Proverbs 14:5-6

A truthful witness does not lie,
but a false witness breathes out lies.
The scorner seeks wisdom but finds none,
but understanding is easy for a discerning person.

Have you ever watched someone who is highly skilled at a certain craft? I have, and it’s just amazing to watch them work. I remember watching a chalk artist in a chapel in college paint a mural in 45 minutes that told an amazing story. I’ve watched some of our family friends operate logging equipment with such ease and precision you’d have thought they were being controlled by a robot. I’ve seen my brother-in-law draw amazing pieces of art with a pencil and a hundred other examples.

As someone on the outside, we stand and watch in amazement. We know there is no way we could do what they are doing with anywhere near the amount of excellence they are accomplishing. And we are right. We can’t. And that’s for a number of reasons. We may not have the natural bent towards that specific talent. We don’t likely have the training. But there is one other thing. We haven’t exercised the same level of discipline at honing and refining the craft as they have.

The same is true for us when it comes to wisdom and understanding. We are all going to need wisdom and understanding. And unlike some gifts, talents ad skills – wisdom is something we all need and can all work toward. And we should be. To be skilled in the area of wisdom and understanding we have to be diligent in our pursuit of it. Understanding is easy for a discerning person because a discerning person has been working at gaining wisdom and understanding for a long time.

If we don’t exercise wisdom and understanding and work toward gaining knowledge, we won’t be good at it when we need it. Just as the artist has been working for years at their craft, we need to be constantly at work gaining wisdom and understanding. The artist can perform at a high level, under a great deal of pressure and in a fairly short amount of time produce a great work. They can do this because they have been diligent in working at it. The non-artist who tries to accomplish the same result will take much, much longer and go through much more frustration.

The same is true for us when it comes to being a fool and needing wisdom. If we want to be able to make good decisions under pressure, if we want to be able to have a greater understanding of a situation, if we want wisdom and understanding to be easy for us, we must also be diligent in our pursuit of it.

Just as it is easy to tell the truth when you are a truthful person because you have been practicing truth…just as it is easy to lie when you are a deceitful person because you have been practicing dishonesty…it is easy for a discerning person to have understanding. Just as it is easy for an artist to paint, a logger to log, a drawer to draw and…it will be easy for the person who diligently seeks wisdom and understanding to have the understanding and insight when they need it most.