Wisdom and discernment

Proverbs 14:15 (NLT)
15 Only simpletons believe everything they’re told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.

Solomon tells us it is foolish to believe everything we hear, to trust what seems so probable, to always count on a friend’s recollection, and to give credit to everyone who would make a vow of truth. Wisdom lends itself to caution and discernment. The prudent person will weigh the credibility of what they hear. They will examine who and how something is related to them. They will carefully weigh the facts giving judgment to what is known and to suspend judgment when facts are not present.

Henri J. M. Nouwen in The Inner Voice of Love said, “As a child of God, you need to be prudent. You cannot simply walk around in this world as if nothing and no one can harm you. You remain extremely vulnerable. The same passions that make you love God may be used by the powers of evil.” In life we need to carefully examine everything put before us without jumping to a quick conclusion. Often we look at life through filters created by our own experiences. These filters affect the way we perceive and review facts. The problem is that because of these past experiences the filters we create may cause us to jump from step A to step D without understanding what took place at step B and C. For example if you lived with someone who as soon as they got angry became abusive you might jump to the conclusion that anyone who expresses anger will turn to abusive aggressive, which is not always true. You may have a friend that repeats rumors and 90% of the time they are true. But what happens if there is a negative rumor against someone and it falls into the 10% false category. You will make a false judgment based on false fact. So be prudent and carefully consider all things, asking yourself do you really know or are you basing your information on hearsay, rumor, unsubstantiated facts or your own false beliefs. Pray God would give you the wisdom to live cautiously using discernment as your guide.