Godly Wisdom

Proverbs 3:13-14: "Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold."


In this proverb penned by king Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, we learn that the man that finds wisdom and gains understanding will be a happy man, with riches far greater than gold or silver. When I consider Solomon's life I find it almost sad to think that here we have a man that was blessed with the greatest amount of wisdom known to us, yet his entire life was spent in the pursuit of happiness. He would have done well to consider his own advise when he said in chapter one verse 7: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Whether Solomon wrote this in the latter days of his life looking back upon the train wreck his reign had been, or these were words of fatherly advise given to him by king David, it is clear from his record that he did not heed these words. Solomon indulged himself in every kind of earthly pleasure in order to be happy, spent tremendous amounts of resources, married 700 women and had 300 concubines, but did not attain that which we all long for: peace in his soul. Whether he did find it at the end of his life we are not sure, but we do know that he was full of regrets. Solomon started well, but failed miserably in the end. How could this happen to a man with such a godly heritage and such a huge blessing from the Lord?

I believe the key in this passage is found in the little words "find" and "gains." Happy, or blessed, is the man who finds wisdom and gains understanding. You see, Solomon received wisdom and understanding from the Lord as a gift. He didn't have to search it out; find it through years of learning and searching the scriptures. He didn't attain it through developing a devotional life, learning discipline in walking with the Lord. Wisdom is a treasure that the Lord will bestow upon us to value and keep dear because it is a result of years of learning from our own mistakes. Solomon received it as a gift all at once, only to neglect it and discard it, for it was so easily obtained. The more we have to work for a thing the more value we place upon it. The lesson here we can all learn from Solomon is not to pursue happiness with all the resources we have, but rather pursue God with all our hearts. When the fear of the Lord is our motivation to go through life and we have developed an attitude of devotion through a disciplined life style, then we will find wisdom, gain understanding, and the end result will be a blessed (happy) life.

Application
Today I will take some extra time to study wisdom in the Bible, find some key verses and learn them during my time with the Lord on the mount ( a two hour time of devotion set aside for the Lord).