Nabal

Proverbs 17:24 -- "Wisdom is the focus of the perceptive, but a fool's eyes roam to the ends of the earth."

iamge: slowdownfast.com

It's one of those things that is more than habit, more than routine - every day, at least twice a day, my hubby calls to see how things are going and to remind me that he loves me. It's a wonderful thing that he started way back when we were first married, and it's a thing that I've come to need in my day. It means - all is well. All is as it should be.

The second time he calls it's usually to let me know he's on his way home and to ask if there is anything he needs to get from the store by way of dinner preparations. Sometimes I have the answer ready at the tip of my tongue. Yesterday however, the question left me dumb with silence as I seemed to freeze like a dear caught in head lights. I was aware that I craved something - but I had no idea what it was. Steven must have been in the same frame of mind because when he arrived home we started poking about the kitchen - looking. Just looking.

For what?

We had no idea. We were hungry to the point that our stomachs could be heard but we had no idea for what it was we craved. We needed to be satisfied but we could not find the thing that would do the satisfying. How was it that I couldn't just simply focus? Find the magic dinner makings and set about the task of getting it on the table?

In the Old Testament the Hebrew word used to describe a fool is nabal.  [pronounced: naw-bawl] It's used when, in the book of Psalm, David says; "a fool says in his heart, God does not exist." It's also used to describe a person who claims there is no God but then attempts to find fulfillment and meaning for the rest of his life. He diligently looks for something, but does not know for what he's really looking. He seeks satisfaction and then roams the earth in an attempt to fill a need that can only be filled by God.

I can see how that could be construed as foolish. And I can see the truth in David's words. We as a species seem to spend an awful lot of time searching for things that will make us "happy". The right school. The right kind of job. The right kind of house. The right kind of car, clothing, etc. If only I could just find ..... that one thing I don't have in my inventory.

And then, it's the next thing. And then the next. Well, you get the idea.

But we can stop the incessant search, can't we? It isn't the next thing that will create in us a sense of fulfillment, purpose, or grant us that elusive happiness. Remember what Paul said in Philippians? The secret to joy is to be content. I mean, we HAVE Jesus. We HAVE victory over ... well, everything! There is no greater thing out there in the world.

We can stop looking.

We can stop being so foolish.