Get Wisdom
Several different texts from the Proverbs could have been chosen for today’s devotional reading. Chapter four is representative of the idea I hope to convey. There is an emphasis in proverbs on the pursuit of wisdom. Verse five of chapter four puts it this way:
Get wisdom; get insight…
That is repeated for emphasis in verse seven:
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight…
Our culture, like a lot of cultures both now and in the past, puts a lot of emphasis on gaining knowledge. That is evidenced by the value we place on a college education and degrees. A person’s fitness for a job or a position is usually gauged by what degrees they have. Often, an individual’s ideas or opinions are respected or disrespected solely based on their educational background. Wisdom is rarely considered.
There are practical reasons wisdom isn’t more of a measuring rod. Wisdom doesn’t come with a certificate that can be hung on a wall. There are no graduation ceremonies that acknowledge the level of wisdom one has gained. Still, we need to recognize that knowledge and the attainment of educational degrees are not always the best indicator of a person’s fitness for a position or the value of their ideas and beliefs. Knowledge and education, in some cases, are detrimental to actual achievement. Some people succumb to the fallacy that having a degree automatically imbues them with unimpeachable wisdom. They fail to go anywhere as a person because they proudly believe they arrived when they walked across a platform and flipped the tassel across the mortarboard.
Wisdom has to do with character, the right moral choices, a good life, courage, and self-discipline. Wisdom is knowledge applied righteously. Knowledge without wisdom is proud and dangerous. This is why Proverbs emphasizes getting wisdom, not knowledge. It isn’t disparaging knowledge at all. Knowledge is good. There isn’t an upside to ignorance. But it is reminding us that knowledge is merely the track we run on as we race toward the goal of wisdom.
So, whatever you get, get wisdom.
