Pride's Prison

Proverbs 26:12
Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

As I read the first 11 verses of this chapter, I was blown away by the amount of space dedicated to putting the fool "on blast". The fool is not fit for honor, needs to be reigned in with a whip, is lost in his own world of logic, is an unfit messenger, makes a proverb useless when he speaks it, cannot be honored, and prone to go back to his vile mistakes. In short, the fool is to be avoided at all cost. To invest in a fool is to throw your money into a bottomless.
 
Then we get the punchline in verse 12, the proud man, the one wise in his own estimation is more lost than the fool. An argument can be made that the fool is lacking something. Perhaps he has been led astray by bad counsel, or his conscience may be seered by years of following a lie, but not so the one wise in his own eyes. The proud have full use of their faculties. The proud make a conscience decision to elevate themselves over others and even the word of the Lord. As hopeless as it is to get through to the fool, more challenging still is it to penetrate the defenses of the proud. Pride is a prison. The only way out is submission to God and respect for our fellow man.