The Scripture passages are identified with bold upright font and the author’s notes are identified with italic regular font.

5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

Wise people hunger to know more, to learn more, to expand their understanding and find new ways to apply what they have learned in life. Wise people have a teachable spirit.

To be “teachable” is to “be apt and willing to learn” according to the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. In order to learn we must be willing to listen, ask questions, and get feedback on our own understanding of life issues.

In the Hebrew language part of the meaning for the word “understanding” as found in verse five is “distinguished” – distinguished people do not believe they know everything on a topic they seek the counsel of others; those individuals who can provide sound and wise guidance in life. It is through the obtaining of such guidance that one becomes wise themselves and is then able to pass along that guidance to other individuals.

The “dark sayings” as found in verse six are not anything evil or sinister, they are in fact proverbs, words of wisdom that may seem like a riddle or a conundrum.

Insecure people find it hard to have a teachable spirit. However, people who feel secure want to learn, they want to grow. People who are set to “prove themselves,” by proving they have no need to be taught or grow rarely end up do so, proving themselves. Insecurity is typically a byproduct of some wound received in life.

Ask yourself if you are teaching? Ask yourself if you are insecure? Ask God to heal your insecurities and give you a teachable spirit. Then ask God to use your teachable spirit to produce wisdom beyond measure in you.

Throughout this study if you need the wisdom of God on a matter, and you wish to receive the counsel of another Believer in Christ, please use the “comments” link to send your question to me.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers, and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.