Proverbs 10:1 The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

The Ability to Skillfully Make Distinctions

Don’t you want skill for life? Don’t you want saavy for making decisions? Quite honestly, don’t you want more of that than you have right now? If you want more wisdom than you have right now, what is it you actually want? Is it the ability to make incredible decisions, the ability to have great insight, or the ability to understand more than you do right now? All those things may be included, but Proverbs 10 reminds us that wisdom is the ability to skillfully make distinctions.

Proverbs 10:1 says, “The proverbs of Solomon.” Now, Solomon had great wisdom and was able to make great distinctions between things that were apparently the same. Proverbs 10:1 says that “a wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.” Right off the bat he is talking about wisdom. He is not defining wisdom; he is demonstrating wisdom. Proverbs 10 demonstrates over and again the kind of wisdom that is able to make distinctions.

The key concept of this chapter is not only the subject matter per say, because there are a variety of proverbs here. The one thing each of these proverbs has in common is that they make distinctions between things that are different. The little word “but” is a conjunction of contrast. On the one hand there is this, but on the other hand there is that, and they are not the same.

The older I get, the more I believe that so many of the decisions we make come down to the ability to discern differences, to make distinctions, and to do so when those distinctions are subtle.

Solomon, in the early record of his reign as king, was confronted by two women who were the same kind of women, had the same problem, and the same story. Solomon needed God’s supernatural wisdom to distinguish between two women who seemed very much alike but were very different. One was telling the truth, and one was lying. Solomon skillfully made that distinction.

The point is that wisdom is the ability to skillfully make distinctions. We need it, and God gives it. I think this can be cultivated and practiced, but God is the source of this kind of wisdom to be able to make distinctions between two apparently similar things. Sometimes there are differences that need to be discerned, but they can only be spiritually discerned. God is the One Who gives this kind of wisdom.

It is worthy of noting that it is God’s will to give us this kind of wisdom. It is not God’s will for me to go through life blind or with my eyes closed. This wisdom is ours for the asking. Solomon got wisdom to govern God’s people because he realized his lack and God’s provision, and he asked for it. Likewise, you need discernment for daily life, and you can ask God for it!

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