Proverbs 1:2 — The Willingness to Be Taught

“To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight.”

MY STORY — 

I have spent a lot of years working with people — in pastoral care, business, leadership and now coaching. Experience matters. I have learned things over those years that I couldn’t have learned from a book. But experience can also become dangerous. The moment I think my experience means I no longer need instruction is probably the moment my experience begins to work against me.  One of the things I value more today than I did when I was younger is having people around me who can challenge me. I have my own professional supervisor. I read. I listen. I ask questions. And increasingly I try to notice those moments when something makes me uncomfortable rather than immediately dismissing it.

I have learned that comfort confirms what I know. Discomfort confronts what I don’t.

Perhaps that’s why these words at the beginning of Proverbs matter so much. Solomon isn’t simply promising to give us information. He is inviting us to become people who are willing to learn, to be instructed and, when necessary, to be corrected. Wisdom doesn’t begin with how much I know. It begins with how willing I am to be taught.

KNOWLEDGE — One word worth knowing

The word I want to notice is “instruction.”

In Hebrew: מוּסָר — mûsār — instruction, discipline, correction or training
In the Greek Septuagint: παιδεία — paideia — education, training or formation

That takes us beyond simply learning something new. Mûsār carries the idea of being shaped through instruction. Sometimes that will encourage me. Sometimes it will stretch me. And sometimes it will correct me. There is an important difference between information and formation. Information gives me something I didn’t know. Formation does something with the person I am becoming. Proverbs is interested in both, but its purpose is much bigger than filling our heads with good ideas. Wisdom is intended to change the way we live.

If I want wisdom, I must be willing to be formed.

UNDERSTANDING — Seeing it through Strengths

Gallup Strength: Learner

Learner loves the process of learning. There is satisfaction in discovering something new, developing a skill or understanding something today that I didn’t understand yesterday. That makes Learner a natural companion to Proverbs 1:2. But there is an interesting challenge hidden here. Learner can love learning without necessarily loving correction. I can read another book, listen to another podcast, attend another course or collect another qualification and genuinely be learning. But allowing another person to show me something about myself that I don’t particularly want to see requires something more. It requires teachability.

That is where mûsār pushes Learner beyond curiosity. The question is no longer simply, “What can I discover?” It becomes, “What am I willing to have corrected?” A mature Learner doesn’t simply accumulate knowledge. They allow what they learn to change them.

WISDOM — Turning insight into action

Steve Covey: Habit 1 — Be Proactive

Habit 1 reminds me that I am responsible for my response. Someone can give me excellent feedback. A supervisor can ask exactly the right question. A coach can expose a blind spot. A colleague can tell me something I need to hear. But nobody else can make me do anything with it. I can become defensive. I can explain it away. I can blame circumstances or decide the other person simply doesn’t understand. Or I can stop and ask: “What part of this belongs to me?”

That is where instruction begins to become wisdom. Maturity isn’t demonstrated by how much feedback I receive. It’s demonstrated by what I take responsibility for after I’ve received it. So perhaps the goal of learning isn’t to leave a conversation thinking, “That was interesting.” It is to leave asking, “What am I going to do differently?”

New Testament Connection — James 1:5

Proverbs 1:2 begins with the desire to know wisdom and understand. James carries that same invitation into the New Testament: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God.” Wisdom begins when I recognise that I don’t know everything I need to know.

Reflection: Where in my life or leadership do I need to stop assuming I know — and start asking?

Teachability may be one of the clearest signs of wisdom

REFLECTION — 

A good supervisor doesn’t need to know more about my work than I do. They need to help me see what my experience may have taught me not to notice.

• Where have your experience and expertise made you harder to teach?
• What correction have you received recently that you were tempted to explain away?
• Who has permission to tell you something about yourself that you may not want to hear?
• Are you currently learning something new, or mainly reinforcing what you already know?
• What have you learned recently that has actually changed your behaviour?

What will you do differently?

Knowledge gives me something new to think about. Understanding helps me see what it means. Wisdom asks whether it will actually change me. 

Proverbs 1:1 began with identity: Do I know who I am and where I belong?

Proverbs 1:2 takes the next step: Now that I know who I am, am I still willing to be taught?