A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment. (NKJV)
Ever since Cain killed his brother and became a vagabond on the earth, and then proceeded to build the first city, natural man has sought after anonymity in the big city. When he follows the true desires of his sinful heart, he repudiates all human relationship. As the Marquis de Sade wrote, “My neighbor is nothing to me. There is not the slightest relationship between him and myself.” Another modern existentialist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, wrote, “Hell is other people.” Thus, you can see that this self-consciously humanistic man seeks only his own desires; and others just inconvenience him in this quest. This is because others might hold him accountable for his behavior. They would force him to be honest with who he is, including his selfishness and sin. Therefore, he withdraws within himself. But the more he isolates himself, the more he gives way to his own wicked desires. The consequences of such a pattern of life are frightening.
This is really the legacy of the modern cities. Men isolate themselves from the human community that might be found in smaller towns. In the end, they find themselves raging against the wise judgment they might have picked up from their fathers and grandfathers, pastors, and loved ones. Cutting themselves off from others who might check them in their sin results in the abandonment of all wisdom and an eventual breakdown of culture.
A fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.
Have you ever met a person who seemed to be interested only in his own opinions? Whenever others shared information, he wasn’t all that interested in listening. But he had the most profound respect for his own words.
How are falsehoods generated, but that fools sit around thinking up new ways of looking at reality? Somebody had to come up with the idea that a rock (or inanimate object) turned into a human being by pure chance over a billion years. This idea obviously did not originate from God’s truth. This is just another vain opinion concocted in the heart of a fool who took no real delight in true understanding. Ultimately, these lies are generated in the wicked hearts of men who trust in their own hearts more than they trust in the revelation of God’s Word. May God protect us from worshiping our own ideas and from lethal pride!
When the wicked comes, then comes also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.
Sin always casts shame upon the one who commits it. The ungodly will do their best to deny it, hide from it, shift the blame, or atone for it according to their own terms. But they cannot rid themselves of that shame. Even within our ungodly systems, men who thought they could get away with certain sexual sins or violent crimes are marked by these crimes in newspaper reports forty years after the fact. Governments still hold the warrants for their arrest. While it is true that God forgives the worst of sinners, the criminal acts that men commit will taint their reputations for a lifetime.
If you take a cookie from the cookie jar in clear disobedience to your parent’s directions, you will experience guilt for that sin. If it is discovered, you will be marked for the time being as the child who took the cookie. Of course, when the sin is made known, corrected, and forgiven, then the whole matter will eventually be forgotten. But that is because you are marked, not as a sinner, but as a repentant sinner. If a child fails to repent of his stealing and instead continues in a course of thievery in the home, he will eventually lose the trust of his family. Consequently, he will come to be characterized by his sin, and others will consider him as one who is lacking in integrity. When whole families and communities lack character, people begin to lock their doors at night and place burglar alarm systems in their homes.
1. Are we tempted to isolate ourselves from our friends and family members who might correct us in our sins? What are some of the ways in which men isolate themselves today?
2. Who are the people in our lives who would provide us with the wisest judgments?
3. Are we more confident in our own opinions concerning God’s Word, or in God’s Word itself? Do we listen with humility to the ideas shared by others, or are we quick to respond with our own opinions?
4. Do you listen to the opinions of others? What are the things a person might do in a conversation that would indicate that they are not really listening to others, being only interested in their own opinions?
5. Give examples of communities or nations that bear the reproach of the wicked who taught and led them.