Proverbs 10:8-9 (ESV)

[8] The wise of heart will receive commandments,

but a babbling fool will come to ruin.

[9] Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,

but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

Proverbs 10 is filled with comparisons between the wise person and the fool. Wisdom controls its tongue. Wisdom leads to prosperity and peace. Foolishness brings despair and death. Foolishness speaks even when it doesn’t know what it is talking about. Foolishness manipulates for its own purposes. Wisdom loves truth and righteousness. Fools twist truth, embrace deception, and grasp only that which is perverse. Laziness characterizes fools, as does violence, and talking without thinking or listening. Wisdom plans and works diligently, blesses even its enemies, and speaks slowly while listening well.

It is easy to point to others and recognize foolishness. The bigger, and more personal, challenge is to examine our own lives. Which of these characteristics do I find in my life? Nobody wants to be considered a fool. We all like to think of ourselves as fairly astute. But here are a few questions that I need to occasionally ask myself. Do I speak without listening well first? Is my speech filled with grace, peace, and blessing, or with threats and complaints? How do I respond to those who oppose me? Do I bless them and pray for them, or do I retaliate in like kind? Do I read the scriptures carefully or do I bend them to my own purposes? Do I speak truth about others, or do I reinterpret conversations to my own ends? These are questions that get to the heart of the matter.

Solomon was called the wisest man that ever lived, yet I would suggest that Jesus was wiser. Solomon did not follow his own advice. Jesus lived out what Solomon called wisdom. Which life is closer to my own? Do I live out the wisdom of God, or only talk about the wisdom of God? “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray” (Prov 10:17 ESV).