Never-ending Wisdom and Learning . . . Proverbs 9:9

Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. Proverbs 9:9

Ever wonder why we should continue to be taught in a church setting all the days of our lives?  One would think that after a while we would have heard everything we could possibly hear about the Bible or about God.  Proverbs gives us an answer to this question.

First of all there is no way anyone could ever exhaust all there is to know about the Word of God.  Beyond this God Himself is an infinite and eternal being.  By definition, these aspects of God's attributes defy the ability of someone to ever truly exhaust them educationally.  But there is more to this proverb than just learning something, there is a truth about humility and true wisdom. 

True wisdom realizes and readily admits that there is always room to learn more.  The only truly ignorant person in the world is the one who thinks he or she has nothing more to learn.  At that moment ignorance abounds and continues to abound in that person until humility and a teachable heart is recovered.  Solomon tells us that when you give instruction to a wise man - he becomes even wiser.  The wise man lives by the truth that you can learn something from anyone if you will open your heart and mind to be taught. 

This proverb also instructs us that when a righteous man is taught he will increase his learning.  No one will ever come within sight of perfect knowledge.  When you think of all the libraries filled with books - of all the subjects that have not been exhausted with study - of all the recesses of the universe which we haven't even seen yet - it is the height of arrogance and pride to think that we've arrived at a point where we cannot increase our learning.  What is fascinating to me about this second part is that it says a "righteous man" is the one who will be taught and increase his learning.  It is the ungodly that will not look at science and what it says about evolutionary theory.  It is the liberal who no longer will listen when philosophy asks questions of their theories that reveal their weaknesses and hopelessness.  The righteous man - the truly godly man wants to learn.  He submits all his learning to the wisdom of God who is the only One who knows all.  But his thirst to know more and to grasp more only sends him further into the arms of the One Who has made all there is.