“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
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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