Caution

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

CAUTION

Prov 17:12

12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

NIV

We cannot be sure just exactly why meeting this fool would be worse than the bear robbed of her cubs, but we can know it is not a very good thing. We also know that this fool is not the fool described by human standards but by Gods. So we would have to say that this fool in his folly is one that is acting out in a rebellious behavior against the things of God. It would seem this is not a person we believers should be in contact with. It would also appear this fool in his folly is not the one who accepts our witness about Christ and therefore qualifies for being in that category of shaking the dust off our sandals. This bear, if we were to meet her, would be a furious beast that would tear us limb from limb. We can only imagine this fool would do none the less and that is why we should avoid him or her best we can. There are just some people that we cannot bring the truth of God into their lives without meeting some peril to our own. Caution is the word here.