Proverbs 1:24 Commentary and Bible Study

This is not what we would associate with the heart of God. Before we are converted, we are full of suspicion towards God and think he is trying to take from us not to give to us. We think he is the great spoiler of human fun and the one who wants to reduce our lives to drudgery and tedious religious exercises. God has called and been refused, not on the basis of any enlightened understanding of what he is calling us to, but on the basis of suspicion and prejudice. We are worse than any previous generation, because past generations realised there are things that you need to take seriously, but this generation scorns high and holy things. Now everyone is free to do what they like and there are not any no-go, off-limits areas. We may experiment with anything and there are few consequences, certainly not eternal consequences. All are free to accept or reject what they like. Life is one great choice. ‘Have you not taken seriously the call of God?’ ‘Oh yes, I have heard; I am thinking about it. It is up to me to respond when I am ready.’ No, this is your Judge speaking. How dare you treat him as if he worked down at the corner shop, as if he is a child that tries to interrupt us and can be silenced? ‘I called you,’ he says, ‘I am your God.’ Just for your attitude alone you will be condemned, let alone for the great backlog of unforgiven sins. See how your mind is conditioned by an age with too much choice. ‘No man regarded’. It is as if he says, ‘I appealed to you through preachers, but no matter how I come to you, you refuse to listen.’ The world says we must have religious freedom, and worship how we like. Yes, it is right that society has freedom of conscience, but that does not mean that all beliefs are equally valid, or that there are no eternal consequences to what we believe.