Proverbs 17:12
There
is a force in nature that no one wants to confront: a mother whose baby has
just been stolen. You can mess with me, but don’t try to mess with my kids. You
will have a fight on your hands. There a few instincts that the LORD placed in
us that is stronger than this one. And there are few animals that are scarier
than a bear in this situation.
But
the writer of this proverb says that confronting this mother bear is better
than confronting a fool who is going to do something stupid no matter what. As
Forrest Gump stated, “Stupid is as stupid does.” Just as you can’t stop the
bear, and you can’t reason with a bear, so it is with a fool. They just won’t
be stopped. Their nature is to rebel against God’s authority.
But
before we get too proud, we all used to be fools. Before the Holy Spirit
quickened us, we were just as lost as they are. We were spiritually stupid. We
would argue our strange theology, even when its inconsistencies were obvious to
everyone. Fools don’t care. They stick with what they know, even when faced
with the facts.
Sometimes
you just have to move out of the way and let the fool stumble. So many spouses
of alcoholics keep rescuing their drunk. Instead of letting them face the
natural consequences and having the opportunity to learn from the pain of the
fall, they stop the natural learning process. They learn the lesson, but the
drunk doesn’t. Unfortunately, when the drunk finally learns the lesson, the
whole family has been through so much pain that it is often very difficult to
recover. If you know someone who is starting this cycle, help them let the
drunk fall sooner rather than later. The longer the rescuing lasts, the slower
the recovery process and the harder the fall.
This
applies to drugs and many other addictive behaviors like porn, gambling and
rage. Make it painful sooner rather than later. If you are going to have to
start over, better to do it sooner rather than later. Don’t be part of the
train wreck. Unhook you car.