Mensa Otabil - Seekers and Finders
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This week we are looking at the Book of Proverbs, and we’re learning lessons from the Proverbs in the Bible and how they apply to our lives. They are very practical steps that we can take to make our lives better. So we’re in Proverbs chapter 14, and today we look at verse number six. It says, «A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it, but knowledge is easy to him who understands.»
This proverb focuses on two kinds of seekers. One of the seekers is called a scoffer, and the other is the one who seeks understanding. Both are seeking wisdom for practical solutions to their problems. The scoffer does not find the practical solution to his problems, but the one who seeks understanding finds that practical solution.
There are people who seek things and never find them, and there are people who seek things and find them. The scoffer is the one who never finds it. A scoffer is basically someone who mocks. There are people who scoff at God; they look at the things of God and mock them. When they are in trouble, they seek God’s help. You know it doesn’t work that way; you cannot be scoffing and searching for the thing you scoff at at the same time.
So, two important lessons we learn from this proverb. The first is that you cannot find something if you despise it, if you scoff at it, if you mock it, if you belittle it. You cannot find it; you cannot attain to a height you disown. You cannot attain to a position you make fun of. If you’re one of those people who always makes fun of others, you are probably mocking those who are doing well, people who are achieving. If you’re just disparaging them, you’re never going to get there because if you’re a scoffer, you don’t find the things that you are seeking. The Bible encourages us not to scoff at people. Yes, you may disagree with somebody; you may not like what the person is doing, but make sure that you don’t get to the point where your life is all about mocking, scoffing at, belittling, or despising others. If you do that, especially against people who have achieved far more than you have, you’re not going to achieve much in life. That is what this proverb teaches us.
If you want to reach great heights, then you have to honor those who have achieved great heights, even if you don’t entirely agree with them. The second lesson is that you will find the things that you take time to understand. A person of understanding seeks understanding when something is unfamiliar to them. Instead of mocking it, they will seek to understand it. If they see someone doing something they are uncomfortable with, they will ask questions and try to understand it. They don’t instantly belittle, mock, or scoff at it.
Many of us behave that way; if someone is doing something we’re not familiar with, instead of seeking understanding, we scoff. The passage here tells us if scoffing is our approach, we never find anything. But if we seek understanding, then things come very easily to us. If you want things to come easy to you, seek understanding. If you want life to be easy for you, seek understanding. Don’t mock, don’t despise, don’t belittle-seek to understand. Ask questions, learn, be humble, be observant. When we do that, the things in life that we are seeking for become our possession. The one who seeks understanding finds things very easily.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, help me not to mock and despise others. I choose to be a person of understanding. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»