I am not big on camping: mosquitoes, bugs, animals, and the worst of all, bears. I don’t want to meet one. Our verse today talks about meeting something worse than a bear robbed of its cubs. Stick with us to find out what!

Our verse today is Proverbs 17:12, which says, “Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly.” It’s better to meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs than a fool. What?!

I have a friend Jill who once went camping, not in a cabin or even a tent, but just with a backpack and a sleeping bag. When she came back, she told me she thought a bear had come into her campsite the night before! I cannot imagine meeting a bear. She could have been that bear’s dinner.

Can you imagine meeting a mother bear who thought you had taken her cubs? Yikes. Well, our verse today tells us it is much worse to meet a fool in his foolishness.

When I was growing up, I knew a lot of people in gangs. But I also knew some wanna-bes. You know, they lived in the suburbs, and their parents had more money, but they walked around the hood with their pants sagging, and they wanted to fit in with the gang-banger crowd. These people, these wanna-bes, were more dangerous because they were willing to do anything to try and prove that they were part of the gang.

When you mess around with people who may be foolish, you must be careful. You could end up being accountable for stuff that they’ve done. Don’t run with the people who are making foolish decision after foolish decision, and who are neglecting discipline and reproof.

“Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly,” Proverbs 17:12. Be careful who you deal with, and how you deal with them, because that is some dangerous stuff.