Mensa Otabil - Seek Understanding (10/25/2025)
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, which says, «The scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it, but knowledge is easy to him who understands.»
This proverb is focused on two kinds of seekers. One of the seekers is called the 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 their practical solution. There are people who seek for things and never find them, while there are people who seek for things and find them. The scoffer is the one who never finds it, and he is basically somebody who mocks. There are people who scoff at God and the things of God; they make fun of the things of God, and then, 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. First, 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. So, if you’re one of those people who always makes fun of others, you are probably mocking people who are doing well-people who are achieving. You’re just disparaging them, and 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, therefore, not to scoff at others. 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 others, scoffing at people, belittling them, and despising them. 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’s what this proverb is teaching us. If you want to reach great heights, then you have to honor the people who have attained great heights, even if you don’t entirely agree with them.
So, you cannot find something if you despise it. The second lesson is that you will find things that you take time to understand. A person of understanding seeks understanding. When something is not familiar to them, instead of mocking it, they will seek to understand it. If they see somebody doing something they are not comfortable with, they ask questions and try to understand it. They don’t instantly belittle it, mock it, or scoff at it. Many of us behave that way. Somebody is doing something we’re not familiar with, and instead of seeking understanding, we scoff.
The passage here teaches us that if scoffing is our approach, we will never find anything. But if we seek understanding, then things come very easily to us. If you want things to come easy to you, then 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 of life 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.» Well, I’ll catch you again tomorrow, and Pastor Mensa Otabil says, Shalom, peace, and life to you.