Welcome to the New Mercies Podcast. I am your host, Anthony Caldwell, and this is episode
number 324. Today is March 18, 2023, and I want to read out of Proverbs 18 today, just
verse number 2, a simple verse that we can learn from today and think how we are responding
in our lives. The Bible says this in Proverbs 18, 2, a fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion. Another way to translate that verse is that a fool
takes no hope or no delight in listening, but only in venting. He just wants to vent.
A fool just wants to talk. They do not want to listen. I know a lot of times it's easy
for us to see people and say, well, they're just talkers. They just want to talk. They
just want to hear the sound of their voice. Sometimes it becomes a laughing matter, but
most of the time we're being honest. We're saying this person being around them is exhausting,
right? Because we're hearing over and over and over and over again their thoughts, their
opinions. They don't care what I have to say. They just want to tell me what they know.
And I know that it's easy to talk about other people that way, but how often do we look
at ourselves and say, are we listening? Are we taking in understanding or are we just
venting? Are we just expressing our own opinion? Because it's so easy to tell people what we
think. It's always easier just to tell somebody what we think than it is to hear and listen.
Because that term pleasure in understanding means that we're not just listening and hearing
what they're saying, but we're taking it to heart and beginning to work on ourselves
because of what they're saying. So a fool doesn't do that. A fool will not listen to
wise instruction. They will not listen to ways they can become better. However, a wise
person will. This is the part of the Proverbs that give us a little bit of contrast. If
we just think a fool does this, then what does a wise person do? They do the opposite.
A wise person will take much pleasure in understanding, in listening, in asking questions. My way
to think through this on a daily basis is ask first, speak second. In everything that
I do, I will ask first and I'll speak second. I want to learn before I share every single
time. No matter what situation I'm in, I want to learn before I share. Everybody knows something
I don't know. I've said that for years and years and years. Everybody knows something
I don't know. So why not learn from every person? Even if somebody is younger than you,
if someone is less educated than you, they still know things that you don't know. They
see things you don't see. So let us learn first and speak second. Ask first and speak
second. If you do that, you will become wise beyond your years.