Proverbs 9:13. The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing.
Solomon has been describing Wisdom and Folly as two women competing for hearts in the city. Both women are crying out for us to follow them to a feast. Miss Wisdom calls gently, but Miss Folly is loud.
Loud is characteristic of the fool. Of course we are not just talking about people who have a louder voice than others. The word loud here means boisterous, chaotic. Or turbulent. The fool gets louder and louder in order to win their argument. The fool can’t settle down. Like a toddler, they draw attention to themselves with their yelling or complaining.
Not only is the fool loud, they are loud and know nothing. The fool is not thinking ahead. They can’t see things coming. They are stuck in the moment. The fool doesn’t know what’s going on around them. They get sucked into bad behavior without knowing or caring about what will happen. Knows nothing means she is uncommitted to any kind of transformation to godliness.
Are you following Miss Folly? How can you tell? By how loud you are.
How argumentative you are? Do you find yourself yelling at others? Raising your voice to show your power? How often do you draw attention to yourself? How calmly do you respond to situations? Are you able to think before you react? How chaotic is your life? Are you living on the edge of the cliff, just one stumble away from destroying a relationship? What about Folly’s seduction? Are you drawn to her lusts and cravings without self-control?
The Spirit that God has placed in us, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Christ is the exact opposite of Miss Folly. Look at how James describes true wisdom in his letter:
James 3:17-18. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
The Christian doesn’t need to be loud. They can live a peaceful and gentle life. A reasonable life that is free from arguments, partiality, and insincerity. How? By faith in the indwelling Christ’s love for us. A love that seduces us toward God and away from attention and pleasure seeking. With Christ paying attention to us we don’t have to boisterously gain attention, win arguments, or be the life of the party. Jesus should always be the center of our attention, not ourselves, and living like him is always our best argument.
You: Do you live a loud life, drawing attention to yourself?
You in Christ: Does knowing that Christ lives in you bring peace to your soul? In what ways?
Christ in you: Christ would get away into the quiet.How can you build quiet and stillness into your daily rhythm?
Pray: Father, I don’t need to be loud to get your love and attention. Help me by your Spirit to live a quiet, peaceful and gentle life for you. Amen.
To Live is Christ 