The Locked Door and the Open Gate Text: Proverbs 14:6
Introduction: The Posture of the Heart
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It is not a collection of esoteric riddles for detached philosophers, but rather a divine handbook for living in God's world, God's way. And at the heart of this wisdom is a fundamental diagnostic question: what is the posture of your heart? How you stand before God and His revealed truth determines everything. It determines what you can see, what you can learn, and ultimately, what you become.
Our text today presents us with a sharp, surgical contrast between two kinds of men, two kinds of hearts. We have the scoffer, and we have the man of understanding. Both are engaged in a similar activity, they are both, in a sense, "looking for" something. But the results of their search could not be more different. One finds a locked door, a blank wall, an empty room. The other finds an open gate, a straight path, a furnished house. One seeks and finds nothing; the other finds knowledge to be easy.
The modern world is filled to the brim with scoffers. Our universities cultivate them, our media celebrates them, and our politicians reward them. The scoffer is the man who stands over the Word of God, not under it. He comes to the text with his arms crossed, a smirk on his face, and a list of demands. He wants a God who will fit into his categories, a wisdom that will flatter his intellect, and a truth that will not make any claims on his life. He is seeking, yes, but he is seeking with a crowbar, not a key. And so he finds nothing. This verse is a spiritual law, as fixed and certain as the law of gravity. The posture of your heart determines the possibility of your enlightenment.
The Text
A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none,
But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.
(Proverbs 14:6 LSB)
The Futile Quest of the Scoffer
Let us first consider the scoffer.
"A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none..." (Proverbs 14:6a)
Who is this scoffer? The Hebrew word here points to a mocker, an arrogant man who treats holy things with contempt. He is not an honest agnostic with sincere questions. He is a man whose defining characteristic is insolence. He is proud, and his pride is the very thing that blinds him. As Proverbs tells us elsewhere, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). The scoffer has no fear of the Lord. He despises the very foundation upon which wisdom is built. Therefore, his search is doomed before it even begins.
He "seeks wisdom." This is a crucial point. The scoffer often looks very intellectual. He reads books. He watches debates. He may even read the Bible, but he does so as a critic, as a judge. He is looking for contradictions, for historical errors, for moral standards that offend his modern sensibilities. He is like a man who goes to a feast not to eat, but to inspect the dishes for cracks. He is seeking, but not with the intent to find and submit. He is seeking with the intent to find fault and reject.
And the result is stark: he "finds none." It is not that wisdom is not there. It is not that God has hidden it in some obscure place. The banquet is spread, the invitation has been sent. But the scoffer cannot see it. His heart is a faulty receiver. The broadcast is clear, but his radio is full of static. Paul describes this condition perfectly in his letter to the Corinthians: "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (1 Corinthians 2:14). The scoffer has judged wisdom to be foolishness, and so God, in a righteous judgment, confirms him in his folly.
He is seeking wisdom while despising the only source of wisdom. It is like trying to find the sun with a blindfold on. It is like trying to draw water from a well with a net. The problem is not with the sun or the well; the problem is with the instrument. The scoffer's heart is an instrument utterly unfit for the task he has set for himself. He wants the fruit of wisdom without the root of reverence.
The Ease of Understanding
Now, Solomon pivots to the opposite case.
"But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding." (Proverbs 14:6b)
The contrast is absolute. For the scoffer, the search is impossible. For the man of understanding, knowledge is "easy." This does not mean that no effort is required. It does not mean that the man of understanding is lazy or that truth simply falls into his lap without study or prayer. Rather, the word "easy" here means that the path is clear, straight, and accessible. The door is not locked. The gate is not barred. For the one who has the right key, the treasure chest opens without a struggle.
So what is this key? The text says it is "understanding." The man of understanding is the opposite of the scoffer. If the scoffer is defined by pride, the man of understanding is defined by humility. He is teachable. He comes to the Word of God as a student, not a critic. He stands under it, not over it. He has begun at the beginning, with the fear of the Lord. He knows he is a creature and that God is the Creator. This foundational humility, this right-ordering of reality, is what makes knowledge easy.
When a man has this posture, the world begins to make sense. The Scriptures open up to him. He sees the connections, the patterns, the glorious tapestry of God's redemptive plan. He is not wrestling with the text, trying to force it into his own image. He is yielding to it, allowing it to shape him. James tells us, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). The man of understanding asks. The scoffer demands. The man of understanding receives. The scoffer is sent away empty.
This is why Jesus gives thanks to the Father, saying, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants" (Matthew 11:25). The "wise and intelligent" in their own eyes are the scoffers. The "infants" are those with understanding, those who know their dependence and are ready to be taught. To them, knowledge is easy, because their Father is a good teacher.
Conclusion: The Gospel for Scoffers
This proverb, like all of Proverbs, forces us to ask a question of ourselves. Which man am I? Am I the scoffer, or am I the man of understanding? Do I come to God's Word with a checklist of objections, or do I come with a humble and contrite heart?
It is easy to point the finger at the loud, obnoxious atheist, the mocker on the television, and label him the scoffer. And he certainly is. But we must be careful. Scoffing can be much more subtle. It can be the quiet pride in our own theological system that prevents us from hearing a word of correction. It can be the cynical dismissal of a brother's sincere exhortation. It can be the habit of reading the Bible to win arguments rather than to know God. Any time we approach the truth with a heart that is not prepared to submit to it, we are standing on the scoffer's territory.
The good news is that there is a gospel for scoffers. The ultimate act of divine mockery was the cross of Jesus Christ. The world scoffed at Him. The soldiers mocked Him. The religious leaders jeered at Him. "He saved others; He cannot save Himself" (Matthew 27:42). They treated the very wisdom of God as foolishness. And in that moment, God was turning their own wicked mockery on its head. Through that cross, which they despised, God was providing the only way for scoffers to be forgiven and transformed.
Christ became the fool for us, so that we might become wise in Him. He endured the ultimate scorn so that we might be received as sons. The only way for a scoffer to gain wisdom is to repent of his pride and bow the knee to the crucified and risen King. It is to stop seeking wisdom on his own terms and to receive the one who is the wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:24). When you do that, you are given a new heart. You are given "understanding." And then, wonderfully, miraculously, the knowledge that was once impossible becomes easy.