All for Myself

"If you are wise,you are wise for yourself; 

if you scoff, you alone will bear it."

Proverbs 9:12

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?  No?  Well, I'd love to tell you about it so that you can share with me its incredible beauty, its vast expanses, its rich and vibrant colors, the depth and height and width of what my finite vision could perceive, the fear that it invoked as I looked down into the gorge, the awe that it struck in my soul as I recognized God's glory revealed.  I would tell you of the joy that I experienced as I tried to take it all in, as I enjoyed the freedom that standing before such majesty invoked.  I would tell you...........but I realize that only I can experience what my heart enjoyed.  No matter how many words I use, despite the book of pictures that I bring out, you still will not appreciate it in the same way that I did.  In fact, my experience at the Grand Canyon belongs to me.  You must go and experience it for yourself.  Now, if you have been to the Grand Canyon, we can share in the wonders of what we saw.  But even then we have certain feelings, special moments that are all our own and no one else will ever understand.

God says that wisdom is the same.  One man's wisdom does not make another wise.  No matter how much he tries to make you see his wisdom, it does us no good.  We must experience it for ourselves.  If you are a wise person too, then Proverbs 9:9 tells us that if a wise person gives us instruction, then we will still be wiser.

And yet we really benefit no one else by being wise except that we can share that wisdom that God gives us in hopes that another will go to the Scriptures and learn for himself.

Perhaps you do not believe that the Grand Canyon even exists.  You mock me and laugh at me and scorn me.  You refuse, no matter how many pictures I bring out, to trust that there is such a thing.  and no, you won't drive that far to see what doesn't exist.  Nothing I say or do will convince you.  Poor thing!  You are missing out on the pleasure and wonders of one of God's most beautiful creations.  The more I try to convince you, the more you scoff at me.  Oh, well, you will just have to live your life in your own little narrow world.

The scoffer, according to Proverbs 9:11, is the same.  Noah Webster defines a scoffer as, "One who scoffs; one that mocks, derides or reproaches in the language of contempt; a scorner."  His time will come when he believes that the wise counsel of God is true, but it will be too late.  He will have to bear it himself.  Nothing that is said to him in wisdom makes a difference in his contemptible attitude.  He is to be left to his own evil ways.  (Proverbs 9:7-8).

We each have our own decision to make.  We can be wise and believe the Truth, enjoying for ourselves the fellowship of our Creator, or scoff and suffer on our own.

As we seek God's wisdom,

Gloria