The best judgment only comes with experience. So, keep your eyes and ears open, your head down, and your mind sharp.”
–B.N. Rundell (Black Hawk)
“He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.”
–B.N. Rundell (Black Hawk)
“He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment.”
–Ecclesiastes 8:5 (NKJV)
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“A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.” –Proverbs 1:5-6, NKJV
“Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance — for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.” NIV
Notice the emphasis, the wise WILL HEAR. The great challenge then is to hear! This is nothing new. A wise man listens and knows what is going on around him. They understand the situation and issues in which they find themselves. Jesus admonished His disciples, “He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9). Listen, hear, gain understanding and knowledge. This is what the wise man does. I remember when I was doing undergraduate work I was astounded with a few of my professors at their knowledge. I wanted to be in their classes just to listen.
In order to hear there are two requirements: the first is–attendance. One must be there in order to hear. The second goes along with the first. When one is in attendance they must also be attentive. In other words, there must be focus! Add to that a reason–there must be the willingness to be a disciple. A disciple will quickly learn that knowledge and wisdom increase continually. Matthew Henry said, “As long as we live, we should strive to increase in all useful knowledge.” Many people think they have arrived with a degree, no matter what kind, but in reality they are just beginning. The more I study, the more I realize that I know little. The words of Fausset are true, “True wisdom is never stationary, but always progressive; because it secures the ground behind it as a basis for further advances.” We must be going forward, gaining everyday. I try to gain something from everything I read whether a fiction or nonfiction work. The great Hebrew rabbi, Hillel, stated, “He who is not adding is wasting; he who is not increasing knowledge is losing from it.” No one finishes the study of wisdom; there is always more to learn.
With knowledge and wisdom comes the responsibility to guide. We read in Luke, “…Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more.” (12:48, HCSB) J.B. Phillips translates it this way, “…Much will be expected from the one who has been given much, and the more a man is trusted, the more people will expect of him.” Be ready to study and receive, then be ready to give away what you have learned.
When I taught my apologetics class I would start the first unit: Reading as Worship. Too often we think of worship as singing when it reality it covers all of life. We should worship when we work, we should worship when we sing, we should worship when we gain knowledge. In all things, we should be doing it for the Lord (Colossians 3:17, 23). A person can read, but often does not search. Knowledge and understanding take effort and often it takes time and diligence to find it. Someone said that to find gold it must be mined; to get oil it must be drilled. “You cannot get the nugget out of the Word of God without study.” (J. Vernon McGee) Paul says that we are to study to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15). The theologian John Trapp made this observation, “If the law be dark to any, the fault is not in the lawgiver, but in those that should better understand it.”
In other words, hear, study, listen, search for wisdom. It does not always come easy. The Spanish novelist Cervantes said, “A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.” Add experience to your hearing and searching and you will see wisdom grow. But remember, it must be nourished; it must be used.
——————————–
“A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.” –Proverbs 1:5-6, NKJV
“Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance — for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.” NIV
Notice the emphasis, the wise WILL HEAR. The great challenge then is to hear! This is nothing new. A wise man listens and knows what is going on around him. They understand the situation and issues in which they find themselves. Jesus admonished His disciples, “He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9). Listen, hear, gain understanding and knowledge. This is what the wise man does. I remember when I was doing undergraduate work I was astounded with a few of my professors at their knowledge. I wanted to be in their classes just to listen.
In order to hear there are two requirements: the first is–attendance. One must be there in order to hear. The second goes along with the first. When one is in attendance they must also be attentive. In other words, there must be focus! Add to that a reason–there must be the willingness to be a disciple. A disciple will quickly learn that knowledge and wisdom increase continually. Matthew Henry said, “As long as we live, we should strive to increase in all useful knowledge.” Many people think they have arrived with a degree, no matter what kind, but in reality they are just beginning. The more I study, the more I realize that I know little. The words of Fausset are true, “True wisdom is never stationary, but always progressive; because it secures the ground behind it as a basis for further advances.” We must be going forward, gaining everyday. I try to gain something from everything I read whether a fiction or nonfiction work. The great Hebrew rabbi, Hillel, stated, “He who is not adding is wasting; he who is not increasing knowledge is losing from it.” No one finishes the study of wisdom; there is always more to learn.
With knowledge and wisdom comes the responsibility to guide. We read in Luke, “…Much will be required of everyone who has been given much. And even more will be expected of the one who has been entrusted with more.” (12:48, HCSB) J.B. Phillips translates it this way, “…Much will be expected from the one who has been given much, and the more a man is trusted, the more people will expect of him.” Be ready to study and receive, then be ready to give away what you have learned.
When I taught my apologetics class I would start the first unit: Reading as Worship. Too often we think of worship as singing when it reality it covers all of life. We should worship when we work, we should worship when we sing, we should worship when we gain knowledge. In all things, we should be doing it for the Lord (Colossians 3:17, 23). A person can read, but often does not search. Knowledge and understanding take effort and often it takes time and diligence to find it. Someone said that to find gold it must be mined; to get oil it must be drilled. “You cannot get the nugget out of the Word of God without study.” (J. Vernon McGee) Paul says that we are to study to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15). The theologian John Trapp made this observation, “If the law be dark to any, the fault is not in the lawgiver, but in those that should better understand it.”
In other words, hear, study, listen, search for wisdom. It does not always come easy. The Spanish novelist Cervantes said, “A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.” Add experience to your hearing and searching and you will see wisdom grow. But remember, it must be nourished; it must be used.