“When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.”  (ESV)

How often is this the case? We do something stupid, face the consequences, and then get mad at God for not keeping us from facing the consequences.  

I knew a young man who grew up in church, went off to college, got himself into some legal trouble stemming from some poor moral decisions, and soon thereafter announced to his family that he was an atheist and wanted nothing to do with the church whatsoever.

Oftentimes what drives people, particularly young people, to abandon their faith is that they find themselves torn between the moral imperatives of the faith in which they were raised and the manifold of experiences the college or young professional world offers to them which are not at all consonant with such moral imperatives.

For a great number of these kids, they were taught the faith, but it never really became rooted in their heart. They were taught that Jesus loves them, but they weren’t taught why He does and how to defend that idea against claims to the contrary. They were taught to be good and do good, but they weren’t taught why that matters and exactly who defines what good is.  For these kids, when their faith is challenged by invitations to all manner of immediate physical pleasures and apparently good times, it folds up and goes home. At first they feel guilty about it, but then they figure out that if they don’t hold that faith anymore they don’t have to feel the guilt anymore.  Thus, the faith goes out the window so they can enjoy their new lifestyle without any burden of guilt.

The irony is that these new young atheists are often the most evangelistic in their beliefs. They seem to delight in raging against God (which is funny given that they profess to not believe in His existence). But here’s the thing: the training of their youth isn’t gone entirely. They still have that promise of Jesus’ love rattling around somewhere inside, however much they misunderstand what that means. And when their lives begin to show forth the fruit of their foolish decisions, that refrain begins to echo again and they get upset that this person who supposedly loves them hasn’t done anything to help (they probably don’t consider that by letting their lives fall apart which in turn prompts them to look back in His direction He is helping).

In other words, the truth of this proverb plays out everyday on college campuses and in young neighborhoods filled with early post-college professionals all over the country. Perhaps we would do well to have our kids memorize this one so that if for some reason they should find themselves there someday (something that can likely be avoided by diligently teaching them about the faith and how to defend it) they’ll understand a little better what’s going on, skip over the illogical anger, and just come on back to Jesus.