A Word in Season: The Isolated Man (Proverbs 18:1)

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Some people put themselves on a pedestal and are very good at using all kinds of arguments to buttress themselves up there.

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They will tell you that they are the one person who's really got insight into a situation or a number of situations.

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Perhaps they're the one person with the courage to really call things as they are. Perhaps they're the only one who's willing to swim against the tide.

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And after all, there are historical examples of people who have been set apart in holding fast to what is true.

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Athanasius Condramundum, Athanasius against the world, holding fast the truth about the

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Godhead when all others were going the wrong way. Or Luther, when confronted with the possibility that he was going to stand alone, said his conscience was captive to the

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Word of God and there he stood and he could do no other. And so it is easy to persuade ourselves that we are in the same mold as an

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Athanasius or a Luther. But there really is a danger that is described in Proverbs chapter 18 and verse 1 of someone isolating themself in order to seek their own desire and they defy or rage against all wise judgment.

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And the trouble is that we can persuade ourselves that what we're actually doing is very virtuous, noble, where in fact it is dangerous and foolish.

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The person who's spoken of in Proverbs chapter 18 is the person who is separating himself from others, perhaps looking down in disdain upon others, thinking that he sees clearly what they don't see and he is drawing back from them.

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He seeks his own desire. At root, this is selfishness. It's actually often easier for us, at least in the short term, to see the world the way that we would like it to be rather than the way it really is.

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And so we tell ourselves that we are the wise ones, we're the courageous ones, we're the insightful ones, we're the ones who are handling the

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Bible clearly, and that means that although everybody else may say something different, everybody else may see something otherwise, still, nevertheless, whatever the case may be, we are in the right.

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And it is no surprise then that we end up vindicating our own assessments, our own appetites, and our own decisions.

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After all, how could all these other people who are lacking in the same wisdom and courage that we have possibly reach the kinds of conclusions that we have?

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They just don't understand, and perhaps they're neither willing nor able to do so.

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And it doesn't matter who speaks. It could be any number of counsellors, and the Proverbs are full of exhortations to take counsel.

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Sometimes the man who isolates himself will find a book or an example or quote a few verses, but he won't really subject himself to the kind of holy and humble scrutiny that he truly needs.

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He might find himself a few yes -men who will tell him that he is exactly what he thinks himself to be.

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He might ask around until somebody, perhaps as misguided as he is, tells him that he must be right.

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But when it comes to the counsels of a husband or a wife, when it comes to the instructions of older and wiser people, when it comes to the advice of true and mature

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Christians, when it comes to the urgings and exhortations of his elders perhaps, no, he knows best.

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He knows what is right. He sees clearly and nothing will sway him from the path.

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It may be that the whole church would see things differently, but he is in the right.

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It may be that his whole family would want to tell him that he's not acting righteously, but no, he is the man who stands on the rock.

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And so it doesn't matter who or what is spoken, how many entreaties and urgings and exhortations and pleadings there are, this man is fixed upon his own notions and his own ends, and he has cut himself off from anyone and everything that might have done him any good in turning him from his foolish course.

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And so he defies all wise judgment. I plead with you, don't be that person, don't be that man or that woman who shuts their ears and their eyes to the wisdom and the understanding of others, who sets themselves upon a pedestal and determines that whatever else anyone says or does, you already know that you are right and you will follow your course.

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You need to be so cautious before you take such a path. Let us therefore be humble that we may be holy and hear