In my readings today I read Proverbs 18:2, which says, “A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.” I thought this was a very telling observation of a fool and a wise man. As Solomon sees things a wise man will listen and desire to understand what is being said to him, or what is happening to him. (A side note about understanding. We can learn and gain understanding not just from people teaching us or from reading books, but also from circumstances and events as well. God seeks to teach us and sanctify us by events and circumstances just as much as he does from the mouth of other people.) Whereas a fool, while he may look like he is listening, is not actually paying attention. He is not concerned with understanding what is being said or what is happening, he is only concerned with how he will respond, what he will say next and how he feels. Which of the two men/people are you? Do you listen and seek understanding, in all things, or do you simply listen superficially, waiting for your chance to speak and give your opinion? I pray that God will mold you into the former and crush any resemblance in you to the latter.
Father I thank you for insight into the condition of man. I thank you for opening up my sins and flaws and showing them to me. Help me now to move forward with this knowledge in a way that brings you glory. Help me to be a wise man and seek to understand all things and to find you in them and help me to be humble, to crush my own desire to speak and say what I feel. What I feel is inconsequential if I do not fully understand your purposes in what I am feeling. May you always be my focus and my life’s greatest joy. In your name Lord Jesus I ask these things, amen.
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