Daily Devotions
It's Impossible to Humiliate an Humble Man
Reading for June 17th: Proverbs 10-12
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.
The vexation of a fool is known at once,
but the prudent ignores an insult.
Proverbs 12:15-16
A wise man listens to advice and ignores insults. I want to suggest in my devotional for today that the reason for both responses is the same.
In the Proverbs, wisdom is not determined by intelligence or by experience but by humility. A fool is full of himself. He is "right in his own eyes." The wise man thinks nothing of himself. He is open and willing to receive wise counsel. He is grateful (not annoyed or aggravated) for the one who would correct him. It is his humility that opens his ears to listen to advice.
It is his humility that also closes his ears to harsh and unfair criticism. Since he is emptied of self, there is no urge to defend his honor. He recognizes insults for what they are and chooses to ignore them. He knows it would do no good to answer the critic and so he leaves it alone and moves on to more productive things.
In short, the wise man's ability to take advice and ignore criticism springs from a humble heart that is moved solely by a desire for God's truth and God's honor. His humility frees him to evaluate advice and/or criticism based on its merit, not on how it makes him feel or how it makes him look before others.
Father, give us a humble heart that will rightly discern advice and correction.
