If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.
The classic error in math, the one that plagues me at least, is swapping one sign for another. Subtraction becomes addition, addition becomes multiplication, a negative number becomes positive. On multiple choice tests, too, my constant bane is missing that one ‘not’ which changes the expected answer 180 degrees. I’m sure that you too can think of times, academic or social, where you’ve answered the question, heard the end of the question, and realized your answer is completely, embarrassingly wrong. Haste breeds waste, and pride is the father of much haste.
Why be so thorough? In order to know I’m not missing an important factor, I need to know all the important factors. The question ‘Where are we going to…’ has very different answers depending on whether the ending was, ‘eat,’ ‘bury the body,’ or ‘send the letter.’
Moreover, the sum of the literal question isn’t always the sum of the information relevant to the question. If I ask, ‘Where are we going to eat?’, my answer can be rendered an unworkable one by an allergy I didn’t know about or a scheduling conflict I didn’t account for. What we need to “hear” before we answer, in order to avoid “folly and shame,” can be quite an extensive list.
Now, part of wisdom is not applying this advice without nuance. If somebody asks me where we’re going to eat, I could respond by seeking the maximum possible amount of information. What allergies do you have? What are your preferences? What’s your schedule? Do you prefer to drive east or west? What’s the wind speed we’re expecting? Some of these questions are worthwhile. Some, though technically relevant, aren’t worth the time expended on them.
Wise use of time dictates that I decide how much detail is appropriate to each question, allotting in proportion to the question’s difficulty and effect. Choosing a spouse requires a lot of “hearing” before coming to an answer. Choosing what I’m having for dinner requires much less consideration, even if it’s a birthday party. Choosing whether I’ll read another chapter of my book tonight may require only weighing the effects on my sleep against the benefits of getting farther into the book. Less complicated and less weighty issues get less time.
Another aspect of wisdom comes after giving the answer: listening again. If somebody else corrects me, I must consider the advice, weighing it against God’s word, against the truths I am certain of, and against those truths it might convince me are false. I must set the new knowledge alongside the old and see if the answer changes.
There is a synthesis of these two points of wisdom- listening before answering and listening after answering- and of care for the time God has given us. Once I’ve listened so far as the question seems to merit in the first place, I can offer a tentative answer. It may be openly tentative or it may be an answer I believe final. Regardless, I give the answer in humility, ready to hear where I have erred or where I lack knowledge. The answer may need correction, but I will not be shamed by that fact, so long as I come in humility.
For pride is the root of both the error and its ill consequences. Giving a wrong answer after hearing an appropriate amount on the question and carefully applying God’s wisdom, is no shame. All men are fallible. The shame of a wrong answer comes from answering quicker than the question merits, from considering insufficiently, and from refusing to be corrected when I err.
Pride says, “I know what you will say before you finish.” Pride says, “What you have to say cannot be more important than what I have to say, or even relevant.” Pride says, “I am right, no matter that I am wrong.” Pride makes a fool and a mockery out of the greatest of men, for even the greatest man is not half so great as he thinks himself, when he forgets humility.
The answer, then, is humility from the first. Humility, to listen to the question’s end. Humility, to be certain that I know what I need to know. Humility, to accept when I have erred. Humility, to apply God’s wisdom and not my own (because apart from God’s wisdom, my wisdom ain’t wisdom at all). Humility, to see myself as I truly am in relation to Him and to His creation, is the lesson of this proverb (and there’s a reason that sentence applies to a lot of verses in Proverbs).
God bless
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
