Posted on 06/30/2022 11:45:23 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion” (Proverbs 1:4).
In verse 22 we see the other group of simpletons:
“How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?” (Proverbs 1:22 KJV).
It’s the same word, “simple” but it is speaking of two different kinds of people. The people in verse 4 are those that just believe the Bible and trust that no problem is so immense that God can’t work it out. Here in verse 22 are a different bunch—they take truth lightly, they really don’t pay any attention to it. You want to take about heaven, they just don’t want to talk about religion. They say they’ll worry about that later. That is a simplicity no one should want to have anything to do with. They just want their sin, they just want to have fun, and they don’t want you bugging them.
Well, back to verse 4: “to the young man knowledge and discretion,” addressed to the young man. Learn it while you are still young! Older folks, have already seen or experienced what Lemuel is trying to warn the young people about. Some of us did not avoid the misfortunes, especially those of us that did not have the fortune to grow up in a Christian home. We did not have someone to tell us how to avoid it, and if they did, we didn’t listen.
“Discretion,” is “discernment,” it is to discriminate, to be shrewd, or to have ingenuity. It is to be keen on a matter, to be discreet. In other words, we know when to keep our mouths shut, and when to open them.
Henry Ward Beecher wrote:
“The natural man, the basilar man, the under man, the physical man, cannot discern the things of the Spirit. We see this every day, not only as applied to imagination in its highest reaches, but in the ordinary intercourse of men.
“A man in a rage cannot understand the emotions of peace. A man that is grasping and unfair is not in a state to consider justice and equity between man and man. All prejudices and all emotions inspired by hatred or by selfishness twist the mind. It gets awry. You are obliged to discharge these influences before you can form an equitable judgment of what is truth in any case of controversy or conflict.”
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Bump.
The are immediate family members, young, who came to us already like this. To them, sin is fun and they are unwilling to give it up, yet they claim to be Christian. Their young minds are so warped and behaviors dangerous. It’s been a constant challenge.
Bump.
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