Proverbs 9:12 [ESV] If you are wise, you are wise for yourself; if you scoff, you alone will bear it.
As I have passed through the decades my understanding of wisdom has changed. As a brash twenty year old, wisdom looked like being the smartest guy in the room , even when I was not. It sought out the limelight, the spotlight, and then was less interested in the searchlight.
By my thirty’s I had matured into seeing wisdom as knowing enough about everything to hold a conversation, argue a point, and plagiarise others thinking.
By forty, I had started to realise that my whole approach was significantly flawed, and that unless I could understand why, I could find myself stuck in a repeating pattern of less than mediocrity. I started to actually study, to absorb, to capture and consider, while organising my understanding in such a way as it made it easy to reflect.
Fifty’s came in a rush. I started to specialise, to dive deeper into smaller pools. I wanted to know my own biases and blindspots. I wanted to connect with wise people and to learn from them, to learn not just information, but skills and maturity.
My sixty’s are here now and I realise I know so little. I realise that my true joy is in learning from others further down the path than I, and to also help others who are travelling on paths that I have already journeyed. That every conversation is an opportunity to grow. And that I no longer have to hide how much I truly don’t know. My appetite for learning has increased, my ability to reflect has improved, and my passion to help others has found its location.
Wisdom is still not mine, yet I do encounter it more frequently than in the past, and that is very encouraging.
KNOWLEDGE – whatever we develop in life is ours to own and to reap the benefits from. If we sow into wisdom, then that wisdom becomes ours and the benefits are also ours, whether in the tangible or intangible worlds. Equally if we avoid wisdom, or seek to be more that we actually are each day, then the rewards for that approach will also come fully to us.
Wisdom is usually dressed in humility and meekness, yet is stronger than the greatest bravado.
UNDERSTANDING
Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?
The word for “scoff” in Hebrew is pronounced as “liys” and caries the meaning, scorn, talk big, mock, or to reveal oneself as a mocker.
The LXX reads as “O Son, if wise you be, to yourself wise you shall be, and if evil you should turn out to be, alone then you shall draw evil”. The word in Hebrew translated as “scoff” is seen here in the LXX translated as “evil” – κακός [kakos] – fifty occurrences in the New testament – carrying the meaning of “bad, evil, harm, wicked” – which possibly seems more precise than our understanding of the word “scoff”.
WISDOM – what can I do or say today that will help make others better in some way?
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Communication as a Strength brings important messages helping others grow as a result. Be careful to make space for others.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version – If you are wise, skilful and moral, you are wise, skilful, and moral; if you scoff, talk big, and mock, you alone will carry it.
If you are wise – If you are wise, skilful and moral
you are wise for yourself – you are wise, skilful and moral
if you scoff – if you scoff, talk big, and mock
You alone will bear it – you alone will carry it.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to fully season my learning, my words and all my ways with your teaching.
To chat to me as a professional coach/mentor – allan@theallankey.com
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