Saying Fourteen

Proverbs 23:15-16

My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself; yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things.

Your wisdom isn’t just for you.

It is 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning, and Mrs Pudgewell is sleeping in. In fact, she is making the most of her extra hour, dreaming of chickens. Her little husband, as is his wont, is spending the morning quietly marking papers so as not to disturb her.

At 6:12 a.m., however, Mrs Pudgewell finds herself jolted from her chickens by what sounds like the last trump. To her sleepy ears, it seems as though the heavens are shaking, the mountains melting like wax, and the earth reeling like a drunkard.

Needless to say, this is not what actually happened. To explain what did happen, we must reverse the clock to Monday morning.

Peering sagely over a four-foot lectern, five-foot-two Professor Humphrey Pudgewell eyes his swiftly filling classroom and gives a fruity chuckle.

“You lads are unusually early for the Proverbs 31 lecture.” he observes, British candour dripping from every syllable.

Professor Pudgewell rather likes the seminary students in question, but never misses an opportunity to give them a hard time. After all, this year’s batch seems taller than ever, so they need to be brought down a peg or two.

At quarter past eleven sharp, he opens with a customary throat-clearing ritual, passes a few practiced fingers through his moustache (yes, of course he has one), and says “Sooooo….” Twelve seconds later, having strolled back and forth a bit, he really does begin. And it is worth the wait, too. Dozens of fascinated young men sit, entranced, as they hear Proverbs 31 opened up in what feels like thirty-one new lights.

Now, Humphrey knows he is a good teacher; but he also knows that some things cannot be taught. Some things the student must see for himself. True, he may be able to wield the English language like a sleight-of-hand artist, with the voice of a man twice his size; but neither of these gifts, he realises, can make his students see what he sees in the text. He just prays that God will use his words to rekindle some glowing ember of percipience within their hearts. If even one young man really got it the way he does, he could die happy.

This is why, marking Proverbs 31 papers at 6:12 a.m. that Saturday morning, he let out a yell of ecstasy that killed more than a dozen imaginary chickens.

To the uninitiated (read: the fool) it may be difficult to comprehend why ‘getting’ wisdom is such a big deal. For starters, what is there to get? Surely you either understand the proverb or you don’t; and then, you either agree or disagree. To a wise man, however, a proverb is like living gold that searches its own way into the most desolate portions of the heart, and beautifies them. When a circumstance arises in the man’s life that requires him to draw on that part of his heart, he finds it equipped for every good work; and when he speaks about it, other wise men recognise the telltale signs of a heart decorated with wisdom.

Now, suppose that God had granted you the honour of pouring that gold down the man’s throat. You watched him sputter, choke, and even make a dash for the sink as he struggled to swallow it. At your encouragement, he let it have its way with him, and as it descended into his innermost being, you observed a notable brightness in the eyes; at certain angles, it seemed as though small beams of light were emerging from the ears and nose.

If God gives you this privilege, then there is no fleshly pride in feeling a warm glow of satisfaction. When your ‘inmost being’ rejoices at the wisdom of a son or student, you are behaving in a very biblical manner — so long as you heartily acknowledge that God provided the gold, and even scripted your sales pitch; you were no more than a middle man.

The recipient of the wisdom must understand, therefore, that his wisdom is not just for him. It is really a gift to others. He must speak it back into a world that needs it. He must demonstrate, through faithful conduct, the contents of his heart, as an example to others.

Scriptures for Comparison

Proverbs 10:1

Proverbs 27:11

3 John 4

Matthew 5:16

Proverbs 15:23

Proverbs 16:24

Colossians 4:6

James 3:17

1 Timothy 4:12