WHY WISDOM MATTERS

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you.

Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth, so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve?

Proverbs 22:17-21          

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Between Proverbs 10:1 and 22:16, we find a series of individual verses on a variety of topics, each holding their own pieces of instruction and direction on life and living. For four months, I wrote through this series, only combining proverbs when they had a similar topic. Today, we move into a new section of the book simply titled “30 Sayings of the Wise”. These sayings cover the remainder of Chapter 22 and the entirety of Chapters 23 and 24. We will predominantly see a list of “do not’s” intended to lead us away from certain ways of living. That series on the “do not’s” will begin tomorrow but first we need to look at Saying 1 as Solomon prefaces the 30 sayings on wisdom that are to follow, answering the question, “Why does wisdom matter?” in the process. Look at the following five verses:

Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you.

Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, teaching you to be honest and to speak the truth, so that you bring back truthful reports to those you serve? Proverbs 22:17-21

The exhortation from Solomon regarding wisdom is clear. We are to pay attention and listen to it, applying to our hearts what we learn. Wisdom is no good to us if we don’t receive it and apply it. The power in wisdom is in its use and how that usage impacts the way we live. Accept it and the Lord, who is the source of all wisdom, will lead you to righteousness. Reject it and the world, where Satan dwells and influences, will lead you to sin and wickedness.

Yes, there’s that much at stake. Righteousness and living in the Lord’s favor or wickedness and living in His judgment. You choose which way you will go and by choosing wisdom, you will always make the right choice by choosing to live right.

But there’s more we gain from wisdom. Solomon hits on three other main benefits:

1. It’s pleasing when we keep wisdom on our hearts and lips.

I can tell you that there is no greater joy in life then knowing you are selling out for the Lord, willing to put yourself aside for His service. Wisdom leads us to that attitude and keeps us living the kind of life that the Lord desires and expects, a life that is pleasing and satisfying and filled with peace, joy, and contentment.

2. Wisdom leads us to trust in the Lord.

When we allow wisdom to dominate our lives and always seek it, we are basically saying to the Lord, “I can’t rely on my own understanding and decisions. I need your help Lord and trust that You and You alone will lead me in the right direction.” Friends, when we reach this level of desire for wisdom, we will find ourselves in the place Jesus referred to as hungering and thirsting for righteousness and when we do, when we sincerely hunger and thirst for His righteousness, He assured us we will be filled (Matthew 5:6). No one who craves wisdom will ever be left empty. God’s word promises us this through the words of our Savior. We simply need to place our trust in the Lord and when we seek His wisdom, it helps to bring us to that trust.

3. Wisdom allows us to give sound answers to others.

The more spiritually mature you become, trusting the Lord and always turning to His wisdom, the more people will see you as wise and discerning and will want to ask you questions regarding their own life or the matters of the world they are trying to make sense of. I know it happens to me all the time. And while I feel good that people seek me out, there is a certain anxiety I have about the answers I am expected to give. I think this anxiety is the Holy Spirit’s reminder that I don’t have the sound answers to any questions. Only the Lord has them and they are imparted through His wisdom. And so if I am going to provide answers that are sound, I must eliminate my own views, opinions, and insights, allowing the Lord to provide truth instead. In these instances, I must reduce myself to a mouthpiece and allow the Lord to speak through me to the person seeking wisdom. This is the only way that a right and righteous response is generated and frankly, I’m grateful to the Lord for His willingness to impart wisdom to others through me. It takes all the pressure off and places me at ease as I know the answer will not be of me but of Him.

Friends, we’re about to look into 30 sayings on wisdom and we had best pay close attention to them, turning our ears to their teaching and applying them to our hearts. The Lord is ready to bless us richly with His instruction.

I don’t know about you but I can’t wait.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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