Read
11Cruel people want to rebel,
and so vicious attackers
will be sent against them.
12A bear robbed of her cubs
is far less dangerous
than a stubborn fool.
13You will always have trouble
if you are mean to those
who are good to you.
14The start of an argument
is like a water leak—
so stop it before
real trouble breaks out.
15The Lord doesn't like those
who defend the guilty
or condemn the innocent.
16Why should fools have money
for an education
when they refuse to learn?
Reflect
There are some vivid word pictures here. And they are just as vivid today as when they were first written.
Many of us in Canada have had encounters with bears. I know I have. Most of the time you’re safe if you don’t do anything to provoke the bear. But we’ve all been warned about a bear with cubs. Don’t, whatever you do, get between the mother and her cubs.
Here we meet the fool again, not a silly person or an idiot, but a person who rejects God. If a person like this is bent on acting out his (or her) godless behaviour, beware. We don’t have to look at big name atheists for examples. We all meet people like this, all the time. The colleague who will do anything to get ahead. The student who cheats and gets away with it. The person so wrapped up in themselves that they don’t see or care who they trample. You can think of your own examples. The warning is not to get caught up in their behaviour. It’s like getting between a mother bear and her cubs.
Verse 14 is really pointed in the CEV. “The start of an argument is like a water leak— so stop it before real trouble breaks out.” Now I’m no plumber. But I do know what happens if you get a leak and don’t fix it. Quarrels are like that. And, like water leaks, they aren’t always easy to stop. Just realize that the longer it goes on the worse it gets.
Respond
Heavenly Father, thank you for this down-to-earth advice and the unforgettable way in which it was recorded so long ago. Teach me to be wise, honouring you and obeying you in the very practical situations I find myself in today and every day. Even if it means going a different way from the crowd. I pray through Jesus, the model of what it is to be wise. Amen.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.