By Meg Newtown
My husband, teenaged daughter, and I just read through the book of Proverbs using an app that includes a daily devotional, a chapter from Proverbs, and space for us to share reflections each day. Reading Proverbs – and thinking about all the students who have recently graduated, and all that they’ve been learning over their years in school – has got me thinking a lot about wisdom. We so often equate knowledge with wisdom – being brilliant at Jeopardy, or sounding clever and informed at a cocktail party, or knowing what the markets are doing. But wisdom – and godly wisdom in particular – is so much more valuable than just “knowing stuff.” It’s about right relationships, wise choices, seeking the good of others, glorifying God, and caring for others, ourselves, and our world with humility and grace.
There are a lot of warnings in Proverbs – about not being a fool, not falling for temptation, not being a slacker or a gossip or a cheat – but there’s also a picture that starts to emerge, as you read, of a person who sees the world both as it is and as it is meant to be. There’s an invitation to be that person: to grasp what’s wrong and painful and troubling – and what’s to be avoided – while also seeing goodness and justice and hope. There’s an invitation to receive God’s wisdom, and join him in bringing goodness, justice, and hope more fully into the world.
Not that it’s always easy to understand God’s wisdom, or that it’s always simple for us to access, like ordering a latte on the Starbucks app any time we need a pick-me-up. Proverbs 2 talks about seeking wisdom like searching hidden treasure, and calling out for insight and understanding. Where do you search for wisdom, or advice and guidance? Social media? Your inner self? Friends? Self-help books? Church? Education? There’s good to be gained from all of those things, but I encourage you to take some time searching for God’s wisdom in the book of Proverbs. Ask God to show you how this ancient collection of wisdom sayings actually applies to your life today. What I have found as I’ve reread Proverbs more intentionally is that I don’t always have God’s perspective. I forget the poor, I care too much what others think of me, I lack humility, I don’t like to be corrected, I don’t like to take my time. But I also have seen the grace of God – his patience and kindness, his fatherly care, his desire to impart his wisdom to us.
Here’s one verse to encourage you to explore more: “Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is like honey for you: If you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 24:13-14).
Meg Newton is the associate pastor of Trinity Church in New Canaan.
