The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall.” Proverbs 10:8

True wisdom affects the heart. The wise in heart are humble before God’s commands. Instead of rejecting God’s counsel as outdated or just not according to one’s taste, the wise embrace the fact that God is all-wise. The wise in heart will honor God by reverencing and joyfully embracing His word.

The contrast in this verse is, of course, the fool. Here described as a prating (could be translated babbling) fool. The fool babbles. The fool makes all kinds of excuses, self-justifies, explains away God’s word, or simply wants to talk instead of being taught. Romans 1:22 says of those who reject God, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

Have you been like a babbling fool at times before God’s word? There is abundant mercy and grace in Jesus to forgive our foolish babbling, and to empower us to joyfully walk in wisdom. May our lives and actions reveal clearly that wisdom has permeated our hearts.