Don't Be Like an Ostrich

“O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.” (Pr 8:5 AV)

Generally speaking, in the book of Proverbs, knowledge is the gathering of facts, understanding is working to facts to ascertain application, and wisdom is the discipline to put into practice what one has come to understand.  What strikes me here is the emphasis on the heart when it comes to understanding.  Usually, the heart is associated with wisdom, not with understanding.  Once the individual gathers the facts, he or she works those facts.  It is the conclusion of those facts that often challenge the heart.  For instance, looking at all the effort ingredients and technique might be required to make a pineapple upside down cake, the cook might decide a bowl of ice cream would be more desirable.  Perhaps Solomon is encouraging those who have the foresight and can see where knowledge is headed so they avoid concluding with the obvious.  The understanding heart is the heart humble and prepared to take knowledge wherever it may lead.  The former is like an ostrich.  Their head is buried in the sand and it will know only what it thinks it needs to know.  The understanding heart is like the eagle that soars above it all and takes it all in.

Medical treatment has changed over the decades.  Some for the better.  Some not so much.  One characteristic that has changed is how much the practitioner informs their patient along the process of diagnosis.  Years ago, the doctor would keep you informed of what he was thinking.  If you went in with symptoms, he would explain what he was looking for that would necessitate the tests he had ordered.  In today’s medical marketplace, this is not so much the case.  It may be for the better.  With the invention of electronic medical records, it is way too easy to find results and search them on the internet.  It is way too easy to assume a certain outcome when there are much less serious conditions.  By withholding Hypotheticals, the practitioner is accomplishing several things.  He or she cannot be accused of causing undo stress.  Second, the practitioner can limit the scope of what is examined without the patient seeking unnecessary tests or labs.  Thirdly, and more to the point of our text, if the patient reads into lab and test results, they may assume an outcome that is not good and refuse future treatment or tests to determine the true nature of the illness.  In other words, the patient would have no heart to understand the full scope of the situation.  He or she can be like that ostrich with his head in the ground.  If he cannot see it, it must not exist.

Fear, immaturity, desire, etc all contribute to a heart that doesn’t want to understand.  This doesn’t change a thing.  We can bury our heads in the sand, but it doesn’t change what is going on around us.  Burying his head in the sand is not going to make the wolf go away.  If anything, a foolish heart that doesn’t want to understand makes it easier for the adversary.  The best thing to do is face life head on.  The best thing to do is to meditate on the knowledge found in scripture no matter where it might lead.  The lost ignore the obvious.  One day we all die.  That is unavoidable.  One day, we will exist for all of eternity in one place or the other.  Most of those with whom I speak never give it a thought.  They get older.  They get sicker.  But if they don’t think about it, they don’t have to deal with it.  This trait is not limited to the lost.  The saved do the same thing.  When the word of God deals with the heart, we avoid it because we don’t like the conclusion.  When the Holy Spirit deals with us, we don’t like the conclusion.  So, we frustrate the work of the Spirit.  We don’t read the word of God.  Or, if we do, we do not meditate on it because we don’t like where it is going.  That is the heart that doesn’t care for understanding.  This is the warning Solomon is giving to his children.  Have a heart that desires understanding no matter where it may end up.