What Are You Finding Joy In? (Proverbs 15:21)
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Proverbs 15:21
Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,
but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
Yesterday we looked at Proverbs 1:7, elaborating on how it’s – I would argue – the most important verse in all of Proverbs, as it points to the beginning of wisdom: the fear of the Lord, a relationship, an intimacy with the almighty God.
At the end of that, we connected it to today’s verse, Proverbs 15:21, because we were forced to ask ourselves… why would someone reject Jesus? Why reject wisdom? Why despise Christ?
And Proverbs 15:21 provides the answer:
“Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense…”
Fools despise Jesus – His character, His life, His words – because He proposes to save them from what they love. They love sin – their folly is a joy to them – and so of course they hate the Gospel and the One who convicts them of their sin and can deliver them from it. They don’t want that.
It’s a verse like this that makes me ask myself: “What am I finding joy in?”
Folly is joy to a fool. Christ is joy to the wise man. To the Christian. To the man of understanding.
“Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,
but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.”
What are you finding joy in?
Of course, I think it must be said that the reason that’s even a question or a decision for us at times is because sin is often appealing, and we also don’t often comprehend just how appealing and beautiful our God is.
You ever wonder why people settle for cheap knockoffs when the real thing is right there? It’s like getting a spray tan while you’re at the beach – why fake that when the real thing is right there? You get what I’m saying? We do that with sin all the time. Why settle for a fake version of joy when real joy is freely given in Christ?
God is infinitely more satisfying than sin – sin merely presents an illusion of satisfaction – yet we settle for that version of joy more often than what is available to us in Christ.
We are often not men and women of understanding as this verse says; we are wayward in our walking rather than straight. And there are many distractions that surround us and seek to pull us off the narrow road God calls us to walk. But the good news is that by His grace, through the rod and staff of our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ, He leads us in paths of righteousness. He makes straight paths for our feet, and because we are in Him, His righteousness is ours, and His victory is ours.
It’s a beautiful thing – it really is.
So as we go to the Lord to pray today, I want you to think of what you are finding joy in.
Is it the presence of God? Psalm 16:11 tells us that in His presence there is fullness of joy. Or is your joy somewhere else? Is it in the fleeting pleasures of sin or the hollow desires of the world?
And if you aren’t a believer listening – let me tell you – you don’t know joy until you know Jesus. You may have had some happy moments or even happy seasons, but I’m telling you there is no joy like joy in Christ. No freedom like the freedom found in Him. He is that good.
As someone who has tried, I assure you: true joy isn’t found in fleeting pleasures or temporary highs. It’s found in Jesus. He is the well that never runs dry, the source that never fades and always satisfies.
Let’s go to Him now.
