What can a prideful man show me?

“I call to you, to all of you! I raise my voice to all people. You simple people, use good judgment. You foolish people, show some understanding. Listen to me! For I have important things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and detest every kind of deception. My advice is wholesome. There is nothing devious or crooked in it. My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge." (Proverbs 8:4-9)

Listen. Hear. Two commands, but two interwoven actions. Once must listen to hear, but one may not learn until they have truly heard. We might think God's Word is hard to understand, but he is calling out to us from its pages, willing us to just listen and learn of his goodness, grace, and love. Understanding is gained from time spent listening and allowing our hearts to truly hear his instructions. The wise will listen with the intention of hearing. The foolish will have listened but will not truly hear what is being spoken.

God's words are plain to anyone with understanding and clear to those who want to learn. When we lack the 'want to', we often lack the hearing. What has God been saying to us? What have we refused to truly 'listen to' that he has perhaps been repeating time and time again to us? Those are the lessons we most need to learn but have likely 'shut off' our hearing towards them. We will often start learning again once we acknowledge we stopped listening a while back!

The words we hear today may seem a little bit overwhelming. If God could use a donkey to speak to a man, what makes us think he wouldn't use an unbeliever, or a prideful man to speak these days? God can use anyone to teach a lesson - even the prideful man who doesn't have faith in God can bring a message we can learn from. Even the worst message carries a lesson - we just have to listen and learn.

The lesson we learn may be to do the exact opposite of what the message tells us to do, though. The prideful man may tell us we should live one way, but God may use that message to show us how pride will lead to a great failure in the end. Even the 'negative' message carries a great lesson to those who want God's understanding of how to live. Just sayin!