Before anything else: God loves you exactly as you are, and you do not have to impress him with anything.
You know that moment in class when the teacher starts asking a question and one of the children puts their hand up halfway through?
Sometimes they get it right. But quite often they answer something else entirely, because they did not wait for the question to finish.
And why do we do that? Because staying quiet feels like it means we do not know. And nobody wants to look like they do not know.
But look at what today's verse teaches: clever people keep quiet about what they know, and the one who keeps announcing ends up showing exactly what they do not know.
And here is something funny and very true. We talk most about the things we know least. What you really know, you just do. Nobody goes around telling people they know how to tie their shoes.
And do you know the bravest sentence there is? I don't know. Whoever says that learns something new, because somebody who pretends to know never asks.
And look at what Jesus did. A king called Herod really wanted to see Jesus perform a miracle, just for fun. He asked a whole pile of questions. And Jesus answered nothing at all.
But another time, a woman was drawing water from a well and asked something for real. And Jesus told her the most important thing in the world.
Notice this: Jesus was not quiet because he was shy. He chose the person who was asking with their whole heart.