Proverbs 18 : 12 - 13 Two Cousins

Pro 18:12  Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.
Pro 18:13  He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.

Hmmm....where have we heard the first verse before? In slightly different words? I'd like for you to research that, and if you would like to answer in a comment, that will be great. I'll give you a hint: it wasn't too long ago . . . once in chapter 15, and once in chapter 16, too. (There are others, but those are the most recent.)

I'd like to concentrate on verse 13 for today. Two cousins came to my mind when I read it --- one was Mrs. Gotta Interruptya, a person who often thinks she knows exactly what someone is talking about, even before they finish. She has forgotten all about the fact that God gave her two ears, and that she would be wise to listen twice as much as she talks. Convinced of her own wisdom and experience, she is only too willing to cut a speaker off in mid-sentence, and sometimes has to retire in red-faced confusion when she is corrected by further explanations.

Her cousin, however, is Mrs. Jumpinto Conclusions, who will listen eagerly to a speaker, and as soon as they stop to breathe, she will jump in like a paratrooper from a skydive, and tell anyone patient enough to listen to her, that she knows all about the end result. She knows what will happen; she can predict the future just as well as if she had a crystal --- well, you know.

Neither one of these ladies is a very good witness for the Lord. In fact, once they have engaged someone in conversation a few times, it has been observed that the hapless victim will go to great lengths to avoid their company.  This drastically reduces the chances of the cousins' saying an encouraging word or asking if they might pray with someone.

I thought that Matthew Henry summed it up rather well:

It is folly for a man to go about to speak to a thing which he does not understand, or to pass sentence upon a matter which he is not truly and fully informed of, and has not patience to make a strict enquiry into; and, if it be folly, it is and will be shame.

I think I shall be very careful NOT to be like those ladies . . .