ODJ: willing to ask

April 16, 2015 

READ: Proverbs 2:1-8 

Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life (19:20).

A Chinese aristocrat by the name of Kung Yu, who lived several hundred years before Jesus was born, was known for his intelligence and diligence in his studies. Yet, he was humble and unafraid to ask questions of people who were not as well-educated. After his death, the Duke of Wei awarded him the honourable title of Wen (which means “refined” and “literary” in Chinese). So he became known as Kung Wen Zi.

Someone once made this insightful observation: “Wisdom is worth all the humiliation of acting as a learner when others confidently paraded themselves as experts. The ‘experts’ remained where they were. They did not think they needed to learn. The humble learners, on the other hand, did not look too confident in the crowd. But their commitment to learn helped them keep climbing so that, at the end, they had reached heights ‘confident’ people could never hope to reach.”

Proverbs 2:3-4 encourages us to “cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.” God’s wisdom is found among the highly educated people as well as among those with little formal education—for true wisdom is found in Jesus. And God “grants a treasure of common sense to the honest” (v.7). There’s much we can learn from others—especially those whose lives display Christ-like attributes. It doesn’t matter if they have a degree or not.

—Poh Fang Chia

365-day-plan: 1 Kings 10:1-13