As Nigeria was getting ready for general elections in the last year of Obasanjo’s presidency, a brother sought my assistance to link him up with a man of God. His mission was to inform the man of God that God had told him that President Obasanjo would hand over to him. I probed a little to find out if he was a registered member of any political party. He did not belong to any. I asked how he came to the meeting ground where we were, it was on a commercial bike. By the time I asked a few more questions, I realized he was perhaps suffering from delusion of grandeur. I was to offer him some counsel when he cut me short. He told me that he had prepared his acceptance speech, and anyone who thought God had not spoken to him was a fool! I recalled this story to illustrate the power of our text. The wise man teaches us not to speak in the audience of a fool, because you will appear foolish before him. I saw a fool before me but I did not hold my peace. He called me a fool at the end of the day.

We have had four elections since then, yet this brother has not been elected a Local Government Councillor much less the president. A fool will not only despise your wisdom, but he will also misquote and misrepresent you before other people. The advice from God’s word is to keep your wisdom to yourself when someone has no value for it. Fools always make their discovery in the future. Before we close, here is a word of counsel: When you need counsel on the way forward, don’t go to a counsellor and say, “The Lord told me”. Mature people know that saying this means the end of discussion. Rather, explain your hunch while you trust God to speak through them to you.