Foolishness is integral to a fool. Short of changing his character, there’s nothing you can do to separate a fool from his foolishness.

Proverbs 27:22 presents this vivid word picture to make the above point: “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.”

bray — (v) To crush and pound to a fine consistency, as in a mortar.

OK, so that’s how closely fools are attached to their foolishness. In fact, it’s not a matter of mere attachment but of identity and essence.

I want that kind of attachment to and identity with wisdom.

Let there be no circumstance, environment, or person that will separate me from wisdom!

No matter how finely ground, or how thinly sliced, or how sorely tempted, or how poorly influenced — let me always retain wisdom.