Proverbs 1:5: Wisdom for the wise

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,”
-Proverbs 1:5

Hopefully you have some people in your life who you consider to be wise. People you can turn to for guidance or a word of wisdom. For many, this would be a pastor or a former teacher or a parent. Sometimes a friend fills this role, or a neighbor. Who they are in relation to you doesn’t matter that much; it’s that they are there.

For me there are several people, but one I wanted to bring up was a former pastor of mine. I actually went to his church before I was a Christian, and left it because of a really great youth group in the next city. But I always kept in touch with this pastor, and a few years ago I found myself working right beside that church.

I was going through a terrible time, and I was seeking comfort in the prayer garden right beside the church. By this time, I had become a Christian, and I suddenly felt the need to go speak with this man.

Over the next couple of years, he was always there for me, willing to help. I have since changed jobs, but I try to still stop by on occasion, though it is far too seldom that I get to do that.

He is not the only wise person in my life, and I am thankful for them all. The other wise people I know are not much like this pastor friend of mine. Actually, none of them are much like the others. They have their own personalities, own habits, own tastes, own senses of humor. There are only a few things they share in common.

They fear God. Every one of them. They love the Bible.

And they never stop learning.

Last time, I spoke of the “wise fool,” the person who was wise enough to know that he doesn’t know that much. Solomon is writing his Proverbs for that person, to help him grow in wisdom.

So what then? Once this person becomes wise, is he done? Doesn’t this verse seem strange? Why would the wise need more learning? Why does the one who understands need guidance?

It is because we never know everything. God is so infinitely large that we can never know Him completely. Understanding is always a journey, and wisdom is always a pursuit. Once we decide we know it all, we have made a very foolish statement and show great lack of understanding.

The more I learn, the more I understand that I should be striving after Christ with every breath. There is so much I do not know, and so much I do not understand, and yet that much is clear. He has given me wisdom enough to see that I am wholly inadequate to live rightly and wisely without Him. He has given me wisdom enough to repent of my own ways and follow after Him.

Is He telling you the same thing? It may be that you have come to this blog today so that God can tell you something about wisdom. Perhaps you are telling yourself that you have it covered, that you are living rightly all by yourself. But I think you know better. Every wise person I know has become wise not in himself, but in learning from others, from listening, and from God. I urge you to flee from your own path and turn to Him who has perfect wisdom.