(Prov 26:12 GNB) The most stupid fool is better off than those who think they are wise when they are not.
This morning we continue our series entitled, “Unlocking the Power of Proverbs – Walking in the Wisdom of God.” For the last 11 verses we have learned what Solomon said about fools. It is obvious that Solomon did not hold fools in high regard. However, here we learn that there is something worse than being a fool; and that is being a pompous, unteachable, egomaniac that is convinced he knows it all. Another translation says that this man is “Wise in his own eyes.” This is what happened to king Saul and we all know how his story ended. Never get to the point where you think you have “arrived” and no one can teach you anything.
In the last letter Paul wrote before he died, the second to his spiritual son Timothy, he said this about the Word of God: “Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us” (2 Tim 3:16,17). When we open up the pages of God’s Word the Holy Spirit Himself, the author of the book, can show, expose, correct, and train us. However, if we think we already know it all, and we come to God and His Word with an unteachable spirit, then the experience will be completely fruitless. You can’t teach a person what he thinks he already knows. Paul wrote half the New Testament, but he strived to remain humble. In his letter to the church in Rome Paul said, “Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!” (Rom 12:16).
One day Jesus encountered a group of conceited people and He told them this story: “Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there. I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, ‘God, have pity on me, a sinner!’ I tell you,” said Jesus, “The tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great” (see Luke 18:9-14).
So what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. Maintain a teachable spirit. You don’t know it all. Realize your limitations and allow God to develop you. The quickest way down in God is up (pride), but the quickest way up in God is down (humility).
2. Be committed to lifelong learning. The day you stop learning is the day you stop growing.
3. Learn to receive correction. You are not perfect, so God will have to send people your way, from time to time, to correct you. Make the course corrections and grow from them! Don’t fight the process. You can’t grow without changing.
4. Shield yourself from prideful people. Be wary of the person who will not receive instruction or correction from anyone. That person has become the god of their own lives and they will soon find themselves spiraling out of control. Don’t allow them to influence you negatively.
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for this reminder. I declare, by faith, that I develop and maintain a teachable spirit. I humble myself so You don’t have to humble me. I know I don’t know it all and I enter every day with a hunger and thirst for righteousness and development. I am committed to lifelong learning and I shall learn all the days of my life. I am open to learn from General or Private, rich or poor, Black or White, Hispanic or Asian, male or female; I am not opposed to learning from whomever You send my way. I am receptive as You show, expose, correct, and train me in the way I should go. And I shield myself from those people who are wise in their own eyes; I don’t allow their pride to contaminate my spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
