The way of Wisdom

This week I started reading the book of Proverbs and I have taken it slowly, meditating just on the first chapter. I am learning to spend time in the word to know the Word as opposed to spending time in the word to reach a specific goal or to mark a task as “complete”. In my meditation, I was struck by the simple truth that we serve a God who speaks. He speaks loudly and He desires for all men to know Him as the Truth. The book of Proverbs opens with the reason for its existence. The author tells us why he wrote it and what the reader can expect to get from his sayings which are in the form of instructions and advice. Following the expectations and reasons for the book, the author adds the premise of the book which is that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; and fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7) and then begins the instructions. My goal this week is to share some of the truths from the first chapter as an encouragement to not despise wisdom.

If there is a word that is repeated a lot in the first chapter it is the word “wisdom” along with its synonyms such as “instructions”, “words of insight”, “knowledge”, “learning”, “understanding”. Wisdom is what the author wants us to love, he wants us to not despise it, to take heed to it, to love it, to live by it. Wisdom is painted in such a positive light it is almost impossible to not desire it. It is often associated with truth and righteousness, justice and equity. This is an attribute that the LORD wants for His people. More than being an attribute, the book of Proverbs depicts Wisdom as a being, most specifically a woman who calls out in the streets those that are “simple”, those that are “scoffers”, those that are “fools” (Proverbs 1:20-22). These are the type of people Wisdom is after. The words of wisdom that the author, Solomon, son of David, king of Israel penned down are written from the perspective of a father to his son or of an elderly to a son who is passing down life’s teachings. These teachings are meant to help the son, or the recipient of the teachings live life well when the parent is no longer around or when the son grows old and leaves the parental home. The first thing that the father wants his son to know is that wisdom is meant to be embraced and not rejected and the way to embrace wisdom is by fearing the LORD. This is the first and overarching truth. 

The second truth is to not be a fool. The fool is the person who hates knowledge (verse 22), it is a person who is simple and wise in their own eyes, it is a person who loves the way of “sinners”, and it is a person who loves to mock. Mocking and being simple are not well portrayed in the Bible. The book of Psalms, notably Psalm 1 cautions us against walking in the way of sinners and seating in the seat of mockers (Psalm 1:1). Other translations use “naïve” in the place of “simple”. In other words, the simple is not as we would typically understand, that is someone who is without hassle and easy to comprehend, but the simple is someone who is inexperienced, someone who does not know where he is going. This is who the Bible cautions us against. The mocker on the other hand is someone who simply laughs at others and more specifically at other people’s misery. These are the type of people who gloat when calamities fall on others or who rejoice when life is not going well for others. The Bible calls this evil and calls us to steer away from such practice. There are specific examples of the LORD condemning Israel’s enemies who rejoiced when Jerusalem was falling because that attitude displeased Him (Ezekiel 25-26). As children of God, our attitude should be that of Christ who taught us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44) instead of rejoicing when evil befalls them. All these are examples of the “way of sinners” which is the way of fools. Fools are not just people who do not know what they say or who say unintelligible things, or stupid things or whose minds are not right anymore. According to the Bible, fools are those who do evil, making plans to murder the innocent and murdering the innocent; they are people who hate righteousness and truth; they are people who are “simple” and “mockers”, ignoring to follow the commands of the Most High and only doing what pleases them. Such people are to be avoided at all costs, no matter what form they take whether they appear “respectable” or hold positions of power and influence.

It can be difficult to see how one would want to follow the “way of sinners” or hate knowledge, especially seeing how the results only lead to destruction, but it is important to note that this type of behaviour does not happen overnight. There is often an enticement or a lure from the “sinners” to follow their ways which presupposes that no one starts in that path. One eventually learns the bad habits and starts acting like his or her peers. This is why the author of Proverbs warns his son to not consent to sinners when they entice him (Proverbs 1:10). He tells his son specifically to refuse the advances and say “no” to such route. The only way to say “no” and stay firm in that “no” is to follow the way of righteousness. The way of righteousness is the way of wisdom, it is the way of knowledge and understanding, it is the way of Truth. This is the path we, as followers of Christ are called to stay on. Those of us who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb have been set free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), we have been snatched from the kingdom of darkness where we belonged by birth and have been planted in the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13). Indeed, this is the LORD’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes (Psalm 118:23). Thankfully, our God and King has given us the tools we need to remain on the way of wisdom beginning with the Holy Spirit who leads us and directs our every step, the word of God, the spiritual disciplines, the armour of God for the battle (Ephesians 6:11-18) knowing how intense the enticement can be, and the church. I pray we do not fall in the trap of believing we are no longer prone to the schemes of the evil one. May the LORD keep us in the way of Wisdom. Amen!