"Since they hated knowledge..."

Reading Proverbs 1:29-33.
"Since they hated knowledge..."

The "Since" is ominous and foreboding. It suggests consequences. Something unpleasant is coming, something undefined, undated, but coming nonetheless. More on that later in the passage but for now listen to this inditement: "they hated knowledge." Nevermind "them", what about "me." Am I "them?" Is this another case of "We have met the enemy and he is us?" Although we live in a "knowledge based society" there are still things we do not want to know. Do I want to know what God has to say about my life, about the world I live in, about where the boundaries belong in my life, about how I speak and act, about my secret thoughts and attitudes, about who I hate and who I love. Knowing these things might seem to restrict my freedom of choice so I may choose not to attend to them. There is a preference for ignorance when knowledge threatens to afflict the conscience or stand in the way of sin. Do I have such a preference for ignorance?

This hatred for knowledge can take many forms. I can avoid the venues of knowledge, the places where the truth is communicated clearly, whether that is sitting quietly before the Word of God or gathering with others who are seeking truth. I can visit these venues but tune out, be somewhere else. I can show up and appear to be a lover of knowledge while all the while being its enemy. This is all about being honest before God. It really isn't about other people at all. Its about what is going on at the most fundamental level of relationship, the relationship between myself and the living God. Are we in honest conversation today?

This meditation appears to be about hatred but it is really about love. What do I love? Do I love the voice of God and welcome his life giving words? Do I love his ways, thoughts and attitudes? Do I love his Kingdom more than the Kingdom of this world?

This could be a day in which I celebrate my love for the voice of God.