A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. Proverbs 13:1
When you are young, you can easily feel that you know it all. But as you grow older you realize that you don’t know as much as you thought you did.
Always be willing to learn. “Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence” (Prov. 15:32).
We read earlier in the Proverbs, “Be not wise in your own eyes” (3:7). That theme is repeated throughout the book, “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him” (Prov. 26:12).
Solomon was a teacher of wisdom, and as a teacher, he knew that there are some students who learn and others who don’t. The people who don’t learn are the ones who think they are wise already. They are “wise in their own eyes.” They think they have all that they need.
Solomon says, there is more hope for a fool than for the person who is wise in his own eyes. Why is there more hope for a fool? Because the fool knows that he needs to learn, and the first lesson in the school of wisdom is that we all need to learn.
This is why the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom begins when I see that I don’t have it, and that I need to receive it from the Lord through His Word.
The greatest barrier to gaining wisdom is the conviction that you have it already. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22). “If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise” (1 Cor. 3:18). Recognize that you need to learn, and listen to those God has placed around you, starting with your parents.
Write down the top three positive things you learned from your parents. Call them up and tell them what you learned from them.
