Maybe

For the Lord gives, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Prov. 2:6)

Growing up I hated when my dad made me read Proverbs and its profound ideas on life, at the age of twelve it seemed lame. Now here I am nine years later starting off a blog with a passage from Solomon's greatest written work. This particular verse caught my eye with two words, knowledge and understanding. I believe early in life we possess a larger amount of these gifts than we believe but we're too scared to take hold of truth because we are aware of our supposed mental frailty. I personally struggle with faith in my ability to make decisions and take the necessary big steps in life. My reasoning is simple: How could I ever have the knowledge and understanding to have an impact on this earth and fulfill my place in the great puzzle? Shouldn't others lead me and show me where to go; they have lived longer and seen more so they are better prepared to lead my steps.
Yet here Solomon is teaching that claiming the knowledge and understanding from within our heart is accepting the words from our God's mouth. This may come off as arrogant and it shoves us onto the unstable ground of trusting our relationship with Christ but isn't that the point? If you always follow and obey the elders before you, at what point in time do you follow and obey Jesus? This isn't an attack on mentoring or leadership, its a call for leaders to do what they know is right no matter what someone may say is wrong. You always learn more doing something yourself rather than following another's lead. Its always safer to follow but the reward is greater to take a chance and step out on faith in yourself and your gifts. Fear of failure is a lost cause in itself because the moment you allow fear to take hold you have already failed.