The Soul and the Fool
How to become stuck to evil.
A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.
Proverbs 13:19 (ESV)
Celebrating achievement is uniquely human.
This behavior, odd to the animal kingdom, helps describe what a soul is.
It is the hidden, invisible, nature of what it is to be human — in the best sense.
We all want things-or-results so we set out on a path to obtain-or-achieve whatever it is.
This is our nature, how we were wired.
A desire is beyond an animal instinct.
When we accomplish good and difficult tasks, it brings us great pleasure so we find the need to throw a party.
Nothing wrong with this.
How does the first statement of this proverb
— A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul —
relate to the second statement about fools and evil?
It is the second line where wisdom is dispensed.
The first line was not controversial back then and should not be now.
The second one was and is the punchline.
It shows the corruption of the good nature of mankind — which is the result of foolish thinking.
We see a lot of foolish thinking today. In fact it seems to have become the norm.
But what is a fool as defined by the Bible?
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Psalms 14:1a (ESV)
The normal activities of soul-filled humans —those in sync with the divine spirit — are not seen in the behavior of fools — those who live out from the premise there is no God.
For this reason they, like flies to flypaper, are stuck on evil.