Being Wise Means Never Arriving

"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:  To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.” (Pr 1:5-6 AV)

Wisdom here is not defined by what one knows.  Wisdom here is defined as an individual who will learn.  Not an individual who already knows what should be done.  Not that knowing the right choice isn’t wise.  It is just that this passage defines someone who is wise as someone who is still learning.  In our observations, we would consider someone who consistently shows self-discipline manifested by making good choices as a wise person.  Often, those observations are confined to the obvious.  Those things which can be easily discerned.  Finances, family issues, personal health, etc.  Success in these areas is often seen as evidence of wisdom.  And they are.  Solomon here is not being critical of those who find success in life by living according to biblical principles.  Clearly, these people are wise.  What Solomon is stating is wisdom doesn’t stop with what one knows and lives.  Wisdom also implies a continuing habit of learning, evaluation, change, and maturity.  We may have great success in obvious areas and are known as wise individuals, but if we stop learning, then we become fools.

There is a danger in getting older.  The older and wiser I get, the more I am apt to think there is less for me to learn.  The more I learn the hard lessons of life that come by way of foolishness, the less apt I am to think myself a fool.  The more I look at the actions of those less experienced against the experience I may possess, the more apt I am to think I have little to learn.  Sometimes the hardest people to teach are those who think they have little to learn.  I may think there is some success in life for which I can credit the LORD.  There may be temptations that plagued me in my younger years that have no influence any longer.  Perhaps I have grown wiser.  The trap which I find set for me is to think I can come to a place in my experiences of life where there is little left to learn.  At that point, our author would consider me to be a fool.  And he would be right.  It doesn’t matter how old or experienced a soul can get, there is always something to learn.  Paul told Timothy to let no man despise his youth.  He was giving Timothy the boldness he needed to pastor his first church.  No doubt he had men who were far more experienced than he.  If he wasn’t careful, he would allow their experience and his inexperience to reverse the direction of ministry designed by God.  Those men had the experience, but not all the experience.  There were still things they needed to learn.  Even if it was from someone of less experience than they.

I have three sons all of who have more formal education than I do.  In my church, I have two young men who have or will have more formal education than I.  From time to time, I may ask in the process of my preaching, if I have the understanding of the original Biblical languages correct in my assessment.  I don’t do that because I feel the need to submit to someone who has information that I do not have.  Rather, I do so because they have the information I do not have and I would be a fool to think I have all the information necessary to do my job.  I am learning.  That requires humility and vulnerability.  Some see this as a weakness.  But it is not.  It is avoiding becoming a fool.  To be a perpetual student is far more wise, even if we don’t have all the wisdom of others than to have much wisdom and stop learning.  The person who shuts off their mind and ears to correction and change is a person who is a fool no matter how successful he or she has been in most other areas of life.