Did You Know Getting Wisdom is Connected to Your Attitude?
Thinking about Proverbs 14:6.
Your attitude will determine whether or not you discover wisdom.
A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it, but knowledge is easy to him who understands. (Proverbs 14:6)
The NET Bible offers a helpful translation of this passage.
The scorner sought wisdom — there was none, but understanding was easy for a discerning person. (Proverbs 14:6)
This proverb teaches that a person’s attitude toward truth and wisdom plays a significant role in whether or not they find what they seek.
The Intellectually Arrogant Will Not Find Wisdom
The NET Bible translators give a helpful footnote for “scorner.”
The “scorner” (לֵץ, lets) is intellectually arrogant; he lacks any serious interest in knowledge or religion. He pursues wisdom in a superficial way so that he can appear wise. The acquisition of wisdom is conditioned by one’s attitude toward it (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 149).
Wisdom does not simply know facts. Wisdom involves applying truth and principles to your life. Solomon gives an example of wisdom in someone’s life a few verses after Proverbs 14:6. I’ll stick with the NET Bible for this passage.
The wisdom of the shrewd person is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deception. (Provers 14:8)
The wise individual applies wisdom and considers their ways. However, the foolish person does not apply wisdom and deceives himself.
Those who approach wisdom and truth with an intellectually superior attitude will miss what they are looking for. Those who approach the Word of God with an arrogant “know-it-all” attitude will end up making a fool out of themselves.
The Humble Thinker Will Have No Trouble Finding Wisdom
The opposite of the “scorner” or the arrogant intellectual is the “discerning person” or the one who “understands.”
An understanding person is someone who carefully considers a matter. They ponder an issue carefully. It’s implied that this person examines themself and how they need to apply the wisdom in their own life.
Christians are commanded to be the “humble thinker” rather than the “arrogant intellectual.”
Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified. (2 Corinthians 13:5)
The apostle Paul’s command to the church in Corinth was — in part — a test of their attitude. Would they humbly examine themselves, seeking to apply wisdom in their own life? Or would they arrogantly resist Paul’s command, thinking they had it all figured out?
A Christian is supposed to be a life-long, humble student of Jesus — the Master Teacher.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:19–20)
So what is your attitude toward wisdom — toward truth?
Your attitude will determine whether or not you can find what you seek.
May we all be humble students of God’s Word, ready to make applications in our own lives.
