interject a word when they are around, but when it comes to putting their hand and actions to where their mouth is they are not to be found. Clear thinking leads us to God; our egos blur the view and there is a challenge to God’s instructions. Why would we even think of challenging the instructions given by the all wise, all-knowing God? But many, many do. Dick relates that “It is the wise in heart who receive instruction gladly. The fool stumbles down the road to destruction.”