Mr. Know It All

Reading for Today: Proverb Chapter 26

Gold Nugget

Verse 12: “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Commentary

Once a wise elder was asked, “Sir, do you know everything?” He replied, “No, lad. I’m much too old to know everything.” The truth could not have been better said… (well, outside of scripture anyway). The Scriptures actually deal with this subject at length. Those of us that have lived long enough will attest to the fact that the longer we live and the more we know, the more we realize how much we don’t know. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t realize how little we knew while we thought we knew everything. It could have saved us a lot of heartache. The most dangerous element of knowledge is the fact that it comes before wisdom and not after. That being said, you can have knowledge and not yet possess the wisdom to know how to administer it. Most of us act on our attainment of knowledge as it arrives. The appropriate order is to attain knowledge, then understanding, followed by wisdom. The sum of all this can be reached through one of the most basic Christian principles –humility.

Humility is a required element of every Christian. You will either be humble or be humbled. I have prayed on several occasions that the Lord teach me humility without me having to be humiliated. I’ve had it both ways, and He will oblige me either. In the end, I will be humble. Part of being humble is to know what you don’t know. Some of the wisest people I know aren’t necessarily overflowing with knowledge as much as humility. They are not wise in their own eyes. As today’s “gold nugget” says, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Many of us have too much pride to be able to even see the application in this passage. Let us be humble today or be humiliated tomorrow.

Prayer

Lord, I have been around long enough to be able to look back and realize how wrong I was when I thought I was most right. Help me to be slower to assume I am right and give space for you to show me what the truth is. In this, I will be able to walk in wisdom and humility. Amen

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