Prov 4:7 "Wisdom is the principal thing"

 

There is no more ancient path than the path of WISDOM:

 

“The LORD possessed me (wisdom) at the beginning of His way,

Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting,

From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths

I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth;

While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields,

or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there.”

Proverbs 8:22-27

 

Wisdom is a path that has been trodden by great servants of God like Joseph (Acts 7:10), Moses, Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:9), and of course Solomon whose judgement about who was the true mother of the surviving baby is legendary (1 Kings 3:23-25).  But even he was surpassed by “one greater than Solomon.” In his human capacity Jesus was growing in wisdom from childhood (Luke 2:52) and he exhibited it in his answers to all who came to him on many occasions (Luke 20:1-8, 20-44, Matthew 7:29).  

 

Oh, to have wisdom like that!

 

Well James encourages us to ask for it:

 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and

without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

 

There are two kinds of wisdom:

 

The wisdom of the world (1 Corinthians 1:20-24) and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 2:7).

 

We do not need to say anything about worldly wisdom but in godly wisdom there is great gain.

 

Having encouraged us to pray for wisdom, James describes how to recognize it:

“The wisdom that is from above is:

first pure, then peaceable, gentle,

willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits,

without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

James 3:17

 

Another characteristic of godly wisdom is humility:

 

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.”

Jeremiah 9:23 “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.”

 

Proverbs and Ecclesiastes show how godly wisdom has great rewards:

 

Prov 8:11: “Wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire

cannot be compared with her.”

Prov 8:35 “Whoever finds (wisdom) finds life, and obtains favour from the Lord.”

Prov 16:16 “How much better to get wisdom than gold!”

 

Eccl 7:12 “Wisdom gives life to those who have it.”

Eccl 8:1 “A man’s wisdom makes his face shine.”

Eccl 10:10 “Wisdom brings success.”

 

The early chapters of the book of Proverbs are an exhortation to be wise, and a careful reading will reveal that true wisdom always results in good behaviour.  A father advises his son to seek after wisdom and to guard against folly – especially the folly of committing adultery – it is truly wise not commit adultery!  So when David in the folly of his humanity did just that, he finally repented deeply of his sin and prayed never to make the same mistake again.  His prayer is recorded for us in Psalm 51 and I like the Revised Standard Version translation of verse 6:

 

“Teach me wisdom in my secret heart.”

 

True wisdom will help to keep us in resisting sin.

 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” Ps 111:10, Prov 9:10

 

If we truly fear God we will not want to displease Him – we will fear to miss His best – we will fear to fail to be effective in our service for Him.  A healthy fear of God is true wisdom.

 

Solomon for all his great wisdom forgot this to his peril. Instead of fearing the Living God he started to sacrifice to other gods:

 

“When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. (1 Kings 11:4-6).  

 

“The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.” (1 Kings 11:9-12)

 

Solomon’s reign did not have a happy glorious ending like it should have done. Hadad the Edomite, Rezon and Jeroboam all rose up against Solomon and caused much trouble (1 Kings 11:14-40).  All because Solomon had been unwise – he had failed to truly fear God.

 

How could the wisest man in the world do such a stupid thing?

 

Solomon’s problem was a heart thing: “His heart was not wholly true to the Lord”

 

The human heart is “deceitful and wicked above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9).

 

Solomon forgot his own advice: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

 

I’ve had a lovely summer but an opportunity to do what would be the wrong thing for me kept presenting itself.  I knew it would be displeasing to God but the desire would not go away.  The fear of God is what is keeping me. I also read a book this summer in which someone else testified about their own struggles and how they realized that the real issue in struggling with their own desires was: “Do I love God - more than that thing?”

 

Wisdom results in doing the right thing – folly is doing the wrong thing.

 

“Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.”

Job 28:28

 

Proverbs 19:8 says “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul.”

 

The wisest and most fulfilled people on earth are the ones who choose

the Ancient Path of Godly Wisdom!