Playing the Fool // Wisdom That Works, Part 15

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

None of us likes to think of ourselves as a fool - that’s a label we reserve for other people. And yet - we’ve all done foolish things in our lives. So - how can we avoid foolish mistakes from this point forward? And how can we avoid the impact of those foolish mistakes?

Well it's almost the end of another week and this is the 15th program in a series that I've called "Wisdom That Works". These last three weeks we've been stepping our way through the Book of Proverbs, plundering it for Gods wisdom for our lives. The sort of wisdom that works.

Now as I said a few weeks ago Proverbs is a collection of wisdom sayings. By and large it's not a narrative or a story; it's a collection of pieces of wisdom that one of the wisest men who has ever walked this earth gave to his sons as young men. So it's not the sort of book in the Bible that we tend to read from beginning to end, 31 chapters.

But I did recently in my own personal devotional time and took about three months to do it. So it wasn't a quick skim read over, I read small bits each day and prayed over them and reflected on them and as if I didn't already know this I was again blown away with how practical God’s wisdom is.

Just in the small number of verses that we've looked over together in these last 14 programs, three weeks almost, I mean these are real pearls of wisdom, wisdom that works. Wisdom that if we'll just pay heed to it in our lives, it's going to make our lives so much better.

And why wouldn't the God who loves us and wants to bless us give us wisdom like that? So today we're discovering more of His wisdom and this is about how not to be a fool.

Now none of us likes to think of ourselves as a fool do we? Me, a fool, no, no, no. I'm no fool. A fool is a word we reserve exclusively for other people. He's a fool. She over there, she's a fool. We're never a fool in our own estimation, right? But if I asked you to look back on your life, if I asked you, 'have you ever done something foolish?'

Well of course all of us have if we're honest with ourselves, you have. Man I could write you a list as long as my arm of the foolish things that I've done in my life. And you too right? We've all done foolish things. And there's not one of us who wouldn't like to avoid that in the future.

Imagine if you and I could live the rest of our lives without ever doing a single foolish thing again. Well I'm not sure if that's achievable, we're all human but if we could significantly reduce the foolish mistakes that we make from time to time, well that's not all bad is it? Better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick as they say.

So does God have some wisdom for us to help us to do that? Well absolutely He does and here it is. Proverbs chapter 12, verses 15 and 16:

Fools think their own way is right but the wise listen to advice. Fools show their anger at once but the prudent ignore an insult.

Now there are two parts to this bit of wisdom on learning how not to play the fool anymore. One is taking advice and the other is not flying off the handle at an insult. At first they may appear to be strange bedfellows but as I think back over my life probably 90% of the foolish things I've done are either because I didn't listen to good advice or because I flew off the handle in a moment of anger.

So lets have a look at each of these 2 on their own. First things first, Proverbs chapter 12, verse 15:

Fools think their own way is right but the wise listen to advice.

Now to unpack this one let me tell you about one of the smartest men I've ever met in my life. He's a computer technology guru from Finland and his name is Heikki. When I was a young officer in the Australian army I worked with Heikki who was a civilian in the computer department of the Central Army Records office where we managed all the personnel records and promotions for every soldier in the army.

Heikki was senior to me and pretty quickly I discovered that this guy was brilliant. He understood information technology in a way that I just didn't. His thoughts and his positions and his ideas and his approaches were very well researched and incredibly well thought out.

And in those days the few of us from the IT department we'd regularly go down to the pub at lunch time and inevitably we'd debate this or that to do with Information Technology. Now Heikki was no shrinking violet, he'd argue his position on a subject very strongly.

But the moment, the very instance someone convinced him that they had a better idea, a better approach, a better way forward, you know what he would do? In an instant he would drop his own idea and take on the new one. He had no pride about his own ideas. He was just looking for the best one.

And you know something, I think that's why Heikki to this day remains one of the smartest people I've ever known. Because he had no pride about his own ideas. He'd argue them strongly but instantly, without batting an eye, take on a better idea if he found it, no pride.

Fools think their own way is right but the wise listen to advice.

It's foolish to think that our own way is always right. Other people have good ideas too. Other people can often see things you and I can't because of their background or their experience or their particular expertise or perhaps they're not quite as close to a problem or as emotionally involved in the problem as you or I might be.

Only the fool ignores good advice and of course we have to assess that advice just as Heikki used to. We have to sift it and sort it but if it's good then what's the matter with us that we would let our pride get in the road of a better way? Only a fool cuts his nose off to spite his face and we have pride about our own ideas that's exactly what we're doing.

Friend this is something I've had to learn. I'm a decisive, action orientated kind of guy. I have an idea, I think about it then I just want to get on and do it. When you're like that it's hard when someone comes along and says, "maybe there's a better way of doing this". But learning to listen, learning to be like Heikki is one of the smartest investments I've ever made.

The second part is just as wise. And actually it comes back to the same root of pride that stops us from taking good advice. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 16:

Fools show their anger at once but the prudent ignore an insult.

The moment someone insults us, the moment someone dents our precious ego we want to react don't we? Some people come out punching, others, depending on their personality type, become withdrawn and detached. Different people react in different ways but anger, 9 times out of 10, is a reaction of the ego and of pride.

Sure people wrong us at sometimes, I guess we have a right to be angry but as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 23. He says:

All things are lawful but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful but not all things build up.

In other words we may well be justified in being angry but the point is that an angry outburst, most times, is just not going to solve the problem. One of the classics these days is the angry email. People react to something with an angry email and so the other person sends back an even angrier email.

And then they keep throwing grenades from their trenches and each grenade gets bigger and more lethal in this game of ping pong and before we know it relationships are destroyed and there's an all out war going on in the office. And so I make it a practice to never ever, ever to send an angry email. Never.

Friend, whether it's ignoring good advice or letting anger get in the road of a good outcome, the person who does those things is a fool. God has a name for them, they're called fools. Let's not mince our words, let's not muck around. They're foolish because they let pride get in the way of a good outcome.

And look back on your life and my hunch is you'll find the same thing as I did. 90% of the things that we've done that are foolish are either about ignoring advice or getting angry. Can you believe how practical God is in His wisdom for us. I mean this is wisdom that works.