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Friday, October 22, 2021

The Marks of a Wise Person

 


“Dad,” my son said to me.  “I hope I’m as wise you are some day.”

“I hope you are wiser than I am,” I said.  Truth to tell, I don’t feel terribly wise most of the time.  Although I suppose to a ten year old, I would seem to have a lot of answers to the questions that he is facing in his life.

In the book of I Kings, the story is told of a dream that Solomon, King of Israel, had.  In it, God appeared to him and offered to give him whatever he wished for.  Solomon humbly told God that he did not feel worthy of the throne of Israel.  In his humility, Solomon asked God to give him a “discerning heart to govern” the people. 

In reply, God told Solomon that He would give him a wise and discerning heart.  In addition, God said He would give Solomon many other things that he had not asked for, like wealth and honor.

Wisdom is something that is crucial.  The Book of Proverbs spends a lot of time telling us how to achieve wisdom and some of the qualities of a wise man or woman.

Proverbs 4:7 says, “Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting, get understanding.” 

I checked at Walmart and they don't have a wisdom section.  Maybe your local big box store has some in stock, but it seems to be in short supply these days.  I thought that it might be helpful to note a few of the characteristics that wise people show in their lives so that we can emulate these things and also identify people that are worth listening to.

Wise People Fear God

Proverbs 9:10 says that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

This isn’t an obvious place to begin learning wisdom.  It seems as though wisdom would begin with training in the right Universities or at a minimum, spending time apprenticed to a sage who would instruct in the intricacies of discernment.

Wisdom begins with a basic knowledge of Who is in charge and ordering the Universe.  Without this foundation, the rest of the house is going to fall apart.  Understanding that God is in charge and we are His servants provides the context for every other decision we make in our lives.  Those who do not have this understanding will suffer as a result.

When a person learns to read, they begin with learning letters and the sounds that they make.  Without some basic understanding of phonics, as well as exposure to sight words, you can’t read Dr. Seuss, much less Shakespeare.

I am afraid that too many people have lots and lots of knowledge and yet never reach wisdom because they start at the wrong place.

Wise men and women build on this foundational truth.  They know that they are only the humble servants of the ruler of the Universe.

Wise People are Humble

Proverbs 11:2 says, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom."

Humility is not particularly valued these days.  The people who are listened to the most speak confidently and frequently about their own abilities and knowledge.  Even the people who claim to be humble seem awfully proud of that humility.

I have lived long enough to know that God has a way of humbling those who think a lot of themselves.  Maybe we could say that those who are arrogant tend to humble themselves, because they are seldom the person they believe themselves to be.

I feel like I am constantly reading opinions of people who are over stating their credentials.  No one says, “I was a B and C student and really struggled with Pathology in Medical School, but here is what I think…”  Instead, they claim to have been part of Harvard Medical School because they once took a medical conference there.  Maybe they claim to have invented the internet because they once voted for a bill that helped fund its start.

These sorts of claims usually fall apart under scrutiny.  It is better to be humble.

More than that, wise men and women are willing to learn from those around them.  They may be the smartest person in the room, but they are still willing to sit down, listen, and learn.  This is a big reason why they are wise.

Wise People Appreciate Criticism

Proverbs 9:8 says, “Do not reprove a scoffer or he will hate you, reprove a wise man and he will love you.”

I don’t suppose any of us enjoy criticism.  The person giving the critique is seldom perfect.  The criticism often is not worded in a way that makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.  None of this changes the fact that if we are wise, we will listen to criticism.

I can’t say that I feel good when people come to me with things I could and should be doing better.  I feel like I’m doing my best, what more can they expect? 

Wisdom is not only realizing that we aren’t a finished product yet, it is attempting to figure out better ways to do the tasks we are called to do.  Wisdom listens to the words that others speak into our lives and attempts to turn them to something positive.

Finding the truth in the criticism is crucial.  Unfortunately, most of us only find things like irritation and anger there.

Reproof is never easy to take.  Wisdom understands that it is the beginning of something better, if we only listen.

Wise People Surround Themselves with other Wise People

Proverbs 13:20 says, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

We become like the people that we are with.  This is something that can be good if we spend time with people that encourage us and are full of wisdom.  It is something that can be harmful if we spend our time with individuals who aren’t deep thinkers.

This is not an IQ issue.  We don’t become less intelligent when we spend time with people who have lower IQs.  The issue is that when we spend lots of time with people who deliberately choose not to use discernment, we become like them.  We begin to believe things with little foundation in truth.  We doubt things that we used to know to be truth.

If we spend time reading news from websites with questionable journalistic credibility, two things will happen.  First, we will begin to think that the opinions that they layer on top of the actual news are factual.  Second, we will be less tolerant of real factual news and expert opinion.

Therefore, it is crucial that we surround ourselves with people who have true discernment and are craving a deeper understanding of both secular things and the things of God.  These are the sort of people that will push us towards true wisdom.

Wise People Say Less

Proverbs 17:27 says, “A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even tempered.”

Wise people tend not to share much.  Maybe this is for a few different reasons.  First, wise people know that they don’t know everything.  It is easy to speculate on things that we are still learning about, but it is seldom wise to do so.  Second, is that unsolicited advice is seldom appreciated.  If a patient of mine indicates that they are not interested in quitting smoking, I usually tell them that if they decide they are ready to quit, they should let me know and I can try to help.  Continuing to badger them about it doesn’t tend to work.  A final reason is that wise people know that they will need to retract fewer things that they have said if they have said less and speculated less.

I think most of us struggle a bit with this.  All of us have opinions on most subjects out there, even if we don’t have a lot of knowledge to back up our opinions.  It is wiser in these situations to be quiet or simply to say, “I don’t know.”

Wise People Change Their Minds

Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

It is wisdom to change your mind as you receive more information.  As already mentioned, the wisest thing is to say nothing until you are absolutely certain of something, but many times we are called on to speculate on something. 

If my mechanic says to me, “Sounds like a fuel pump,” but then when he investigates further decides there is a much cheaper fix, I am glad.  I would rather have him change his mind than to replace a part that is working just fine.

With COVID, we have been learning many things over the last year and three quarters.  Some of the things we thought were true last March and April have turned out to be inaccurate.  Is it flip-flopping to change one’s mind?  Maybe, but it is also a sign of wisdom.

I have discovered over the last year that people value confidence and credentials a lot.  These look good on a resumé but are not things that indicate men and women who are wise.

Rather we should ask some other questions to see if we are trusting the right people.

Does this person fear God and is it evident in his behavior, the ways in which he discusses people in authority, and the language he uses?

Does this person display humility when interacting with other people, particularly those of opposing points of view?

Does this person listen to criticism?

What times has this person shown themselves willing to change their mind about a subject which they were committed to?

I know that these sorts of actions and behaviors do not generate a large following. 

People seem to follow brash, self-confident, and self-important individuals with lots of hot takes – even if they don’t really like their personalities.  This is not the sort of person Christians are called to be, nor is that the sort of person that we should trust or spend time with.

We are called to have hearts of understanding and discernment.  We are called to humility.  Most of all, we are called to wisdom.


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