How do you get wise? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Recently, I was watching an episode of Million Dollar Password, with one contestant being someone who had three Guinness records for youngest to graduate from high school and college.
He still lost. He didn’t even qualify for the main game.
Of course, that could be because he’s teamed up with a celebrity, but also because sometimes people can be really intelligent and miss out on simple things everyone else catches on to.
So let’s compare that with the Teacher today. in Ecclesiastes 7:23-24.
23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?
I do hold the Teacher is Solomon, but to show no bias here throughout these posts, I simply refer to him as the Teacher. Even if he is not, I am sure most critics would say he at least was writing in the guise of Solomon. After all, he describes himself as the king of Jerusalem and as someone very wise. Who else comes to mind but Solomon?
Solomon is the guy who was told by God that his wisdom would not be matched by anyone before or after. (Hyperbole of course. Jesus had far greater wisdom as He literally IS God’s Wisdom.) Imagine being told that and yet you describe wisdom as something far from you.
Yet Solomon does just that.
Proverbs tells us that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It could be Solomon wrote this after his numerous relationships and his apostasy and realized he did not fear God. He writes the book as a sort of message of regret. He realizes what he missed. When one strays from fearing God, they start going against wisdom.
Wisdom also comes from living by it. The more your practice and cultivate wisdom, the more you will develop. That can also include listening to those who are wiser than you. If you read this blog and admire my work, please understand that I have plenty of people that I admire and I try to learn from them. If I have something I’m curious about and a professor comes by the Post Office, I don’t hesitate to ask them about it.
This also entails reading good books. Read material that will stretch you and make you grow. Read also material that you disagree with. You can learn something from it. Maybe you are wrong and reading the other side will point that out. Maybe you are not, but as you read the other side, you do see cracks in your own position you need to work on or have a better refinement of your system. If your goal is truth, you win either way.
Our world is struggling with a lack of wisdom. We have learned that we can have all access to knowledge, but if we do not have the wisdom to use it, that knowledge could be more destructive than helpful.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)