When I was young I asked a preacher, “How do I know what to do?” He told me that if I needed wisdom I would find it in the book of Proverbs.
Later on we, came to know and love a strong leader in the church in San Diego, Mother Stewart, known for her wisdom. She was a teacher and kept a Bible on her desk. She read a proverb every morning as soon as she arrived at work before she began her day.
I was contemplating how sometime when people become more “religious” they become closed to learning. This happened in the middle ages so much that it became known as the dark ages. Those who sought to understand the world were stopped, shunned and sometimes killed.
We must be open to learning to grow spiritually, intellectually, in business and everything we do. Even to have fulfilling relationships with our spouses and friends we must be open to learning about ourselves and each other.
How do we keep our faith and not end up in the dark ages and closed to learning. Looking for wisdom, I headed to Proverbs. It turns out that the opening verses were in this very subject!
1 The proverbs of Solomom son of David, king of Israel: 2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
PROVERBS 1: 1-7
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables
the sayings and riddles of the wise. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Wow,
So what does this mean?
According to Women’s study Bible NIV
Fear in Proverbs is best understood as reverent obedience expressed in a submissive spirit rather than a terrifying dread.
A fool is mortally rather than intellectually defective.
Simple means “to be open wide” a common designation in Proverbs. It suggests someone who is naive, gullible and susceptible to good and bad influences.
In many cases our attemp to not be simple or open wide to all kinds of influences causes the mind to be closed. No knowledge can be gained with a closed mind, though. We can not even hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit if we are closed. How can we learn anything from the Bible if we are closed to learning.
I have had the unique opportunity to hang out at Harvard University among the intellectuals, California surfers, Texas cowboys, inner-city homeless people, suburban soccer moms and southern gentry and everyone in between. One of the most important observations has been that those, no matter who they are, who are open to learning are more successful in relationships, business, their own development and most importantly more joyful than those who think they already know or should know everything or are restricted in some way to seeking truth on the “other side”. Scientists closed to seeking God or religious closed to seeking truth in science.
We are hopeful that we are experiencing a revival of following Jesus in the world. My prayer is that we seek wisdom from God verified by His Word, much of which is found in Proverbs. Imagine how joyful our world will be with open minds to learning and understanding with godly wisdom to know what do do.
