The Great Divide: Gullibility vs. Governance Text: Proverbs 14:15
Introduction: The Age of the Open Mind
We live in a peculiar age, an age that prides itself on its open-mindedness. But as Chesterton once noted, the point of opening your mind, as of opening your mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. Our culture has taken the virtue of being open to new ideas and has turned it into the supreme vice of being open to absolutely anything. The modern mind is not so much a finely tuned instrument for discerning truth as it is a fly strip for every passing absurdity. It is a wide-open field with no fences, and every stray doctrinal cow, political fad, and moral deviancy is invited to graze.
This is not a sign of intellectual sophistication; it is a sign of profound spiritual softness. It is the mark of a people who have lost their theological immune system. When a culture abandons the absolute standard of God's revealed Word, it does not enter a golden age of intellectual freedom. It enters a dark age of infinite gullibility. It becomes a culture of the "simple," precisely as the book of Proverbs defines the term.
The world tells you that the worst thing you can be is dogmatic, closed-minded, or certain. The Bible tells you that the most dangerous thing you can be is simple, a spiritual simpleton, a man who believes every word. This is not a small disagreement over personality types. This is a fundamental clash of worldviews. It is a battle over the very nature of wisdom itself. Is wisdom found in having a mind so open that your brains fall out? Or is it found in having a mind anchored to the unshakeable rock of divine revelation?
Proverbs 14:15 draws a sharp, clean line in the sand. On one side stands the simple man, the credulous man, the man who is a slave to the next voice he hears. On the other side stands the prudent man, the discerning man, the man who governs his steps according to a fixed standard. This proverb is not just folksy advice; it is a foundational principle for navigating God's world. It teaches us that true wisdom is not found in believing everything, but in knowing what is worthy of belief.
The Text
The simple believes everything,
But the prudent one discerns his steps.
(Proverbs 14:15 LSB)
The Simple Man's Creed (v. 15a)
The first half of the verse gives us a portrait of the simple man.
"The simple believes everything..." (Proverbs 14:15a)
The Hebrew word for "simple" here is pethi. It describes someone who is naive, inexperienced, and easily persuaded. This is not a compliment. In Proverbs, the simple man is on a trajectory that, unless corrected, leads straight to the house of the fool, and the fool's house is built on the road to hell. The simple man is not necessarily malicious; he is just untethered. He has no anchor, no compass, and no rudder. Consequently, he is at the mercy of every wind of doctrine, every cultural current, and every smooth-talking salesman of ideas.
He "believes everything." This is the essence of his folly. His operating system has no firewall. He hears a compelling story on the news, and he believes it. He sees a slickly produced documentary, and he believes it. He listens to a podcast host with a soothing voice, and he believes it. He scrolls through his social media feed and absorbs the spirit of the age through osmosis. He is not a critical thinker because he has no ultimate criterion upon which to base any criticism. To judge something, you must have a standard of judgment. But the simple man has been told that having a fixed standard is the great sin of intolerance.
This is why our secular educational system is so effective at producing simpletons. It trains students in the what of a thousand different subjects but gives them no ultimate why. It gives them a pile of bricks but no architectural plans. The result is a generation that is credentialed but not educated, informed but not wise. They can deconstruct everything but can build nothing. They believe everything because, in the final analysis, they believe in nothing.
We must be clear: this kind of simplicity is not the same as childlike faith. Jesus tells us to come to Him as little children, but He does not tell us to be childish. Childlike faith is a humble trust in a trustworthy object: God Himself. The simpleton's credulity is a proud trust in untrustworthy objects: the spirit of the age, the talking heads on the screen, and the deceitful desires of his own heart. Biblical faith is not gullibility. Faith is a reasoned trust based on the supreme evidence of God's self-revelation in Scripture and in Christ. Credulity is a blind leap based on the shifting sands of human opinion.
The Prudent Man's Walk (v. 15b)
In stark contrast, the second half of the verse describes the prudent man.
"...But the prudent one discerns his steps." (Proverbs 14:15b)
The prudent man is the opposite of the simple man. The Hebrew word is arum, which means shrewd, crafty, or sensible. It is the same word used in a positive sense to describe the wisdom God gives. The prudent man is not a cynic. A cynic is just a simple man who has been burned one too many times; he has simply traded believing everything for believing nothing, which is just as foolish. The prudent man is a discerning man. He does not reject everything out of hand, but neither does he accept everything at face value.
Notice the object of his attention. He "discerns his steps." While the simple man is passively absorbing every word that flies past his ears, the prudent man is actively governing his own walk. He is looking down at the path. He is concerned with his "going." This is a man who understands that ideas have consequences and that doctrines have destinations. He knows that the path you walk determines the place you end up. As the proverb says elsewhere, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). The prudent man wants to make sure he is not on that way.
How does he do this? How does he discern his steps? He does it by measuring his path against the straight edge of God's Word. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). The prudent man is a man of the Book. He does not lean on his own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). He tests the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1). He brings every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). He has a worldview, a comprehensive grid through which he can interpret all of reality, and that grid is the Holy Scripture.
This is intensely practical. When a new political theory arises, the prudent man asks, "What does the Bible say about justice, authority, and human nature?" When a new sexual ethic is proposed, he asks, "What did God establish in the beginning?" When a financial opportunity presents itself, he asks, "What does the Bible teach about stewardship, debt, and honesty?" He is not blown about by every new thing because he has an old thing, an ancient standard, by which to judge all new things. His wisdom is not reactionary; it is anchored. He governs his steps.
Conclusion: The Wisdom of the Cross
This proverb, like all of Proverbs, sets before us two ways: the way of the simple which leads to folly, and the way of the prudent which leads to life. This is the great choice that confronts every man. Will you be a passive receptacle for the world's wisdom, or will you be an active governor of your life under God's wisdom?
But we must press this further. Where do we find this prudence? How does a simple man become a prudent one? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of the Lord is demonstrated most profoundly at the foot of the cross. The ultimate act of prudence is to recognize your own sinful folly and to flee for refuge to the only one who is Wisdom incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The world looks at the cross and calls it foolishness. "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). The world, in its simplicity, believes every word against the gospel. It believes the lie that man is basically good, that sin is a trifle, that God is indifferent, and that the cross is an embarrassment. To believe the gospel is to reject the world's every word and to stake your entire existence on the one Word that matters, the Word made flesh.
When you come to Christ, you are admitting that your own steps are disordered and that you cannot discern the path on your own. You are entrusting your "going" to Him. He is the one who crowns the prudent with knowledge (Proverbs 14:18). He gives you His Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who guides you into all truth. He gives you His Word, the perfect law of liberty. He transforms you from a simpleton who believes everything into a son who discerns his steps.
Therefore, the call today is simple. Stop believing everything the world tells you, and start by believing God. Stop being a passive consumer of lies and become a prudent follower of the Truth. Look to your steps. Examine your path. And make sure that it is the narrow path, the one marked by the bloody footprints of the Savior, the path of prudence that leads to everlasting life.