When I look at Proverbs and consider much of it as being a father’s advice to his son, it gives a whole new perspective and changes my attitude in the way I receive it. This is not just Solomon’s advice to his son, but God’s advice to us, His sons and daughters. The wisdom God bestowed on King Solomon would not be for his benefit alone, but for generations to follow.
Our passage today from the fourth chapter is a reminder of how much it means to God for us to gain wisdom. We need it. We must not ignore it. We must grab hold of it in order to gain from it.
But it’s not wisdom in and of itself. It is wisdom and insight—two peas in a pod—that enable us to thrive in this life for the glory of our heavenly Father.
Get wisdom; get insight!
Listen to the urgency in Solomon’s writing here. He’s sharing with his son words given from his own father, David:
“Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.” (Proverbs 4:5-9 ESV, emphasis added)
The fact that with the Spirit-inspired wisdom given him from God, he is now remembering and passing on to his own son words from his father David, tells us that we often miss the wisdom of our fathers. It’s only as we grow older, and often after we come to trust our lives to Christ, that we begin to remember words of wisdom from our earthly fathers. This is what has happened with Solomon. David had told him to seek out wisdom and insight early in his life. Thankfully, when he became king, Solomon sought it from the Lord.
The discernment of insight gives us the wisdom needed to make good decisions, proper choices, and confident rejection of anything contrary to the will of God. A wise person is a person who sees the deeper issues at hand. He’s the one who sees beyond the surface and can rightly respond.
Attitudes toward wisdom and insight
Look at the ways David and thus Solomon encourage us to relate to the attainment of wisdom and insight.
- Do not forsake her
- Love her
- Prize her highly
- Embrace her
As we have already seen the personalization of wisdom in Proverbs, we notice it again here, as sons are encouraged to remember and value wisdom as they would a wife. Wisdom is not to be forsaken. We know how easy it is to be on a steady path in walking with wisdom when something intervenes, and we fall prey to folly and vice. Our charge here is to never give up on wisdom.
We are to love her and prize her highly. Wisdom and insight are to be sought out when we are making important decisions and seeking the guidance of the Lord. As we love and value wisdom, we are to be grateful that the Lord gives us wisdom to guide our path.
Much like the command to not forsake wisdom, we are, in the positive sense, to embrace her. Holding on to wisdom and insight as an embrace illustrates our desperate need for her. We cannot get along in this world without the wisdom and insight God has given us, so hold tightly to her.
The rewards of attentiveness to wisdom and insight
Each of these commands results in benefits for our lives. Wisdom from God is for our good, and he lets us know some of the blessings in this passage.
- She will keep you
- She will guard you
- She will exalt you
- She will honor you
- She will place on your head a graceful garland
- She will bestow on you a beautiful crown
Oh, the sweet rewards of attaining wisdom and insight! We are kept and guarded, exalted and honored in this life. And, in the next, we receive a graceful garland, a beautiful crown, placed on our heads by the Father of All Wisdom.
What will you do today to get wisdom and get insight? Start with the Source and dig into the Word of wisdom and insight to blossom in this life and the next.
Grace and Peace
If you missed the last Friday Focus post, click HERE, or start this Walking in Wisdom series from the beginning.
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