Proverbs 1
Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom
Proverbs 1 – Day 01
In my first reflection I shared some of my dad sayings.
Here is one he would say over and over, “knowledge + experience = wisdom”.
I grew up in a family that prayed before meals, attended and served at church, and as kids we attended the church school. We just did not read the Bible. We relied on the church to tell us what it said and meant.
So, when I began reading the Bible as an adult, and I first came to Proverbs and read the opening six verses, I could hear my father’s voice. Then when I came to verse seven, “Hear my son, your father’s instruction…”, I was simply dumbfounded.
Yes, my dad’s words don’t exactly match the Bibles. Yes, the Bible’s words are infinitely more correct than any humans. Yet, the heart of my human father, his desire that I “get wisdom”, is a taste of the desire of my heavenly Father’s heart.
Wisdom is to be sought out, pursued. It is worth more than gold.
Consider how the first 6 verses espouse the purpose of the book, with its crescendo in verse 7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
It moves intentionally, imploring us to truly hear and not forsake instruction. The text points out the critical nature of this quest. The path of wisdom is one full of very real and very dangerous distractions.
Consider how sin is described in verse 10 as “enticement”. A strong word. Almost every English translation of the Bible chooses this word!
Not only does it entice, it is loud. Wisdom is competing over its noise—the text says, “Wisdom cries aloud”.
When do you “cry aloud”? When you desperately want to be heard.
God knows we are inundated daily, hourly even, with the cry to come and depart from His ways.
The point?
Living a life guided by the wisdom of God is continuous.
“Getting wisdom” is not a “check the box” sort of situation.
Consider what James writes, about how wisdom comes amid struggle—and comes from God.
We must pursue it, use it, and hold fast to it.
The other point, which I first missed, was that this is not about perfection. We make unwise choices. We fail. We sin. It is reality.
This reality is why verse 23 exists…
If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.
If I did not make unwise choices, fail, sin, then I would need no reproof.
The text not only makes it quite clear that I will need reproof, but:
1. The benefits of receiving God’s reproof are stunning—He will pour out his Spirit and make his words known to us!
2. The perils of refusing, ignoring, and hating it are quite real (see verses 24-32).
Which brings me all the way around to the beginning—the value of wisdom.
My dad taught me that I needed knowledge, but I also needed experience. The experience “bit” is me doing what the Bible implores me to do—purse wisdom.
How?
1. It starts with God.
2. Wisdom is not hidden. It cries aloud to us.
3. We must pursue it over and above the very real and loud enticements of this world.
4. To fail at pursuing it, to abandon turning back to it, is at our own peril.
Do you think about living a wise life? Do you ask God for wisdom? Do you wake up in the morning and consciously ask God to help you pursue wise choices during the day?