Which Came First?

Proverbs 14:18 (KJV) The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

This is another example of the chicken and the egg.  Which came first?  Does folly make you simple and knowledge make you prudent?  Or as this seems to say are the simple, naïve, empty headed heading toward folly?  Are the prudent rewarded with knowledge?

Which comes first?  In one sense it’s another one of those puzzles that are hard to answer.  The reason it’s important is that this entire chapter is pointing out that we have free will.  We make choices.  We make decisions.  Those decisions are established by the direction of our heart and our mind.  What is it you want to achieve in life?  Are you out for yourself?  Are you selfish self-centered and narcissistic?  Then folly is ahead of you.  It’s not because God throws folly at you until it sticks; it’s that you insist on living a selfish life and will reap the rewards.

So?  God deals with you as an individual.  God in a sense, is a respecter of persons.  He wants you to make the choices so that He can reward you with His grace and eternal life or give you what you really want, which is a throne in hell.  In reality, the choice is yours.  You make it every day.