Grace Phelps

The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. 

Proverbs 15:14, NIV

*You can listen to this post on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5qYVaqIaKLVxS4y0CKgh9S?si=mS3KDqqkTyaHOnHTEyhjzA

This passage comes from the book of Proverbs and was written by Solomon to guide readers on how to live rightly. This is a fantastic verse for introspection and allows us to take a deeper look at our lives. 

Before we jump in, let me share a quick story.

I used to nanny for a family with twin boys. When these boys were about two they had a very limited vocabulary of about five words. But there was one word they used more than anything. You can probably guess it. It was the word, “Why?” Whenever I said anything at all, one of them would ask, “Why?” and I would answer with something and the other one would say, “Why?” in response to my answer. Our conversations would go something like this:

Me: “Okay, it’s time to clean up.”

Twin 1: “NOOO! WHY?”

Me: “Because this room is a disaster!”

Twin 2: “Why is it a disaster??”

Me: “Because we played in it…”

Twin 1: “Why did we play in it??”

And on and on and on….

Our conversations went on and on like this until I did not have answers anymore and I resorted to “Okay, no more asking why today.” Of course, in response to this, the twins would say, “WHY?” Often our conversations would leave us both confused and frustrated.  

Luckily, God’s ways are much more purposeful and he has created us with a curiosity, this desire to know why and to know him and to understand his ways. Looking back at our verse, a person with a discerning heart is one who has good judgment or who makes the right choice. The author is saying that someone who makes good choices will choose to seek knowledge.

Seek [verb]

To go in search of, to try to discover

As believers, God calls us to seek knowledge. Seek is an action. Meaning acquiring knowledge is not passive. We are called to a passionate pursuit of knowledge that leads us closer to God, but not for selfish gain. 

We are going to look at the life of Solomon in order to understand this a little deeper.

In 1 Kings 3, God came to Solomon when he was about 20 years old and told him to ask whatever he wanted and God would give it to him. In humility, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern God’s people. God honored his request and gave Solomon a wise and discerning mind. He used this wisdom well in many ways. He wrote the whole entire book of Proverbs after all and judged fairly between the people. 

However, because of his wisdom, he prospered in many ways and took for himself 100’s of wives from the places God had forbidden to take wives from. He began disobeying basically every command that God had given to the Israelites. At the end of his life, his vanity and moral compromise led to his downfall. His wisdom turned to folly as he allowed the influence of the world to shape his mind and actions. 

Let’s look back to Proverbs 15: 14 again, we can see that it is good to pursue knowledge and ask questions. We must be so careful, though, that our pursuit of knowledge does not take the place of God in our lives. 

A few months ago, there were several situations in my life that left me with what felt like a million questions. One of these situations was when I had a friend who was a strong man of God and someone who I went to for guidance, suddenly abandoned God entirely and went full force into living for the world. Questions about what is right? What is wrong? Why is this happening? began to fill my mind.

I so desperately wanted to know what was true, but everyone I turned to had a different perspective. I knew the Bible was my only firm source of truth, but I was frustrated because so many people have different interpretations of what it says. So, in my pursuit of knowledge, I began to distrust myself to read God’s word and distrust others’ perspective on God’s word. Ultimately, I doubted God’s ability to lead me into truth in the face of the millions of questions that were filling my head. 

Because of this, I stopped searching for the truth and allowed the questions to saturate my mind. Eventually, I became discontent and bitter and forgot the very nature of who God is and his faithfulness. I allowed my questions to become bigger than my God. I thought if I just knew the answers I could become who God wanted me to be, but in reality we become who we were created to be by beholding God and seeing him rightly.

When life starts to get tough, it is so critical to have the correct knowledge of God. When we know and remember who God is, that he is good, that he is faithful, that he is trustworthy, then we can see everything else with a proper perspective. 

I encourage you to ask God to help you see him rightly and then spend time in the Bible to learn and know God’s Character.

Alright, let’s move to the second part of this verse. It says, “…but the mouth of the fool feeds on folly.” 

The prepositional word “but” here shows us the contrast between the two lines. It shows us that seeking knowledge is the opposite of the way of the fools. 

Growing up, my youth pastor would always say, “Garbage in, Garbage out.”

It was basically his life motto. It might be a cliche youth pastor and grandma line, but it carries so much truth. 

The things we fill our heart with are​​ the things that will be the fruit of our lives. Jesus tells us this in Luke 6:45 when he says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. 

STORY TIME!! Currently, I work in a non-Christian setting. In my situation, the people I spend most of my day around often swear as their first response, good or bad.

Personally, I don’t swear, but for the past three months, I have probably heard more swear words per minute than I have ever heard in my entire life. I’m exaggerating a little ha! But the other day, I was frustrated with a situation from work. On my drive home, I was thinking it over and started swearing in my thoughts. I was getting more and more frustrated. Until finally, I had to stop myself and I was said to myself, “What in the world, why am I thinking like this?”

I realized, that the words that had been filling my mind, subconsciously became my first response to frustration.

Let me ask you,

What are you filling your life with? Is it nourishing your soul or making you sick?

Where are you getting your wisdom from? What movies do you watch? What music do you listen to? Who do you hangout with? What podcasts do you listen to? Is it from the world or from God’s word?

I’ll tell you another story just for fun. We’re going way back to Christmas break of Junior Year. Leading up to this break, I was thriving, I’m single, I’m living my best life, so in love with Jesus and seeking him, I was so content. 

Finally, Christmas break came around and I was bored. Okay, this is embarrassing to admit, but I literally watched 4-6 hallmark movies everyday. Not exaggerating. Everyday of break. 

I was spending hours and hours consuming media about people falling in love and I subconsciously began to long for this same kind of love in my own life. I became discontent and dissatisfied with where I was and honestly with Jesus. I stopped letting the love of God satisfy my heart because I took my eyes off him and began looking to the world for fulfillment. 

This is a cheesy example, but this is so common when we put the things of this world above God. When we fill our minds and hearts with music or movies that represent the values of the world, our values will subconsciously begin to shift and we will become much more likely to live a life of compromise. 

We might begin to justify the world and say, “Oh it’s not that bad” or “Everyone is doing it,” but we slowly begin to become someone we were never created to be and live a life less than we were made for. Sometimes, we don’t even justify it. We just keep falling deeper because we do not realize how far from God we have gone. 

It might not even be that you are watching terrible things, but maybe it’s that you are scrolling instagram for 45 minutes a day and spending 5 minutes with God before bed or maybe you watch an episode of your show everyday. It becomes so dangerous when we begin to prioritize the things of the world before our relationship with God. We have to consider what is most valuable, time with God or the things of this world?

When we put the world first, we will become complacent in our faith. Complacency takes place when we are comfortable with who we are and stop pursuing a deeper relationship with God. 

A life of complacency will soon lead to a life that does not have a relationship with God at all. Complacency is so dangerous, you guys. Wake up. 

Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

In this verse, Paul is telling us to be transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind. How do you renew your mind? Through prayer, through reading the word of God and fixing your eyes on what is good, everyday choosing to say yes to God and no to the world, by surrounding ourselves with other people who are passionately pursuing the Lord and by filling your life with the things of God. Like the first part of the verse says, those with a discerning heart seek to know God. 

We are not called to live this way because God wants us to live lame, rigid lives and does not want us to have fun. NO, we are called to live this way because God knows that the things of this world will never satisfy our hearts and he has so much more for us. 

In this way, God is like a parent who tells their child not to touch a hot stove. They are not doing this to keep their child from good things, but rather to protect their child from being burned. Once a child understand their parents heart to protect them, they will want to obey. In the same way, God’s loves his children and he calls us to a set apart life to protect us from the things of this world that he knows will hurt us. In those moments when we do touch the stove, when we choose the ways of the world instead of God’s ways. God is there waiting for us to come to him, he will sit with us and heal our wounds and burns. 

SIDE NOTE: True relationship with God is a relationship built on love. When we are captivated by and rooted in the love of God, we want to follow his ways. We are not doing the “right thing” out of obligation or reading the Bible to check it off our To Do list, but rather we are doing these things out of a love for God and desire to know him more.

Some of you may be thinking, “But how am I supposed to reach people and love them If I’m not involved in the same movies or music or friend groups?” I know I have definitely thought this before. If you’re worried about being relevant. Let me tell you God’s word is timeless and when we connect to God’s heart, we can love those around us so much better than if we watch the same tv shows as them. 

It’s so much deeper a level of connection that is fostered when we can relate through seasons of life or experiences than it is when we are like “Oh yeah, that new season of outer banks is epic.” Let’s be people who are willing to build relationships that go deeper than the surface. 

Our verse says, “…fools feed on folly.” Those who are fools will continue to be fools until they change what they are eating. We don’t get healthy by continuing to eat junk food. In the same way, we do not become discerning, by filling our minds with the things of the world. 

Imagine there is a room with two banquet tables. There is one table that has been set with shiny gold dishes and mounds of scrumptious food. Many people run to this table. Little do they know, the food is the fake decorative stuff they use for TV commercials. It’s food that is made to look attractive, but that will never satisfy the deep hunger of their souls. The enemy has set this table with food that looks good, but is full of emptiness and lies. 

While these people are busy being captivated by this table, they are literally missing the banquet table being served by God. They don’t even notice Jesus who is offering bread and wine as a symbol of himself making the way for full and abundant life through his work on the cross. 

Which table are you feasting at?

I am not trying to bring condemnation on you if you listen to secular music or watch slightly scandy movies. What I am trying to get at is for each of us to look at our lives and think about if the way we are living is honoring God and leading us closer to him? 

We are called to love God and love others. How can we best love others when the overflow of our heart is hate, selfish, lustful, and rude? Those are the products of the world. When we are filled with worldly things, we overflow a love that the world thinks is love, but is really empty. But when we meet with the Author of love and fill our hearts with Him and His life giving words, the overflow of our hearts will be true love that will be life giving and upbuilding for those around us.

Please don’t live like a fool. Don’t miss the abundant life God has created you for (John 10:10). 

My prayer is that we all become so dissatisfied with the ways of the world and so hungry for the ways and knowledge of God. I pray our hearts wouldn’t become prideful, but that as we fill our hearts with the knowledge of God we can continue to live out of love for those who have not found him yet. As we live out our calling to love them, we can show others what it looks like to live life to the fullest in Christ.

I love you all ❤