Midweek Musing- 5/29/2024

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future.”  Proverbs 19:20 (NRSVUE)

“Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise." Proverbs 19:20 (NIV)

“Take good counsel and accept correction— that’s the way to live wisely and well.” Proverbs 19:20 (MSG)

In the mid-1980s, Karen Clark introduced a groundbreaking catastrophe modeling system to insurers, forecasting the immense potential damages from major storms.

Her data and warnings were dire. She predicted the costs of damages from a major storm to be far greater than any other model, it wasn’t what any of the insurance companies wanted to hear so her work was dismissed as being ridiculously pessimistic and overly catastrophic. It was criticized as predicting an impossible doomsday scenario.

While her work was initially dismissed, it was tragically validated when Hurricane Andrew struck Florida in 1992, causing nearly $15 billion in damages—far exceeding previous estimates of a storm causing 3 to 4 billion in a “worst-case scenario.”

Many insurance companies who were not prepared for this faced bankruptcy. This underscored the severe consequences of ignoring wise counsel. Perhaps the CEOs and CFOs of these companies should have read the wisdom of proverbs.

The writer of this portion of Proverbs (fyi – historians tell us Proverbs is a compilation of sayings from several sources) notes that listening to advice and accepting the truth found in it are essential to the gathering of wisdom.

These insurance companies' reluctance to heed Clark’s warnings mirrors our own tendencies to resist guidance. Especially guidance that is unwelcome or that challenges our current worldview or takes us out of our comfort zones.

However, embracing such advice can help us to lead healthier and happier lives. Following even unwelcome truth can lead us to better preparedness. This preparedness helps us to be resilient, strong, and hopeful even in the face of life's inevitable storms.

Sadly, even after being proven right, Clark’s models are still ignored in places like California, where the risks of wildfire are high. This reluctance to accept guidance, even from proven sources, of course highlights a larger struggle we as humans have with willful ignorance, pride, and shortsightedness. We often choose to disregard advice and wisdom that could protect us because it seems unwelcome or requires change or hard work.

In our prayer life I believe it is important to consider the areas of your life where we might be resisting or flat out ignoring good advice and instruction.

Because all of us will at times run away from those things we have been instructed to do

because they feel uncomfortable and are not in our plans!

Perhaps we need to look beyond the moment and consider the long-term benefits of accepting truth and its guidance and discipline. We need to embrace the wisdom that God places in our path, whether we receive it through the discernment of scripture, or friends and family, or experts like doctors. When we do so we can become stronger and healthier which allows us to live life more abundantly which allows us to better serve God by loving others and loving our creator.

I pray we each may have the ability and openness to listen to wise counsel and the willingness to follow through on the wisdom we are given.

In the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Alleluia Amen.