The heart of one person is compared to the mouth of another. The first seeks knowledge and is called discerning. The second feeds on folly and is called a fool. The fact that I have to seek knowledge implies several truths. First, I am not born with knowledge. Though I am born with instincts and pre-hard-wiring with character, mostly I do not know the world I am born into and how I am to live in it. For example, I must learn to roll over, sit, stand, walk, and run.
Secondly, I have to seek knowledge and that takes effort; dedication, faithful, courageous, and persistent effort. As a baby such effort lead to me mastering rolling over, sitting, standing, and walking. Mastering these included many bumps and bruises. I often remember when my son was three feet tall and growing he would run around the room as I worked at a desk on what became FreeBibleStudyHelp.com. Often he would stop at my desk to check up on me. One day he rather abruptly realized that his height had to be lowered when he ran up to my desk if he wanted to avoid a bump on the head. A toddler seeking knowledge obtains it one way or another.
Third, the need to seek it implies that knowledge is often not readily found. This truth is not because knowledge hides. Rather, I am slow to recognize it and often too stubborn and proud to learn. I am thankful that I did not live in ancient Israel under the Mosaic law when I was a teenager. I would surely be dead for it says, “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) Humbly learn the truth or be purged on judgment day.
