By Audrey Bauman

Proverbs 14: 6 – 8  (NLT)

^“A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it,
     but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding.

⁷ Stay away from fools,
     for you won’t find knowledge on their lips.

⁸ The prudent understand where they are going,
     but fools deceive themselves.”

There are recurring themes in Proverbs, and the idea of wisdom versus foolishness is one of them.  A couple of ideas in these verses struck me.  

The first is the idea of a mocker not finding wisdom.  In our culture, we tend to question everything we hear.  We question if the media is really giving us the true picture – and rightly so.  There are so many scam artists out there, that we tend to doubt any ideas on how to do things better.  But this verse seems to say that if we are always questioning and doubting, we won’t find the best choice. 

The second idea that strikes me is that wise people are understanding, they don’t look to ‘fools’ for advice, and they have a goal in mind.  If I look at those qualities, then I can see why mocking isn’t always a good choice.  If I know where I want to go, if I have a good goal in mind, then I’m more likely to look for advice in the right places. If I have wise people in my life, then I have a good source of information. I need to understand those principles so that I don’t get caught up in foolish schemes. 

So I guess my take-away from today’s verses is that I need to find wise people so that I have a good source of information when I need it.  They wouldn’t have to be best friends, but at least I know them well enough that I’m not worried about asking for their advice.   I also need to figure out what’s important to me so that I don’t get side-tracked when I’m making decisions.

Our song for today is I Look to You by Francesca Battistelli.