Proverbs 26:9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

Drunk people shouldn’t hold thorns.

To be clear, nobody should hold thorns, and it is generally unwise to get drunk. Anything taken to the extreme becomes error.

If you pick up a blade the wrong way, it can cut you. If you pick up a blade while impaired, it can cut everybody.

Alcohol dulls the senses and reduces pain. The drunk with a thorn in his hand may not feel it’s effects.

Likewise, the fool may be reading or reciting a proverb whose wisdom has no impact upon him

The image here is of a person not in control of their senses or choices, with a weapon in their hands that will hurt them in holding it and everyone they touch in waving it around.

Still worse, while they are drunk, they may not feel much of anything. They will be cutting people with their reckless handling of sharp things, and not even realize it.

A fool will misuse wisdom. They will apply it wrongly to their own lives. They will think they have power that they don’t. They will make reckless decisions. They will make a mockery of the proverb with their decisions.

Some fools are dumb. Others are brilliant, but choose to behave in ways that are morally reprehensible. This type of fool will generate even more harm with the way they use wisdom towards others. They will weaponize it. They will use it to gaslight and manipulate. Like a drunk, they will often do so without truly realizing, or ever feeling, the harm they are causing.

One of the most striking ailments of the human condition is our capacity to sympathize with ourselves, no matter how bad our conduct. Our lens frames the stories we tell. And we see everything from our own reference point. So if we see ourselves as the hero of our story, we may easily create villains out of people responding to our behavior or just trying to live their own lives. We may lament our powerlessness while wielding power. We may abuse people while considering ourselves victims.

Twelve step programs include an admission of the exact nature of our wrongs, but fools usually think what they are doing is still working, which is part of what makes them such a liability.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Misapplied wisdom can create a world of trouble.

If we are not willing to examine and repent of our destructive ways, we will repeatedly make the same mistakes.

And if we are gifted, and influential, we will draw more and more people around us to harm.

We all know that driving under the influence is irresponsible and potentially catastrophic.

Plenty of us, however, are driving under the influence of foolishness, and thinking and living there as well.

We need to sober up, in more ways than one.

(Photo Credit: Hunter Harmon)