Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 4:5-9

Get wisdom! Get understanding!
Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you;
Love her, and she will keep you.
Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
Exalt her, and she will promote you;
She will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
She will place on your head an ornament of grace;
A crown of glory she will deliver to you.”

Proverbs 4:5-9 (NKJV).

The wisdom of God does not come naturally to humans. It comes across as counter-intuitive, as foolishness, as unwise. I would argue this is why Solomon tries so hard, will say so often, the very same simple advice, because in the cacophony of "worldly" wisdom few are humble, few are seeking to glorify God.

In our modern world there is no shortage of answers offered, some free and some with a terrible price, all claiming to get you to the same end results. The variations, the paths offered, the choices, all of them are thrown at you endlessly and it's easy to drown in "self-help". Even Christian dogma, the basics, are so well known now as to have become a cliché, dismissed for lack of novelty.

Yet in pursuing wisdom, other positive circumstances that people desire for themselves will also be found. Pursuing those circumstances directly will not. This is the counter-intuitive nature of God's wisdom, that to get what you "really want", you must pursue something else, and what you "really want" is found as a byproduct.

In the most extreme example, if we "really want" salvation, we do not pursue it, but instead we choose faith in Jesus Christ. Solomon, in the smaller context of wisdom, refers to peace, to prosperity, to dignity, to grace, to attributes that one will see manifest and are desirable, but if one were to pursue directly then the others may be forfeited entirely.

For peace, to pursue it directly, you need only enslave your will to the strongest among you, to submit, to surrender, to forever refuse to resist any who disagree with you, and the cost for this peace? Everything you hold dear, from material possessions to your own dignity. You become a tool for someone else, you surrender your agency, your ability to glorify God, because so often those who have gathered strength unto themselves in this life do so in spite of God's desire for their lives.

For grace? Look at the modern phenomenon of "social justice", though merited by the "victim status", as the secular answer to grace. Look at Equal Opportunity Employment. Look at "gay marriage". Look at "transphobia". Look at "Political Correctness". The world has its own opinion on who grace should be poured out on, what it should look like, and the terms are superficially materialistic, but past the thin veneer are deeply idealistic and in denial of human nature.

Solomon emphasizes wisdom because it is not myopic, it is not fixated on just one attribute or outcome, but seeks to bring you into a holistic harmony with reality, as designed by God. In pursuing wisdom, you will know how to behave in a wider range of activities, circumstances, and when you don't have an explicit answer on the best path forward, you've got the tools to examine motivation and context to discover what the best answer for you really is.

Wisdom is not answers, it's the means by which answers are found, and thus why Solomon will constantly exhort the reader, the listener, to pursue the method by which answers are found instead of just answers. An answer is only useful so long as the same problem keeps showing up, but if you keep having the same problem, what does that say about your growth, your maturity, let alone how good the "answer" that you've clung to really is?

Later in scripture Jesus is talking about worry regarding the material care of those who follow God, and in an echo of Solomon, paraphrased "seek first the Kingdom of God." In that kingdom, if you are loyal to its king, and seeking out his righteousness, you will find wisdom, and yet so much more.

Do not be led astray by the "wisdom" of this world which offers to give you what you "really want" at a cost you haven't even begun to imagine. Seek wisdom, seek humility in understanding your place, and seek to know and glorify God.