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“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” Proverbs 12:15 (ESV)

This verse brings to mind two sayings which just shows how true this proverb can be.

The first phrase is “only fools rush in.” It pretty much sums up this proverb. It tends to show the brashness of a fool, in that they will act rather than to take the time to plan or even seek advice for the best course of action. Often times it is an act of pride, they believe they know best and act on that. Sure they may encounter successes but eventually this mentality will lead them to disaster. Look at the book of Judges, one phrase that is often repeated is that “there was no king in the land and the people did what was right in their own eyes,” and the book ends telling us of how that almost led to one of the twelve tribes being completely wiped out. Then there is the story of Jephthah and his foolish and rash vow found in Judges 11. In our own lives how often has something foolish and stupid been done simply because we did it on impulse without taking the time to think about what we were planning on doing or seeking advice on our actions? I know if I think about it I can find plenty of examples in my own life.

This leads me to the second saying, “I told you so.” How often do we cringe when we hear that phrase, especially when someone is saying it to us? It is a phrase that often times expresses a sense of failure, often times after encountering numerous red flags and warnings that are ignored. It is a phrase that expresses the foolishness of pride due to the disregard of advice, and often from someone that had already gone through similar circumstances. I think of the story of Rehoboam becoming king after Solomon. He sought advice from Solomon’s counselors but not liking the advice sought advice from those he knew that would say what he wanted to hear. This foolish action ended up with Israel splitting into two nations, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, and I can imagine the one group of advisors telling Rehoboam “we told you so.”

If you look at this the root of foolishness, the root of the action of the fool is pride. Pride is actually at the root of many if not all of our sins. It is when we are stating that we know best and then act out on that belief. There is a reason that humility plays a large role in the Christian life, for when we stop focusing on ourselves and take the time to think about our actions as well as to get advice from others we grow in wisdom while refusing to let pride take control. That is not saying we will always be successful, especially in the eyes of the world, but we also won’t feel like a fool when we encounter failures either..