Is wisdom in demand? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
Ecclesiastes 7:11-13 reads:
Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun.
12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
13 Consider the work of God:
who can make straight what he has made crooked?
Do you know what economics is the study of? If you said money, you’re wrong.
Economics is the study of scarcity and demand.
Unfortunately in our world, we have a lot of demand for wisdom and there’s a great scarcity.
Knowledge and wisdom are different. You can have a lot of knowledge and be a fool in the area of wisdom. Wisdom is knowing the right way to live. Knowledge can be a part of that, but if you have knowledge and don’t have wisdom, you will likely do more harm than good.
In this case, the Teacher talks about money and says that wisdom is good with an inheritance. What good does it do you to have a lot of money if you don’t know the proper way to use it? This is the case when you have people who win the lottery and their lives become worse instead of better. Some of you might say that playing the lottery is wrong either way, but aside from that, the same could be said for people who receive a huge inheritance suddenly and don’t know the proper usage and handling of money.
If you know how to use money properly, you can do a great deal of good with it. (Say, donate to my Patreon?) Keep in mind this doesn’t mean just throwing money at every problem. There can be a great danger in just giving money to people who don’t know how to use it as you can be shortcutting them in harmful ways. I recommend When Helping Hurts on that front.
If you have knowledge, wisdom helps there too. I hate to say it as someone in a PhD program, but sometimes people with PhDs can be really dumb. Why? Because that knowledge does not mean that you have wisdom. Meanwhile, there can be a little old lady in your church who might not have even graduated from high school and yet is a fount of wisdom.
Wisdom will help guide you in how to live. It will help you learn what your goals in life should be and how to best pursue them. It will help you learn to make wise decisions as well.
How do you get wisdom? One way is to learn the fear of God. It’s also to learn from those around you. Read good books that will challenge you. Listen to people who are older and wiser. I have a team of allies around me personally that when I struggle with something, I go to one of them. I also have a therapist which is immensely helpful.
Job taught us the value of seeking wisdom comparing it to silver and gold mined from the Earth. We are told to forsake all else in the pursuit of wisdom.
Perhaps we should listen. We can start having the supply to meet the demand.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)