Proverbs 1:5 “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.”
Proverbs 12:15 “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”
James 1:19 “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
When I was writing my weekly letters on Ecclesiastes the one thing that Solomon kept bringing out to his son Rehoboam was the need for wisdom. With all of your getting – get wisdom seemed to be the criteria that Solomon was trying to get across to his son and to us. The problem is that when we get old enough to realize how short life is that we begin to realize how valuable it would have been if we had learned wisdom early in life.
I would say that one of the most important lessons in the book of Proverbs is that we should work hard to use our minds to understand things. This means that we will have to stretch and exercise our minds and not let our minds grow fat and flabby. One of the problems we face is that we try to avoid using our minds as much as possible. We need to change that!
As Christians we have the obligation to use our minds to serve God. We must exercise our minds just as we exercise our body. We need to develop an inquiring mind.
Some years back I read a little booklet called The Awesome Power of the Listening Ear. This book brought out how many people solve their own problems by being able to have someone to listen to them. As they began to talk they realize their own solutions. Often, we find that people enjoy telling what they think more than listening to what others have to say. It is in listening to others that we begin to learn things.
Solomon said in Proverbs 1:5 “A wise man will hear, and will increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.” A spirit of listening goes a long way to communicate and attitude of humility.
How do we know if someone is showing humility and has a desire to listen?
- He is more interested in hearing what other people have to say than in having them listen to him. Humility brings respect for others and for their thoughts.
- He places a modest value on his own opinions – he admits that other people often have better ideas than he does.
- He willingly admits when he doesn’t know something. If he does not understand something, he is open about it.
- He is willing to question his own position on an issue.
A person who loves to listen is another ingredient to having an inquiring mind. When we are forming an opinion on an issue, it is often a good idea to collect other people’s viewpoints on the issue. Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory.” Here Solomon is telling us to not only get guidance from a wise man, but from many wise men.
Why are many counselors good? If they all gave us the same advice we would not learn anything, but when there are many different points of view, we can observe and learn. Listening to all these different view-points can help us choose what is the best advice. Part of an inquiring mind is to be diligent in learning about alternative views.
In these letters we will be looking at some of the different fallacies being presented through media, entertainment, our judicial system and government and at times even from the pulpit.