Lord, Please Send More Bears!
By: J. B. Hixson, Ph.D.
January 6, 2010

Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly. (Proverbs 17:12)

Have you ever been cornered by a wild animal?  Few things are more terrifying than the sight of a ferocious animal determined to attack.  Just ask Allena Hansen, a 56 year old woman from Caliente, CA.  She had an unfortunate encounter with a bear and had to endure ten hours of surgery to her face and head to repair the damage done by the  mauling.  Doctors say she is lucky to be alive. 

As bad as a bear mauling may sound, there is something worse.  According to the Bible, a "fool in his folly" is an even more ferocious foe.  Proverbs 17:12 cautions, "Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly."  The only thing worse than an unfortunate encounter with a bear is an unfortunate encounter with a bear robbed of her cubs.  And the only thing worse than an unfortunate encounter with a bear robbed of her cubs is an unfortunate encounter with a fool in  his folly.

How can this possibly be the case?  In the Book of Proverbs, a "fool" represents the antithesis of God's ways, God's viewpoint, God's perspective, God's ideal.  A fool is someone who does not behave according to the normal standards of right and wrong or fairness or justice.  A fool has his own rulebook.  Motivated by pride (the seedbed of all sin), a fool will stop at nothing to achieve his purpose.  A fool is obsessed with his agenda and determined to achieve his selfish ends.  Like a bear whose single-minded purpose it to protect her cubs, a fool at the height of his folly is focused on protecting only one thing: himself.

There are, of course, degrees of foolishness.  Not all bears are killers; and not all fools are self-deceived marauders seeking to destroy anyone who gets in their way.  But left unchecked foolishness degenerates into the kind of sinful and hateful behavior that will make a bear robbed of her cubs seem like a furry harmless hamster.  That is why Proverbs warns: Watch out for a fool in his folly!

Just as you cannot talk an attacking bear out of eating you for supper, likewise there is no reasoning with a fool in his folly.  No amount of logic or rationality will convince him to correct course.  He is a fool.  He has abandoned biblical principles (if he ever had them to begin with) and is dead set on advancing his self-serving agenda, whatever it may be.

So what's the remedy for such an encounter?  How can you survive when a fool in his folly is stalking you?  When you encounter a fool in his folly, I suggest a prayer that goes something like this: "Lord, please send more bears!"  At least you have a fighting chance against the bear.