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Blog - Proverbs 1:28
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Proverbs 1:28
"Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:" (Pro 1:28)
Like men in the days of Noah, and also in the last days, who, being warned of their impending judgment, scoffed at the preachers, saying, "where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2Pe 3:4), so fools in every age set at nought wisdom's counsel and receive none of her reproof (Pro 1:25) supposing that judgment lingers a long time ahead, if ever it arrives at all. After wisdom has cried profusely and tirelessly from every corner for a sufficient amount of time (Pro 1:20-27), she stops crying. This is evident by her change of pronouns from ye and you in verses 22-27 to they and them in verses 28-33. Beginning in verse 28, wisdom no longer speaks to the simple ones, but instead talks about them. Once wisdom stops crying, the fools, who turned a deaf ear and scorned at her words at every turn, start crying. Unfortunately for them though, it's too late; wisdom's office hours are over and her door is shut. God gives ample time for men to heed His warnings before judgment ensues, but when a man's allotted time is up, it's up, and there is no turning back the clock. When distress and anguish comes upon them (Pro 1:27) they then decide that they want to listen to wisdom's cry, and they call upon her; but just as the men in Noah's day who likely beat upon the door of the ark when the flood waters rose, but received no answer, so the simple ones who ignored and scorned wisdom's counsel call upon her, but she will not answer. They seek her early as soon as trouble arrives; but, as a train that has already left the station, they will not find her. The Lord's ears are open to the righteous, but when the righteous work wickedness and rebel against Him past their space of repentance the Lord shuts His ears to their prayers and turns His face against them.
1Pe 3:12 - For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
The fornicator who was warned repeatedly by the LORD in His word to forsake his whoremongering and to "remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house" (Pro 5:8) will call out to God when he contracts a sexually transmitted disease and beg for Him to take it away, but He will not answer. How foolish and regretful will he feel in that day when he remembers God's admonitions that so oft were given by his parents and pastor, but were stupidly despised and unheeded!Pro 5:11 - And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, Pro 5:12 - And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; Pro 5:13 - And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
This likewise goes for the sodomite that contracts AIDS, the adulterer who loses his wife and children, the alcoholic who is diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, the drug addict whose brain is fried, the smoker who gasps for breath while dying from emphysema, the glutton who has his feet amputated because of self-inflicted diabetes, the paraplegic teenager who insisted on driving recklessly, the gambler who bets away his life savings, or the lascivious man who is left impotent and unable to perform sexually due to his pornography addiction. Their cry will all be the same: "how have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!" When God repeatedly cries out to His children and receives in response only indifference, mockery, and rebellion, He turns away His ear and will not answer the cries for relief by the afflicted when the resulting chastening and judgment begins. Consider the following verses which should put the fear of God in every man that names the name of Christ. Truly, "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31).
Job 27:8 - For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
Job 27:9 - Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him?
2Ch 36:14 - Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.
2Ch 36:15 - And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
2Ch 36:16 - But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.
2Ch 36:17 - Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.
Mic 3:4 - Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
Jer 11:11 - Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Jer 11:14 - Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
Jer 14:11 - Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
Jer 14:12 - When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.
Eze 8:18 - Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
Zec 7:11 - But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
Zec 7:12 - Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
Zec 7:13 - Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:
Zec 7:14 - But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.
