Let’s talk about bears

Everyone has heard the phrase “mama bear” and how that is usually used in reference to a mother who is extremely protective when she feels that her kids are being threatened or mistreated in some way. Sometimes the moniker is used in a good way, and sometimes it is used derogatorily.

This phrase references female bears and how they react when they feel that their cubs are in danger.

Now, in North America there are three native species of bears. There are grizzly bears, black bears, and polar bears. Polar bears reach about 990 lbs, grizzlies can range between 180 lbs and 1,300 lbs,  and black bears typically reach around 240 lbs.

I don’t know about you, but I am not prepared to handle a violent experience with any of those bears. I am not Leonardo DiCaprio and this is not The Revenant (disclaimer: I have never actually seen the film).

I especially don’t want to meet a mother bear who thinks that I am the reason her cubs are missing or in danger. That is not a moment I want to experience in my lifetime.

Which brings me to a verse in Proverbs that I read today in my daily Bible reading with the She Reads Truth app (I recommend this devotional app to women). Anyways, the verse is as follows:

“Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly.” Proverbs 17:12.

This has been running in my mind all day. It’s weird and my initial reaction when I read it was, “Wait, what? That’s in the Bible? Seriously?”

I’m just a bit amazed that God would have Solomon pen these words for His followers to read so many years later.

God wants us to know that surrounding ourselves with fools is so terrible that we would be better off if we met an angry, raging, female bear who just lost her cubs. The imagery alone astounds me.

This is so important to God that He wanted it said exactly like this. If I were Solomon and God told me to write this I probably would have said something along the lines of, “Are you sure it needs to be said like that? Isn’t it a bit, I dunno, harsh?”

But that’s not what happened. Solomon wrote those words down. Because God said so.

Bears are wild animals that have the potential to be deadly when crossed. And God says that dealing with that is better than dealing with a fool.

I can’t get over this, if I’m being honest with you all right now. This verse is so powerful and so strange at the same time.

It shows that our God is not playing games when it comes to our lives, which means we should not either. It shows the importance of actively pursuing God and Godly people in our lives. And those things are absolutely priceless.

God cares so much about us that He paid the ultimate price so that we could be with Him for all eternity. Then He went even further and gave us verses like Proverbs 17:12 to get in our face and guide us and teach us. What a wonderful God we serve.