In our fast paced culture, there are so many voices literally screaming for our attention and trying to get us to believe and follow their advice. The problem is, how do we know which one is right? And are they right all the time? Take binoculars for instance. These devises are great and important when trying to see details from far away, but they are terrible if you’re trying to take a splinter out of your hand!
I am always looking for more information about many things so that I am well-informed about any decision I make. With the availability of the internet, we can research just about any topic we like, whether it’s about fixing car, building houses or any other mechanical issue. Then there is the spiritual research. Today you can find so much about world religions and what makes them attractive to so many people. Again, regardless of the topic you can find information on, the information is given in a way that exclude details that are important.
For instance, take a project my son and I are engaged in. Josh said he wanted to build a roof off the front of his house and wanted it to be a project we (father & son) could do together. I tried to persuade him that this was better left to a builder especially because he wanted to put a totally different design on an old cape style roof. All I could see was spending a lot of money on a project that when finished would look terrible. I could see myself visiting him and his family and cringing every time at how bad it looked. I don’t mind taking on projects that I have some proven skill in, but this seemed out of my skill set. Mind you, I have done various construction jobs ever since I was 18 years old, but felt very inadequate to take this one on. When I finally agreed to do the job, and figure out the design and construction, I would be awake at night trying to work out a particular problem due to the fact that his house is about 70 years old and nothing is square. No matter what we told our wives it would take 3x as long!
So you might be asking, “What’s the point”? The point is that no matter what choices we make in life, we need perspective of things close up and far away. With the porch roof, Josh and I would build part of it and then get out to the street to see the perspective to see if it looked right. What we discovered is that sometimes your eye sees things different close up than it does far away. You have to decide what looks better and commit.
King Solomon of Israel was considered the wisest man of his time, wrote about many things, but his focus was heavily on the difference between wisdom and foolishness, and the wise person vs the fool. The wise person has a few qualities that the fool does not. The wise person listens to those who knows more about life than they do. They realize they will always need others to advise them. The fool on the other hand thinks they know enough to get by and rejects the advise of the wise. Interesting that Solomon includes the naive. He actually alines them with fools because they plow ahead in life believing they will make good choices even though they haven’t accumulated enough knowledge to do so. I would rather learn from someone else mistakes rather than make the same ones myself. Human nature has a strong tendency to “NOT” learn from others mistakes.
Proverbs 14:15-16
The naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps. A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is arrogant and careless.
Look at the words he uses when talking about the naive: “They inherit foolishness”. Have you ever realized you are positioning yourself to “inherit” a bad trait in your life? I can tell you I have. There are times I plow ahead in a direction assuming I’m capable of handling anything when, Pow! I hit a brick wall and start to complain to God of the unfairness of my experience. If I get still enough for me to hear the Holy Spirit, He points out that I inherited the consequences before I acted because I moved without good counsel.
Proverbs 14:18
The naive inherit foolishness, but the sensible are crowned with knowledge.
God’s word and sound council will clear a lot of “bad inheritance” so we can receive the blessings God has in mind to give us. Although it’s God’s nature and desire to bless our lives, He is often hindered from doing so because of our choices. Our choices can be made from poor advise or sound ones. You can normally recognize the people with good or bad advise. Are they living like we would want to? Are they showing signs of God’s blessings? Remember, there are a lots of blowhards out there who are more than willing to tell you what you want to hear. The godly counsel is often harder to come by. They are the ones that have learned that humility is a trait that God honors and have learned to examine their own hearts regularly before they speak.
Proverbs 14:33
Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, but in the hearts of fools it is made known.
In closing this article, I want to stress the importance of realizing that we need perspective that is both long-range and perspective that is close up. If both these traits are practiced in our lives we will discover our inheritance is blessed and not cursed, and God’s favor rest on our present and future choices.
Questions:
How often do you seek out advise from people you respect? The answer will speak volumes about your future.
How diligent are you in seeking wisdom from God’s word? Your diligence will affect your future.
I love searching the deep things in life and working towards a healthy soul!
Pastor Dale
Another piece of good advice, as usual, Pastor Dale.