Get wisdom…

Proverbs 4:7 “The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom;
            And with all your acquiring, get understanding.”

Wisdom is a funny word. To get it you must lose common sense. To obtain it you must often spurn the collective answer. In fact, to get wisdom often requires that you grasp onto something unseen and unforeseen by faith that that hold will strengthen not dissolve into nothingness. And lest this post is straying into the abstract, to drive it home, to get wisdom often means to lose things forever.

To get wisdom, David had to lose his son Absolom. To get wisdom David had to lose one of his best soldiers, Uriah, in a lust-filled deceit that let to the eventual rending of the kingdom of Israel. To get wisdom David’s son Solomon had to watch as his own lusts led to a divided desire like his father and a broken home of his own doing.

Yes, wisdom is a dangerous gift to pray for. When we pray for wisdom, God answers the prayer by putting us through trials so that we can learn wisdom. That is perhaps why wisdom is such a difficult item to acquire! In Proverbs the composer of Proverbs 4 shares with us “acquire wisdom; and with all your acquiring, get understanding.”

It is echoed in the New Testament as the Apostle Paul writes, “But knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” (1 Cor. 8:1, NIV) See the similarity? It is the same teaching, separated by hundreds of years! God in His infinite wisdom has commanded us to get wisdom. But rather than sitting and watching a 5-minute howto video on Youtube, He wishes for you and I to plumb the infinite depths of His Word that testifies to the infinite depths of His Son!

But we have only seen the first half of the verse as it says in part 2, “… with all your acquiring get understanding.” I take this to read, “with all that time you spend marveling and worshiping the Father, understand that you have a responsibility lain out in Scripture to tell others of the Great One you have come to know.” And that is where I see the great commission ( go and tell others Who Jesus is) come to play.

As His Word commands us, you and I have the distinct and wonderful privilege of telling others your story of how Jesus found you! It is unique to you as only you can tell others about how Jesus changed you! This is wonderful news! So going forward into Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, remember why we rejoice! Not because your team scored a touchdown. Not because your paper got an A+ on it. Not even because the tumor came back benign. No, you and I rejoice because if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then your name is written in the Lambs book of life. And that my friend is worth any amount of diamonds you could pile on any ring!

Blessings as you go!