Proverbs 12:15

The book of Proverbs gives us a lot of instruction on a lot of different subjects. One subject that can keep us in God’s wisdom is Godly Follower-ship. Who we follow; where we follow; how we follow are all spoken about in Proverbs. Here is one of them about truth:

Proverbs 12:15

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,

But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.

It is hard to stop a cow who is headed for the hay.   She will go right to the bail she smells with little regard for safety.  I have a friend who kills cows on his farm for his own food.  He has multiple acres and the cows have abundant natural food.  However, if he wants to slaughter one he simply puts a bail of hay out in the field and here they come.  They will fight to be the first one to put their lips on that hay.  He simply walks up and puts a gun to the head of the one who gets their first.    You could try to stop the cow on the way and reason with her.  You could tell her about certain danger ahead.   However, you won't stop the cow.   Same is true of the fool. The fool thinks he is right in his pursuit of his pleasure.   He will not listen to others.  It is the wise man who listens to the counsel of others.   The wise man will adjust his steps, change his paths, correct his altitude when he hears the warning.  The fool rushes in and gets a gun to his head.  After all, he is right in his own eyes.  The problem with the fool is that they think their way is “right.”   Remember, one of the major factors for a fool (if not THE major factor) is that they reject the knowledge of God:

Psalms 14:1 (ESV)

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;

there is none who does good.

Once someone rejects the knowledge of God, they have no way of knowing what is right and wrong.  Christ is truth (John 14:6).  When you reject Christ you reject all truth.  Anything that comes out of your thinking from that point on has no measurement for accuracy.  People who reject God disregard truth.  They can’t be the judge of what they are saying because they have no measurement of truth in their inner being.   The fool has nothing “right in his own eyes,” because he refused to listen to the counsel of God.  Not so the wise man.  He listens to God an knows truth.  Now, the wise man can speak foolish things, but because he listens to truth and can discern truth by the Spirit of God within him, he can be correct.  The fool cannot. They are just like the cows going for the bail.