“I Tell You, It Takes A Fool to Learn!”

By Lou Yeboah

Mama always said, “A hard-head makes a soft behind.” Now, if you don’t know what that means, you just keep on doing you. Keep on doing what you want, when you want. Keep on ignoring God’s warnings. You will find out sooner than later what it means.

Listen, warning is never meant to hurt us. Warning is meant to keep us from hurting ourselves.  Alarms may be a nuisance to our ears, but they are really our friends, so to speak. Fire alarms alert us to the danger of fire. Burglar alarms alert us of the danger of theft and violence. Our alarm clocks alert us of the danger of being late for work. If we do not heed the warnings, we can find ourselves in a place that we wouldn’t want to be. And if that is the case, what about the warnings that exist for our spiritual lives? If our spiritual selves are more important, and even more “real” due to the fact that they are eternal, if they are more important than our physical bodies, how much more should we pay attention to spiritual warning signs?

[Proverbs 22:3] tells us,  “A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”The word “simple” here means those without moral direction. It refers to people who just want to do their own thing as they see fit, people who move about as if there are no consequences for the things they do.  [Proverbs 1:22], asks the question, “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?” How long will you keep ignoring the warning signs and live for your own ways and desires as if there are no consequences for doing so?” I tell you, “It takes a fool to learn!

Don’t be another Samson [Judges 14:1-9] who ignored warning signs that would have indicated he was headed for disaster. Because he did not listen, he suffered greatly for it. Samson leaped over many warning signs. Don’t you do it! When you ignore the warning signs and step across clearly stated boundaries for your life, you will absolutely compromise God’s intended future for you as did Samson. You can’t get down the road where God desires to take you if you are ignoring the warning signs.

Just like Samson’s parents tried to talk some sense into him. They tried to get him to consider the ramifications of what he was doing, but his mind was made up. He couldn’t see the big picture. He couldn’t consider the compromise. He couldn’t weigh the impact of his decisions on the others around him. He didn’t even think about the example he was setting for the rest of the Israelite’s. I tell you, shutting out the voice of truth; that kind of arrogance is foolishness and destructive. We all need direction. We all need correction. We all need perspective. Samson’s parents were trying to put a speed bump in his path, trying to get him to think things through, but he wouldn’t listen. “It takes a fool to learn!

“Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; and you neglected all my counsel and didn’t want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes. When your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me,” – “and I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, they will not find me, because they hated knowledge…  and they would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way” – [Proverbs 1:23-31].

Return, oh backsliding children, for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you a shepherd [Jeremiah 3:14-15].