Got Wisdom?
Proverbs 1:1-7
We are starting a series today on the book of Proverbs. I have one recommendation for how to get the most out of this series. Billy Graham has read 1 chapter from proverbs every night for countless years. I strongly recommend you do the same. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs. If you read a chapter a night, you’ll read through the entire book in a month (don’t beat yourself up if you miss a few nights). I strongly recommend this practice, and have begun it myself.
To get to the book, Proverbs is, chiefly, a book about Wisdom. The question has to be asked, “What is wisdom?” Most people agree about what wisdom is. There is a sense that wisdom is something more than simple intelligence, book smarts, or general knowledge. Rather, wisdom is more akin to street smarts. It has to do with skillfully navigating all the complexities of life. While most people agree on what the definition of wisdom is, we disagree widely as to what the content of wisdom is.
As you can expect, the book of proverbs seeks to answer that question along with some others. Here in the introduction, the author/compiler of proverbs lays out his program for what he believes wisdom is. In these first seven verses, we have several facets of wisdom:
First, wisdom is ‘knowledge’.
Second, wisdom is insight based upon that knowledge (to be able to apply it to life).
Third, wisdom is proper action based on that insight.
Let’s deal with the first.
Proverbs 1:2 states that the purpose of this book, (and it’s sayings) is so that the reader can “Know wisdom and insight.” Now, someone might say, “I know what you’re talking about, you’re talking about book smarts. And, cause you are a pastor, and you only work a half a day a week, you have plenty of time to read books and get smarter.” Well, first, trying to become smarter might be a hopeless endeavor for me. Second, book smarts is not what I’m talking about here. When Proverbs talks about “knowledge,” it has something very specific in mind. This word here in the Hebrew “to know” is used elsewhere in the Bible. Can you guess where? Try Genesis 4:1
[Cain and Abel]
“Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”
(Genesis 4:1 ESV)
What is that word saying? It is speaking of something way beyond the pale of academic knowledge. This is an intimate, relational knowledge. The Hebrew verb ya’da always carries the connotation of relationship with its object. In other words, what the book of proverbs is saying, is that in order to be wise, we have to be in bed with wisdom!
That’s why Proverbs talks so much about wisdom as a lady! Remember that Proverbs is written to young men. What is it that adolescent males have on their minds more than anything else? Proverbs is saying to these young men that they are to yearn and long for wisdom the same way they yearn and long to have a beautiful woman to love and to hold.
Where does this knowledge come from? Verse 7 tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Again, this is a relational term. The fear of the LORD is something different than simply fearing that He would catch you, or that He would punish you. Rather, this is a term used in covenantal treaties to denote the relationship between a vassal and his lord. It is not simply an authoritarian relationship. Rather, the vassal would promise to love and obey the Lord as a son, the Lord to protect and provide for the vassal as a father
What this verse is saying is that this covenant relationship with God is the beginning of knowledge. In other words, you can be wise in a number of ways without being wise. You can be wise at business. Wise at relationships. Wise at car mechanics. Wise at politics. Wise at finances, etc, etc. And yet, unless there is a recognition of one’s place in the universe, and one’s relationship to the creator of the universe, the fundamental building block for true wisdom is missing. This is echoed throughout the Scriptures.
The creation account in Genesis was not written in response to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Surprisingly, the author of Genesis had never read Darwin. What he had read, however, were the creation myths of the cultures surrounding ancient Israel. What he has to say has much more to challenge them than Darwin. In the Ancient Near East, all the creation myths told of a world that was created simply by accident. Life was meaningless, and human life was just a coincidental by product of the random events surrounding creation. On the other hand, the myths in the ancient Western cultures (Greek, Norse, Celtic, etc.) told of a universe that was brought into existence through a power struggle amongst the gods, (thus the stories of the pre-Olympian Titans, the Norse Ranarok, Zeus’ origins, etc.) Humanity was just a pawn in their divine struggle for power, (thus the story of Prometheus.)
The message of the Creation story in Genesis directly confronts these kinds of myths. The Creation story tells of a Sovereign God in control of the universe without struggle or strife. It tells of an ordered universe arranged according to God’s will. It speaks of an intentionality and benevolence in Creation and history.
Proverbs 8:22-31 also speaks about God’s creation of the universe. What this text is saying isn’t that God created wisdom at some point in time, but rather that the universe is not the result of some cosmic accident, neither is it the result of a spiritual power struggle amongst the gods. Just like Genesis, proverbs is saying that the universe was created in the wisdom of God so that there is an ordered nature to the world we live in.
It has been posited that the reason the western world continued to outpace communist Russia in science and technology was because western scientists, influenced by Christianity, assumed that the natural world had an order and a pattern that could be discovered. Russian scientists, under the atheistic communist regime, assumed that the natural world was random and meaningless, and so they were unable to rightly understand it. Wisdom recognizes that there is not only this pattern to the universe in a scientific way, but in a moral and spiritual way as well. That there are rules that govern not only molecular activity, but life as well. If one would become wise, there must be a recognition that the world exists as the Creation of a wise God who must be known in order to know wisdom.
Knowledge, simply held, is not enough to make one wise. One must also be able to discern how to apply knowledge and the recognition of God’s sovereignty to the complexities of life.
Insight is Needed as Well
When proverbs talks about wisdom, it speaks about insight.
In other words, once this knowledge of the order of life is obtained, there is a skill needed in order to properly apply it to life.
This is where the rubber hits the road in the daily decisions of life. This is what separates wisdom from mere moral goodness. There are times when knowing right from wrong simply isn’t enough. This is what’s meant by the second half of verse 2 “To understand words of insight.”
In other words, you can have words of insight, you can have proverbs, and still not have the insight to rightly apply them to life. It’s like the person who always says true things at the wrong time. If someone has just lost their house because they were too liberal in their spending, you don’t tell them “a penny saved is a penny earned.” It might be true, but it is a misapplication of that truth to cite that truth to them in that situation.
I have a friend who was going through a divorce several years ago. She was walking through the halls in her church one day when the pastors wife pulled her aside and told her, “I want you to know I don’t agree with what you’re doing.” The pastor’s wife may have been right, she wasn’t wise.
The book of Proverbs acknowledges that there is some complexity to life. Proverbs 6:24-5 says,
“Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes.”
(Proverbs 26:4-5 ESV)
Are these contradicting each other? NO, it is saying that there is a time to answer a fool, and a time to ignore him, and it takes wisdom to know the difference.
Proverbs holds that there are two sides to wisdom. On the one side, there is an order to life, such that those who live rightly are rewarded, and those who live wrongly are punished. The sluggard becomes a pauper, the righteous is respected, the honest person grows their business, the greedy person sets themselves up for failure. On the other hand, Proverbs acknowledges that life is not so simple to be boiled down to a few principles. Sometimes, people are poor because they are oppressed by the rich. Sometimes, the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer. If we fail to acknowledge either of these, we become foolish. Generally speaking, we could call the one conservative foolishness (a slavish trust that if the moral principles of the world are followed all will be well.), and liberal foolishness (a recognition of the complexity of life with a failure to acknowledge that God has constructed the universe with order and intentionality that must be lived by.) Wisdom comes when we learn to navigate between the two of these.
The proverbs, however, have more to say. Namely that wisdom is more than just knowledge of the order of life, and insight how to apply it, the wise actually apply wisdom to their lives.
Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless,
is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
(Proverbs 26:7 ESV)
In other words, foolishness is more than just being stupid. Foolishness is a denial of the created order in the practical daily walk of life.
A fool can memorize the entire book of proverbs, and it won’t do him one lick of good.
Just like so many of us, we know what is right, and yet somehow we don’t always do it.
That’s why a smart lady will date a bum. That’s why a smart business man will lose his fortune on risky business endeavors. That’s why you stick your foot in your mouth time and time again. That’s why we overeat even when we know it’s ruining our health. It’s why we keep drinking when we know we should stop. That’s why we continue in all the destructive behavior patterns of our lives. It’s all because of foolishness, and the wise person is the one who takes his or her insight, applies it to life rightly, and lives life in congruence with it.
This is where wisdom becomes difficult
Because all of us run into somewhere that we simply cannot live out what we know to be right, true, and wise. In other words, all of us run into a place where knowing what to do and doing it are two seperate things.
How then, do we get wisdom? How did the author of this book, Solomon, get it? In 1 Kings chapter 3, the Bible tells a story of how the young, overwhelmed King Solomon prayed to God for wisdom on how to govern his kingdom. God answered him and said, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” (1 Kings 3:11-14 ESV)
Solomon became so wise that the Queen of Sheba travelled from a far off land to see his wisdom. This is paramount to a Harvard professor travelling on foot to Coastal Carolina to hear a professor there speak. There are plenty of wise people who she could stop and see. In just the same way, the Queen of Sheba bypasses Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, etc, and heads straight to Israel.
And yet, Solomon’s end showed that he did not stay wise to the end of his life. Solomon became so enamoured of foreign wives, that he eventually abandoned the Lord, the God of Israel, and began worshipping the gods of other nations. He was punished by God, and yet, he was spared. From the time of Solomon’s apostacy, the Kingdom of Israel began to decline. However, Solomon was never personally punished for his sin. He lived to a ripe old age, and died peacefully in his bed.
In the gospel reading today, Jesus said, Someone better than Solomon is here. What does he mean by that? Solomon was wise in ruling Israel, in judicial cases, in finances, in foreign relations, etc. He proved in the end, however, not to be wise in fearing the Lord. Jesus, however, was not only wise, but wisdom incarnate. In the prologue to John’s gospel, the evangelist adapts Proverbs 8:22-31. He says “In the beginning, the Word (that is the Logos, or wisdom of God) was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” In other words, the true wisdom of God became a human being and walked on this earth. He lived, loved, and died in the flesh.
What this means is that when God desired for us to turn from our foolishness and live, he didn’t just write us a book and tell us to learn it. He actually became a person so that he can actually be known, not in an academic sense, but in a relational sense. Not only that, but this person, who is wisdom embodied, is greater than Solomon in other ways as well.
Solomon sinned, and was pardoned. Jesus was perfect, and was punished. Solomon was guilty, and didn’t suffer. Jesus was innocent, and suffered the cross. Solomon’s sin caused trouble and anguish for his kingdom. Jesus’ anguish means peace for His Kingdom. Wisdom is not only becoming skilled at living, but it’s having a relationship with Jesus that it deep and intimate and touches every part of our lives.
Leave a comment