Do you desire to be wise?

Proverbs 8:12-13 (NLT)

I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment.  I know where to discover knowledge and discernment. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. 

The book of Proverbs is a book full of wisdom statements and Chapter 8 personifies wisdom.  The contrast of wisdom and folly, actually referred to as two females, Wisdom and Folly is the theme of the first nine chapters of Proverbs. 

When you look up definitions of wisdom, you find that the most common definition is the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.  Wisdom is related to insight, common sense and, as this verse states, good judgment.  Yet, the best definition of wisdom, in my opinion, is that it is a quality from God.  Who epitomized wisdom from God?  Well, Solomon did in the Old Testament, using the gift of wisdom God gave to him after he asked for it (I Kings 3:5-14).  Note that wisdom is defined in I Kings 3:9 as “an understanding heart to discern between good and evil”.  But, eventually Solomon failed to maintain his wisdom (I Kings 11).  The person in the New Testament who not only epitomized wisdom but was/is wisdom itself is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 1:30).     

 

A characteristic of wisdom is the essence of fearing the Lord.  Fearing is to reverence the Lord, to honor, respect, and obey Him.  Fearing the Lord is hating evil.  Evil is defined as pride, arrogance, corruption and perverse speech.  Pride and arrogance are related in that pride means focus on self and putting self ahead of God and others while arrogance is a manifestation of pride.  The Hebrew word for arrogance is “gaown” that means “swelling”.  Gaown is related to “geeh” that means “highness”.  Arrogance can also mean smugness, cockiness, over confidence, rudeness, and boastfulness.  Overt arrogance is easy to observe, you see it frequently in the business world and sports world.  Subtle arrogance is less obvious, but perhaps more disturbing because subtle arrogance can be seen in people you would not expect to have any arrogance at all.  Subtle arrogance typically is seen in leaders, including church leaders, who develop an attitude that their way is the only right way.  Such an attitude develops when someone believes that he or she is smarter or better or, yes, wiser, and, therefore, is always right.  We all have to guard against arrogance, both overt and subtle.

Evil here is not only described as pride and arrogance but also corruption and perverse speech.  Corruption includes all evil ways where the mind, heart, motives, and desires all are prone to do evil.  Take note of the inclusion of perverse speech as something that is opposite of wisdom.  Perverse speech—cursing, lying, slander, calling people names, and the use of any perverted word---is evil.  Perverse speech is opposite of fearing the Lord and is entirely unacceptable from the mouth of a believer of God (Proverbs 10:32, Matthew 5:22, Matthew 12:36-37).

James 3:17 defines wisdom from above that is first pure (true), then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, full of good fruits and unwavering without hypocrisy.  This is the wisdom that all believers of God are capable of possessing simply by having the attitude of putting God first in your life and fearing---honoring, respecting and obeyijng—Him.  Wisdom is not the same as knowledge that is gained from years of academic study and practice.  Wisdom comes from God and the person who is spiritually mature is the person who is wise.

Do you desire to be wise, to have the wisdom of God?  This should be the goal of every believer of Christ.  You will become wise if you fear (reverence) the Lord, study His Word, practice humility, and ask God to be wise (James 1:5).  If you admire someone who you believe is wise and ask him (or her) how he became wise, chances are his answer will include these steps although likely his humility will cause him to protest that he really is not that wise.

If you really want to learn to be wise, ask God for wisdom, then read a chapter of Proverbs every day.  Since there are 31 chapters of Proverbs, you will read through the book in a month.  Do this for a year and see how much wiser you will be about all aspects of life.