Have a teachable Spirit (Proverbs 1:7-9)

After the introduction to Proverbs, Solomon begins to instruct his son (his children). It is interesting that the book in the Bible that is given primarily to convey wisdom begins by - son listen to your parents (my paraphrase). I know it sounds simplistic, but if we want to have wisdom, then we need to listen to our parents. Many children lack wisdom, not because they are young, they simply refuse to heed the counsel of their parents. This is a hard pill for many young people to swallow, but this only demonstrates you need wisdom. Understand that when children refuse to submit to their parents, they only demonstrate they do not fear the Lord.

Proverbs 1:7 gives us the proper perspective we should have for life especially if desire wisdom. The root cause of many of the problems we face in life boils down to this one common denominator - we do not fear God. To fear God means we respect and reverence Him. The wise person, the one who has a teachable spirit, can hear instruction from the Lord and submit to those teachings. In this same verse, we see the contrast to the wise. We see the fool, who is described as one who despises instructions. This flies in the face of our culture. Our culture elevates individuals who do their own thing as being wise, but if you desire to follow that pathway, then you follow the pathway of a fool and miss out on the blessings that come with wisdom.