The Danger of Foolishness

I recently read a story from the Boston Sun concerning a man who was charged with trying to hire a hitman to kill his estranged wife. A short time later he was convicted of a second crime: trying to hire someone to kill the undercover state trooper who had posed as the hit man. Andrew S. Gordon, 53, has been convicted of trying to hire a New Hampshire gang member to kill the state trooper and another man, both witnesses in the state's case against Gordon. The gang member was actually another undercover officer. Gordon offered the officer $15,000 for the hit. He now faces up to 50 years in prison and a maximum fine of nearly $1.3 million when he is sentenced.

Some people just don’t learn from their mistakes. Probably because they don’t really see them as mistakes, but as failed attempts at a brilliant plan. A plan that's so brilliant in fact that it’s worth trying again. “If I just make a few tweaks to my plan - It’s going to work this time” But the real problem with a foolish person is their unwillingness to accept instruction. The tragic result is that a foolish person refuses to recognize his own foolishness. So he is doomed to repeat it. 

This story reminds me of the warning in Proverbs 26:11 (NLT), “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.” As we turn to our passage in Ecclesiastes 10, Solomon warns his readers about the danger of foolishness. Through this study we will discover an important truth: walking in obedience to Christ is the true measure of whether we are walking in wisdom or in foolishness.