Motive and Attitude Of The Scholar

“A scorner seeketh wisdom, and [findeth it] not: but knowledge [is] easy unto him that understandeth.” (Pr 14:6 AV)

When we think of someone who mocks, we rarely see him or her seeking wisdom.  However, to understand this proverb is to see the subtlety of the foolish.  Critical thinking is an admirable thing.  But worshipping critical thinking is to elevate the ego.  John Gill uses Acts chapter seventeen as his example.  The Greeks sit atop Mars hill to hear and to tell some new thing.  They sit around and debate for what they think is enlightenment.  The philosophers are seeking knowledge and understanding while mocking the truth.  We live in the same day and age.  Critical thinking becomes an end it itself.  Solomon is sharing that motive and attitude are the key to finding wisdom.  Not the ability to reason alone.

There was a Singles activity where the students had to find a certain gathering place based on clues given at the start of the contest.  Each set of instructions was different.  They were not difficult to follow.  Go 2.3 miles and turn east.  When you come to the red barn with the figure of a milk carton painted on it, turn left.  Cross over the railroad tracks and count the number of gas stations on the corner.  Go that many miles ahead and turn right.  The contestants won by speed and efficiency.  Knowing how long it would take if the driver obeyed the speed limit, they had to arrive no sooner than it would take.  But after that, it would be the one team to log the best time.  One team, thinking they knew the mind of the singles Pastor, ignored the clues and went straight for what they believed was the finish line.  They sat at a fast food place across from the Pastor’s favorite place to visit.  They figured they would wait until the saw another team coming down the road and then jump in their car, cross the street, and win the contest.  They waited.  And waited.  And waited.  A few hours went by and no one showed.  The invitation said that the meal was starting very shortly.  Yet, no one was coming.  Thirty minutes later, they opened the envelope and read the clues.  At the end of the instructions, the Pastor had written, “If you are sitting at my favorite place to dine, you obviously did not read these instructions.  By the time you return to church, the meal will be over”.  The losing team mocked the contest.  They went off scornfully on their own.  They used their own wisdom and came up empty.

Man was given the ability to reason.  He was given this so that he might learn the truth of God and conform to it.  Mankind was not given the ability to reason that it might think contrary to the truth.  Even our seminaries are guilty of this.  Reason has limits.  These limits are the revealed word of God.  The scorner sees no limits.  If he can ask it, he must be able to know the answer.  He reasons according to his worldview.  His mind is not submitted to the absolute truth of God.  He is not humble.  To scorn is to elevate reason above submission.  It is pride of mind gone amok.  Solomon should understand this more than anyone.  Given all the wisdom needed to rule a kingdom, it is said of him that he was the wisest man that ever lived.  Yet look at how his life ended.  He was foolish in marrying daughters of foreign kings.  His motive was conquest.  He fell to the Gentile custom of amassing wives of other kingdoms to show his dominance over them.  Unfortunately, this resulted in idolatry and the eventual downfall of Israel.  The smartest man in the world was, in the end, a fool.  Why? Because he scorned the truth.  He rejected the ‘one man and one woman for life’ design for marriage.   Critical thinking is necessary.  But critical thinking is not an end to itself.