Day 112, Year 1

Understanding Ourselves

“The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way, But the foolishness of fools is deceit.” (Proverbs 14:8 NASB)

The Revised Standard Version renders the first half of today’s verse as “the wisdom of a prudent man is to discern his way.” In other words, prudent believers will discern whether our own way is right or deviates from God’s. This habit of regular self-reflection could ensure we walk more correctly and steadily in Him. As mentioned earlier, we should speak less and reflect more. Two things to ponder are the reasons behind our desires to express certain things and what we have always treasured. Understanding and reflecting on ourselves is one way of thinking more and speaking less. “Way” in today’s verse, derek in Hebrew, means “road, way, direction, journey, course of life, habit, manner, or moral character.” Thus, we could understand ourselves from two aspects: first, what stage of life we are in; second, where do our attitudes and habits of morality guide us?

According to God’s words and common understanding, we need to understand which stage of life we are in and what we need to do accordingly. For instance, some may think studying is solely for young people, but it is difficult for the elderly to learn. As a result, some middle-aged and elderly believers who have accepted Jesus might be unwilling to deeply learn about the faith with effort, because they have lost the motivation to learn. This is an example of misunderstanding the course of life. In faith, believers of all ages need to put more effort into learning the Christian faith, especially for new believers, regardless of age. Similarly, we need guidance from God’s words to verify our understanding of our developmental tasks at hand.Second, more importantly, different principles, attitudes, and habits are the very things that guide people to various paths. A Chinese saying goes, “The natural human disposition and characteristics are called the Tao, or individualized way of being and doing, and the modification of the Tao is called education.” Everyone is born with his or her inherent nature and will go a certain way. We need wisdom to understand and even correct the path we are naturally walking on. Cultivating oneself to walk the right path in life is education. Thus, merely understanding our own way is not enough. We need to wait silently, seek the Lord to correct our mistakes, and strengthen our perseverance to walk the blessed path to fulfill His will. 

“The foolishness of fools is deceit.” But in their eyes, deceit could be seen as a display of certain wisdom. Fools do not seek wisdom from God. They often act deceitfully when facing problems, perhaps for immediate or short-term benefits, but ultimately harming themselves and others.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you understand what stage of faith you are in? In what areas do you still need to work on improving? 

2) Where do your attitudes, values, and habits guide you to go? What would you do if they were not leading you to walk the right path of God?