Our 37th Word is Wisdom
The common definition of wisdom is a skill in living: intelligence of the heart.
“Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them. (Proverbs 4:5)
Everywhere we look, we see smart people: The eighth grader across town who just made a perfect 1600 on the SAT. The neighbor who’s fluent in five languages and is now in Asia learning a sixth. The professor at the nearby university who was recently nominated for a Nobel Prize in astrophysics.
When surrounded by geniuses and prodigies, it’s easy to feel like a dunce. However, the Bible makes it clear that intellect isn’t everything, and having a high IQ won’t solve all our problems. Accord to the Bible, what we need far more than intelligence is wisdom.
In Hebrew, wisdom is hokmah, a fun word to say because it sounds like you have a hairball stuck in your throat. In Exodus 28:3, it’s used in reference to people with great technical skill and artistic ability.
We could think of hokmah as spiritual/moral/relational intelligence. Wise people may not know how to build an app or solve a page of geometry problems, but they have great ingenuity when it comes to navigating life’s challenges. They’re good at defusing tense situations. They understand and practice the genius of delayed gratification. Because they’re humble, they tend to enjoy good relationships.
Smart people like to debate the notion of whether a person’s intelligence is fixed at birth. But whatever we decide about that question, this much is true: we can always increase in wisdom. How else can we interpret Solomon’s counsel to his sons, and to us, to “Get wisdom?”
And do we ever need to get wiser! Because clearly, knowledge alone just won’t cut it. Some of the smartest people in the world, people with advanced degrees and brilliant minds and knowledge out the wazoo, keep making giant messes out of their lives, relationships, and reputations. Turns out brainiacs can often be maniacs.
If you’ve got the smarts of an Einstein or a Stephen hawking, wonderful! Use all that cerebral firepower for the glory of God and the good of the world. But don’t stop there. “Get wisdom.”
How? Well, Solomon prayed for it. Later, he said wisdom begins to live in us when we fear the Lord, that is, when we reverently view God as the ultimate source of all wisdom. When we believe that, we start digging into God’s Word and we get wiser still.
Also, by hanging around wise people will make us wiser. Remember: some of the wisest people on earth don’t even have a high school diploma, much less a college degree. When you meet a wise soul, stop, look, and listen. Watch what they do. Pay attention to what they say. Ask a million questions. Take note.
Questions to Ponder
- What does the Bible mean by wisdom?
- How does this differ from intelligence?
- Why is wisdom such a rare commodity?
No Thought Police 