Ecclesiastes 7:25 English Standard Version (ESV) I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness.

A heart to know the truth in matters should be tempered by wisdom in knowing what to do or not to do when we find what we are looking for.

Schemes are a part of every interaction between all mankind. It does not mean that others are scheming against us, but there are reasons why people are the way they are in the world. In some it might be their nature, in others it may be more.

At the heart of each of is a need which may or may not be consciously understood. Not everyone is introspective. Some of us act out a life that is directed by others. We can see this in today’s society more than ever before. Some buy into an ideal which on the surface sounds right but when carried out to its conclusion is destructive. They are not in control because they have given up rational thought to idealist with hidden schemes that are harmful.

In order to understand if schemes are harmful or not we only need to examine the focal points which are absolutely unyielding. They do not care about anything or anyone who do not agree with their goals.

Nearly all of them have catch phrases that can be chanted in an effort to shout down every rational thought. In my generation it was “hell no we won’t go”. I went, I saw and I know truths that go beyond slogans, rallies and movements. We cannot learn truth by turning a blind eye to it.

Turning a blind eye to truth is an agenda that opposes God’s will. Truth is at the heart of all that matters.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 English Standard Version

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

Becoming dull of hearing leads to being loud and proud and that affects how we love others. One sign is the insistence that comes with this spiritual affliction. We stop listening to sound counsel. There may be times when it feels like a shouting match.

Proverbs 15:4 English Standard Version (ESV) A gentle^[healing] tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Note the secondary meaning of gentle here. It is in gentleness that speech brings healing to the soul whereas the loud and proud can only do harm.

1 Peter 3:4 English Standard Version (ESV) but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

We understand it is difficult to remain gentle and quiet in the spirit when someone is yelling at us but let us remember it is how we look to God that counts and not what others thinks of us. This may be an attitude which is created by the loud and proud, but it is illusionary. Pretentious can only be seen for what it is if it stands alone at the center of attention.

True humility will not be drawn into this battle of wills because God calls us to be humble not proud or arrogant. Being shouted down is unpleasant but it does not mean we are wrong.

Jesus Christ is not only the author and finisher of our faith, He is the defender of our faith also.

We do not have to be defensive. In the spirit that only shows weakness.

“But Jesus remained silent” Mat. 26:63a