Reading The Proverbs With Timothy And Kathy KellerSample

 The Mocker

Three kinds of fools are mentioned in this verse. The mockers (Hebrew lesim) prove it is not mental capacity but attitude that determines whether we become wise or foolish. At the root of mockers’ character is a high pride that hates submitting to anyone (21:24). Their strategy is to debunk everything, acting very smug and knowing in the process. Mockers, though fools, appear to most eyes as worldly-wise and highly sophisticated.

Some things, of course, deserve critique and even satire. Even God mocks sometimes. However, to “sit in the company of mockers” (Psalm 1:1) is to make cynicism and sneering a habitual response. Habitual mocking will harden you and poison relationships. “To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.” We live in a postmodern age that encourages deconstruction and in an Internet age that makes mocking and scoffing easy and reasoned discourse difficult. So we must resist the enormous cultural pressure to become mockers. Contrast this with Jesus: “He will not quarrel or cry out. . . . A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory” (Matthew 12:19–20).

When have you been tempted to roll your eyes and dismiss someone rather than engaging with them?

Prayer: Lord, help me to avoid the world’s shortcuts to looking wise—the cynical air, the inside joke, the sighs and feigned sadness about how stupid everyone is. Let me despise no one and respect everyone, even if I am correcting them. Amen.

Excerpt from God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs by Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller

Reprinted by arrangement with Viking Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © 2017 by Timothy and Kathy Keller