"1 Wisdom has built her house;
she has hewn out its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.

3 She has sent out her maids, and she calls
from the highest point of the city.

4 "Let all who are simple come in here!"
she says to those who lack judgment.

5 "Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.

6 Leave your simple ways and you will live;
walk in the way of understanding...

10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

11 For through me your days will be many,
and years will be added to your life.

12 If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer."

13 The woman Folly is loud;
she is undisciplined and without knowledge.

14 She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,

15 calling out to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way.

16 "Let all who are simple come in here!"
she says to those who lack judgment.

17 "Stolen water is sweet;
food eaten in secret is delicious!"

18 But little do they know that the dead are there,
that her guests are in the depths of the grave. Proverbs 9

Two voices call out to us as we go about our lives. Wisdom and Folly. They sit next to each other and they invite us, the simple, to come to them.
Why are we called the "simple" and "those lacking in judgment"? It's not because we are stupid. It's because we are dependant. Dependant on the word of God. Without this Word we are lost and blind in the world, regardless of how smart or clever we are.
And here that word on which we depend for life warns us that two voices call to us. The voice of Wisdom and the voice of Folly.
No one wants to lose all their strength and wealth to the grave. No one of sound mind would deliberately choose that. Yet Folly is able, by her cunning and deceptive ways to lure us in and trap us. We desire the sweetness of her stolen water and the deliciousness of her secret food and we are in danger of going in to her.

As boylovers so much of our lives is already lived in secret for the sake of self-protection. We are compelled to live cautiously and be discerning about who we "let in" to our truths. In this regard we need to be careful that this necessary secrecy does not become a cloak of vice under which other secret things ... foolish things... immoral things... are allowed to live and to thrive.
We need to listen to the Wisdom that tells us that fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and Knowing Him is understanding.

Prayer
Father, help us to live in that healthy fear of You that guides us under the shelter of your loving wings and good counsel. Help us to realise that we can only live by Your word and that without You we can do nothing. Help us to balance our necessary secrecy with fellowship, accountability and leaning. Help us to resist temptation while seeking support and solidarity and solace in one another.
In Jesus name.
Amen.