Day 108, Year 1

Attitude Determines Wisdom

“A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.” (Proverbs 14:6 NASB)

“There is no wisdom and no understanding And no counsel against the LORD.” (Proverbs 21:30 NASB)

“Scoffer” in the first verse of today, lits in Hebrew, mainly means “the arrogant, scorner, mocker, or make a mockery.” In contrast to “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” the “scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none.” This particularly pertains to those scornful of the Most High God, who are unqualified to obtain His wisdom. Hence, solely having a desire for wisdom is not enough; our attitude toward God is crucial to developing divine wisdom.

This interpretation might elicit some questions. Some might think that the arrogant do have a certain amount of wisdom and understanding. But comparing the two verses of today and the reality, it seems we can conclude that those who fear God could obtain true wisdom. Meanwhile, although the scornful could possess certain wisdom, it is not true divine wisdom, because their scornfulness distorts God’s wisdom and turns it into evil schemes of intelligence. In fact, all wisdom comes from God. Humans cannot create wisdom, they could only distort His wisdom to oppose Him. That is to say, one’s attitude toward God sharply determines the type of wisdom one receives.

No one can use wisdom or understanding to truly oppose God. Although man-made wisdom could mimic God’s wisdom and temporarily confuse people, it cannot pose any threat to God Himself. Eventually, the evil within people will ultimately jeopardize and end up causing harm to themselves. Furthermore, many people profess faith in Jesus while imitating worldly wisdom. As a result, the wisdom they obtain is a mix of good and bad, and the integrity within them is prone to being twisted and corrupted.

We believers often need to seek God while adjusting our attitude toward Him. Accordingly, our understanding of Him and His work becomes more and more accurate. “Understand” in the first verse of today, bin in Hebrew, means “to be intelligent, discerning, or to have understanding.” Hence, using God’s words to discern all things, to think and understand true knowledge, thereby understanding various principles and human affairs, is an important way to attain true wisdom. From this perspective, we need to know the truth of the Bible diligently, which facilitates the learning of all disciplines or subjects that align with the truth, too. This may also be the reason for the relatively high percentage of Christians studying and working in many higher education institutions worldwide.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you agree that different attitudes determine the kind of wisdom people can find? Why?

2) Are you a person who loves to think and discern? How would you continue to improve with the Lord’s help?