By Pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom. Proverbs 13:10
It is never good for people to thing they know more than they actually do. The most obnoxious characteristic of people like this is their appalling insistence on telling everyone about it. That’s why the Greek work for pride literally means “to inflate with self-conceit, to be lifted up.” The difference between the vain and the humble is often no more than the tense they choose to attach to their verbs. Fools tell us what they have learned; the wise tell us what they are learning. The proud are ever on their thrones, constantly boasting of how much they have seen, while the wise are content to tell how much they wish they could see.
History has a way of taking men and women who thought they were nothing and making them heroes, and dethroning others who thought they were something and making them nothing. It is no mere coincidence, therefore, that the Book of Proverbs links pride with strife and wisdom with being well-advised. Rarely does one appear apart from the other. The proud will always be afflicted with problems; the wise will always be blessed with perception. Pride may give you the knowledge of what you need, but only God’s wisdom can tell you where to get it. Someone has humorously quipped, “Pride may make you smart enough to believe only half of what you hear, but wisdom will make you smart enough to know which half to believe.”
The best part that God’s wisdom is free to all! James 1:5, 6 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting.”
Dear Father, give me wisdom I do not have. Today, in simple faith, I choose to believe Your promise to provide me with wisdom as I ask for it. I admit that apart from You, I can know nothing of eternal value. With You, I can know all I need to know and all You want me to know. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.*
*Junior Hill, Hartselle, AL