Proverbs 14:7

The book of Proverbs gives us a lot of instruction on a lot of different subjects. One subject that can keep us in God’s wisdom is Godly Follower-ship. Who we follow; where we follow; how we follow are all spoken about in Proverbs. Here is one of them about how to handle a fool. 

Proverbs 14:7 (ESV)

Leave the presence of a fool,

for there you do not meet words of knowledge.

If you hang around with fools you will soon be like them. Is there a proverb in this book that is easier to understand? Or, more obvious to us? But, why is it we don't grasp this and heed its warnings? It is obvious that we like hanging out with foolish people. They are fun and they are exciting. However, as we hang out with them more and more we will have less ability to discern and less ability to make wise choices. We are to "leave" the presnece of a fool. We are to avoid their influence on us. Let's move beyond them so that we can still discern when we need to discern. Fools may be fun to hang with but if we do we will eventually hang. Notice the instruction from Solomon ... he wants us to “leave” the presence of the fool.   We are not simply to avoid them, we are to leave them.   Failure to leave them puts us in jeopardy of not being able to “discern the words of knowledge.”   Discernment begins with separation from false words.   If we want to be equipped with the words of truth we have to also reject the words of folly.