Do not prove yourself that you are a fool
[Ecclesiastes 10:1-4]
What do you think is the folly of man? In other words, what do you think is the extreme of our folly? When I think about it, I remember Proverbs 26:11 – “Like a dog that returns to its vomit Is a fool who repeats his folly.” We may not have seen the dog eat the vomit, but we would have seen the dog eat the poop. What do you think about it? Don’t you think it is a foolish dog? How much foolishness does God see in us when we keep on doing foolishly? For example, how foolish did God see the Israelites in the Book of Exodus and of Judge, when they kept on grumbling and disobedient to God and his Word? But don’t you think this is our image? But I don’t think this is the extreme of our folly. I think the extreme of foolishness is said in Psalm 14:1 – “The fool has said in his heart,’ There is no God.’” I think the extreme of foolishness is the incredulity of God's existence. And the mind that says there is no God is corrupted. And the conduct from the corrupt heart is detestable (v.1). In the end, those who say that there is no God are fools, and not only they do not do good, they can not. I think that this dark world that we are living in now is a world full of such folly. People do not believe in God's existence and absolute truth, but are doing what was right their own eyes which are corruption and abominable deeds. Therefore, they are proving their folly. In other words, because they believe that there is no God, they live in that faith and live to prove their folly.
This is what King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 10:3 – “Even when the fool walks along the road, His sense is lacking and he demonstrates to everyone that he is a fool.” What do you think of this Scripture that a fool demonstrates his own foolishness? I could not help agreeing. The reason is that when I see myself, there are many times when I live to prove my own folly, just like the foolish ones in today's text. For example, as Proverbs 10:19 says that “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise”, I do sin against God by not restraining my lips and talk a lot. Thus, I expose my folly. Another example is Proverbs 14:29 – “He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.” If I look at myself in this passage, I should be slow to be angry. But sometimes I prove myself that I am a fool by being angry or quick-tempered and sinning against God and man. So I have nothing to say about Proverbs 12:23 – “A prudent man conceals knowledge, But the heart of fools proclaims folly.” So I would like to receive a lesson from God today under the heading "Do not prove yourself that you are a fool", centering on the text of Ecclesiastes 10:1-4. I hope and pray that we may humbly receive the lessons that God gives to us so that we may no longer live our lives in proving ourselves that we are fools but live our lives wisely for God’s glory.
What is the lesson God wants to give to us in today's text? We should think about at least 2 things:
First, we must think about at least 2 things that we must not prove ourselves that we are a fool:
(1) We should not expose even a little foolishness.
Look at Ecclesiastes 10:1 – “Dead flies make a perfumer's oil stink, so a little foolishness is weightier than wisdom and honor.” As we have already meditated on this passage in connection with Ecclesiastes 9:18, our little foolishness exacerbates the smell of fools rather than the scent of wisdom. We have thought of the first human Adam as a good example of this. By the disobedience of one man Adam, sin entered the world, and the death of all mankind through sin. So evil, even a small one, can harm mankind (Park Yun-sun). Therefore, we must not commit even a little evil or a little foolishness. We should never consider even little foolishness lightly.
(2) We should not oppose our sovereigns.
Look at Ecclesiastes 10:4 – “If the ruler's temper rises against you, do not abandon your position, because composure allays great offenses.” King Solomon is telling us to keep our place even if he the bad ruler’s temper arises against us. In other words, he says that we should not oppose the sovereign even if we are treated unrightfully by the wrongful sovereign (Park Yun-sun). Why should we do that? It is “because composure allays great offenses” (v. 4). What does it mean? Here, the word “composure” in Hebrews means health without disease or weakness and restoration. This means that even if the wrongful sovereign is angry with us and treats us unjustly, we will not commit many sins if we are spiritually and physically healthy and not oppose our sovereigns and endure well (Park Yun-sun). We must be healthy physically and spiritually so that we may not oppose our boss. We must be patient. No matter how wrong our boss is and get angry at us and unjust to us, we should not oppose him. Therefore, we must prevent larger and more sinful acts.
Lastly, we must think about what we should do in order not to expose our foolishness.
Look at Ecclesiastes 10:2 – “A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left.” What does it mean? It means that our hearts should be wise so that our hearts can be on the right. In other words, our heats must be the hearts of the wise, and the hearts of the wise is on the right. According to Rev. Warren Wiersbe, in the old ancient world, right hand refers to power and honor, and left hand to weakness and rejection (Mt. 25:33, 41) (Wiersbe). The fact that the heart of the wise man is on the right means the wise man is always able to keep his heart firmly. And the fact that the heart of a fool is on the left means that he is as helpless as his left hand in controlling his mind (Park Yun-sun). In a word, the lesson we are given to us in today's text is that we must be able to keep our hearts firmly like the wise man. This is what Proverbs 4:23 says: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
How can we keep our hearts firmly?
(1) We must be awake.
What will happen to a castle if the watchmen who are guarding the castle from the aggression of its enemies are asleep? It will be forced to fall. Therefore, the watchmen must be awake. In other words, we must be spiritually awake. We must be awake and persevering to pray to God. We must seek God's protection. And we must seek God's wisdom. The reason is that when God gives us wisdom, we can guard our hearts in spiritual warfare.
(2) We must warn our hearts with the Word of God.
The role of the watchmen who are guarding the castle is to warn the people in the castle by blowing the trumpet when the enemy strikes. Likewise, we must warn our hearts which are the source of life when Satan attacks our hearts. How should warn our hearts? We must warn our hearts with the Word of God. For example, when our hearts are downcast and anxious, we must warn our hearts with Psalms 42:5, 11 and 43:5 – “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” In doing so, we will be able to guard our hearts.
The wise people will stay away from folly! (Wersbe). We must stay away even from little folly. The reason is that because of our little folly we can commit great sin to God. Also we must also keep our position. No matter how our sovereign is wrong, making us angry and mistreating us, we should not oppose the sovereign. In order to do that, we must guard our hearts faithfully. We must be awake and persevere to pray to God. And we must warn ourselves with the Word of God. Therefore, we should not prove that we are fools, but rather we must prove that we are wise.