1:4 – To give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion –
1:5 – A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
The rebelliousness of our teenage years is driven, often, by our certainty that we are right and the equal certainty that our parents are out of touch and don’t understand today’s world. Their lessons no longer apply to the new reality.
Reading these two verses, I realize the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I wonder if God views us as His teenagers – simple, gullible, prideful, and arrogant in our knowledge of what just isn’t true.
The problem is getting us to listen, because He created beings who, in our pride and arrogance, don’t like being preached at or lectured to.
So, He leads off in His book of Wisdom about how the wise among us will increase learning and the men of understanding attain wise counsel.
Who wouldn’t want to use this information to help our “simple” brothers and sisters, and our “young men?”
And, if He sneaks in a little insight into us “wise” guys, so much the better.
