Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Proverbs 26:4a

Proverbs 26:4&5 teach us that wisdom and discernment cannot be attained on a fact-finder sheet, or in a table of contents. Rather, wisdom is attained through the faith of exercising wisdom and prayer. While experience is not always necessary for attaining wisdom; the type of wisdom and understanding that we come to in the next few verses will only be attained through an individual who has grown in his ability to exercise spiritual discernment in specific life circumstances. One verse says not to answer a fool according to his folly, while the other verse says to answer a fool according to his folly? This type of instruction leads us to the truth that we are completely dependent on the Father of lights, if we are going to understand or exercise wisdom. We are also faced with the fact that wisdom grows, it doesn’t simply appear. The pursuit of wisdom is a life-long pursuit, because we will never exhaust or outgrow wisdom’s fountain. May we pursue the path of wisdom, so that we may drink from the fountain of life, and find the nourishment we so desperately need.