Wednesday's Big Idea: Practical Wisdom

For several weeks now, we've been discussing and praying through wisdom on Wednesdays. Our primary text has come from proverbs 9 but today we also looked at the value that Biblical writers gave wisdom.

Proverbs 3:13-15 says "Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her."

Proverbs 4:7 says "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding."

Great value is attributed to wisdom, making it something worth striving for, even giving up all one has. I understand that wisdom is a valuable thing, but I continue to understand what exactly it is. I ask for it (James 1:5), but do I really understand what I am asking for?

Proverbs 9 tells us that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." This tells me where to begin - I need to understand "the fear of the Lord." What is that? Deuteronomy 10:12ff gives a pretty good primer on that - obedience, reverence, worship are all good synonyms for "fear of the Lord." I can understand and pursue those which puts me at the beginning of wisdom, but it doesn't tell me what wisdom is.

James attempts clarify this thing called wisdom in his epistle. He writes in Chapter 3 what a life of wisdom looks like:

"¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. ¹⁶For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness."

Here James lays out a contrast between two types of wisdom: earthly and heavenly. Earthly wisdom seeks to benefit and aggrandize the self while heavenly wisdom seeks to edify. Heavenly wisdom seeks to unite, earthly wisdom seeks to divide.

Here now we can begin to understand practical wisdom. Wisdom, as does faith, bears good fruit. The deeds of a person demonstrate wisdom or folly. We can begin to ask ourselves, "is this action peace-loving? No, then it is not wise. Is this action merciful and sincere? No? Then it is not wise." Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and part of the wisdom He grants is predicting the outcome of our actions and understanding our own motivations.

So, it seems, a few more baby steps in and wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord and continues with our ability to ask probing questions of ourselves. Perhaps the next step is the ability to find accurate answers.