He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Show me your friend, and I will tell you who you are! There is no gainsaying the fact that the company one keeps has a considerable impact on one's way of life. Little wonder, Paul told the Corinthians: Do not be deceived, evil company corrupts good habits (I Corithians. 15:33).
The way to be wise is to walk with wise pe0ple. In the converse, the way of destruction is to keep the company of fools. Wise people are those who fear the Lord, for this is the starting point of wisdom (Prov. 9:10). Walking with wise people therefore implies associating with those who fear the Lord.
It is important for God's children to constantly desire the association of one another so that they can deliberate on divine counsel. The knowledge of God equals understanding. Tme . wisdom and sound understanding emanate from studying God’s word as it is profitable for instruction in righteousness! In the Psalms, David says the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple and the commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
But it’s more than just realising our inadequacy, our weakness compared to God. It’s also understanding that God’s innate purity means that we’ll always be unworthy subjects by our own merits. If we were to appear before God right now we’d be overcome by our impurity. We’d want to hide in shame. Now that could leave us feeling anxious and afraid, except that we also know that our God is a God who’s dealt with our inadequacy through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. We understand that although God is totally transcendent he’s condescended to lower himself to our weakened existence in order to raise us to his level once again.
