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Proverbs 8:12-14 “I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech."

There is a principle given in Scripture that warns us about the impact others can have on us:

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

It is important that we get the point of this message. God is not stating that we should separate ourselves from sinners, because we are sinners also. If your presence in the lives of those that surround you causes them to live better lives and toward God, this is exactly what the Lord wants. However, if the company you keep causes you to move away from God and live in a way that would be displeasing him, then perhaps you need to put some space between you and those individuals until you have matured enough to impact them, instead of them impacting you.

Keeping that principle before us will help us understand the power that Wisdom can bring to our life. Notice, one of the partners of Wisdom is good judgment. Just as bad company can bring individuals to a lower moral standard, so can Wisdom bring with it good company.  What a powerful combination of allies these can bring into our life. The ability to take the data (knowledge) and not only know how to use it, but when to use it.  This is such an important combination when we are trying to live in a very evil world. Notice, wisdom knows not only where knowledge is, but also the discernment that is required to understand the application of that knowledge. Discernment is so very important in a world filled with so much data. There is a very true statement:  “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” When you only know part of what is truth there is great danger of doing the wrong thing with it. When you take the data and add the ability to discern how and when to use it then you will experience exactly what Jesus promised about truth, “the truth will set you free”! I remember once when my son was 3 years old we had a toilet that would leak, and if you jiggled the handle it would stop. One day I heard leaking and I told him to go and jiggle the toilet. About 5 min. later I could still hear it leaking, so I called to him and told him to please jiggle the toilet, he said he had, so I said please do again. A few minutes later it was still leaking, so I went into the bathroom, called him there and asked him why he did not jiggle the toilet. He said “daaaad I did!” I said please show daddy what you did. He did not jiggle the handle; he straddled the toilet bowl and tried to shake it with all his strength. After I stopped laughing, I realized that he was lacking the discernment that was required in understanding the statement “jiggle the toilet”. My wife or myself would’ve understood that it meant to simply move the handle, but Chris was only 3 and so he took the data and applied it literally. Wisdom with good judgment teaches to put the data into a context that God calls “truth”. 

Truth is objective not subjective or given to the whims of popularity or political correctness. It is the standard that gives people a foundation to stand on, and today, more than ever we need to have that standard. We live in the day of the book of Judges – “every man did what was right in his own eyes”. The tragedy is the upcoming generation does not live based on a standard, but instead is based on their emotions at the moment… And the result is becoming a disaster.