"Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment (Proverbs 9:4 and 16).

"Step this way!  Hurry!  Hurry!  Hurry!"  The carnival midway is over-stuffed with the sounds of bells, whistles, music, and the shouts of dozens of carnies -- people who travel from festival to festival, fair to fair, carnival to carnival, hawking all sorts of games, attractions, snacks, and prizes.  The Incredible Bearded Lady... Ring the Bottle... the World's Strongest Man... Balloon-Popping Darts... Old-Fashioned Lemonade... the Snake Charmer... Fried Mini-Doughnuts... "Hey, you there, sonny!  Step right up!  The show is about to begin..."  They're looking for suckers.  They're looking for guys who've got girls to impress, goofy-grinned teenagers who dare each other into spending their money on the chance to earn a life-sized Saint Bernard dog plush toy, silly old men who are out to impress or appease their grandchildren.  Some, of course, just do it for the nostalgic facotr.  But by and large, the carnies are looking for people with impaired judgment -- simple folk who don't know any better, or who don't even care if they do know better, so long as they have some money to burn.  The carnies know that it's just a matter of time and persistence.  "Hurry!  Hurry!  Hurry!  The chance of a lifetime... You don't want to miss it..."

I think it's fascinating to see this very scenario being played out in Proverbs chapter 9 -- except for the fact that it's a much smaller and much more serious "carnival" featuring just two carnies:  Wisdom and Folly.  They're both calling out, though, raising their voices and trying to catch the attention of simple folk passing by.  They're both saying the same things, too (notice how verses 4 and 16 read exactly the same, word-for-word).  They call out:  "Let all who are simple come in here!"  They're hawking their wares just like the carnies selling admission to see the Bearded Lady or test their strength with the hammer trying to ring the little bell at the top of the Strength-o-Meter.  "Come in here!  Step right up!  Hurry!  Hurry!  Hurry!"

"Honestly, it can be a hard choice sometimes -- especially for a simple guy like me, especially when wisdom and folly are shouting so loudly on either side of me.  How should I really use my money?  How should I spend my time?  In which relationships should I really invest?  I get confused by the hubub, the television commercials, the social pressures, the competing desires of my own heart.  Sometimes, I even make dumb choices -- wasting a bunch of perfectly good time and/or money in the process.  But I ultimately want to choose well!  I want to solicit Wisdom, not Folly.  I want my choices to bring me closer to God, not further away.  More than anything, all these scenarios seem to me like a call to prayer.  I need to ask God for wisdom (even the wisdom to help me know how to choose wisdom!).  And then, I need to walk by faith, following God's wisdom as best I can.  Thank God for the Holy Spirit -- who serves as a much better guide than my stomach, or my ego, or my envy!  He's just about the best carnival companion a person could ever ask for, isnt' He?  I just wonder if He'd be willing to try and win me one of those life-sized Saint Bernard dog plush toys.