WISDOM

by Ronnie Mutina

In Proverbs 1:7, Solomon wrote, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." When I think about my childhood, back when I was around 12 or so, school just did not rank up there, at the top, as one of my favorite things to do. Of course, I had a mother that thought it was one of the most important things to do, and she made sure I went. The only acceptable reason to miss school; I had to be really sick. However, this is not what Solomon meant in this passage in Proverbs. Instruction and wisdom do not come from schooling alone. In chapter 1, Solomon expounds on knowledge and wisdom, and in fact, if you read the book of Proverbs, you find knowledge and wisdom throughout.

In Proverbs 1, we find in verses 1 – 4 are actually one statement. "The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; to know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; to give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." In Webster’s dictionary, subtilty is changed to subtlety. This word means the quality of state of being subtle. The Hebrew definition is discretion. Solomon’s statement in verses 1 through 4 is simple; he wants people to learn. The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, but we find that Solomon did not always use his wisdom, wisely. Case and point; look at all the wives and concubines he had. He allowed idol worship to go on in his kingdom, which God gave him.

Today it seems as if nobody reads God’s Word any longer. True, people pick it up to go to church and they may or may not ever open it in Sunday school or in the services. Very seldom is the Word of God read at home anymore. We could learn a great deal from the Bible, but in the book of Proverbs, we are instructed on how to do everything. In verse 5 - 6, Solomon writes, "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings." These two verses are written as one, but were divided into two. Solomon says that you never have enough wisdom, and you will always desire to learn more. When you don’t understand it, you will seek and find wise counsel to understand more. These scriptures lead us up to verse 7, which is a single statement in itself. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." I’ve come to the conclusion that men do not truly fear God. If we did, we would not be doing things that we know we should be doing. In Ecclesiates 8:12 - 13, Solomon said, "Though a sinner do evil and hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as shadows; because he feareth not before God." Did Solomon fear God? People would argue that he did, but I wonder if the fear of God didn’t come until after the Lord took away his kingship. Evidence would show that Solomon did not fear the Lord. The Lord told Solomon, in 1 Kings 9:4 – 5, "And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments: then I will establish thy the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel forever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel." However we find that there was something that would happen if he didn’t following God’s rules. Verses 6 – 7 says, "But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: and at this house, which is high every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil."

Granted, we are looking at a lot of scripture, but we need to understand Solomon and his wisdom. God granted him wisdom, because that is what Solomon asked for. However, I must say again, he did not use that wisdom, wisely. He allowed idol worship and therefore, lost his kingship. He did not, at that time, truly fear God.

Today men do not fear God. I know that in parts of my life I have done things knowing the consequences of my sin. If I had thought that God would take my life, while doing these sins, would I have feared God more? We see that Israel, in the book of Exodus, would only fear God when they thought HE was going to kill them. After HE showed them mercy and gave them grace, they usually turned back to what they wanted too. However, we see that anyone over the age of 21, except for Joshua, did not see the Promised Land, because of their sin toward God.

Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom. It would be wise for every man to fear God. If we did fear God, then maybe some of these things that have happened in our great country would not be happening. Everyone notices when a bad thing happens how people turn to God and start praying. However, after a short period of time, we turn back to the things that had our heart and mind in the first place. This is sin before God! Solomon ended Ecclesiates with a tremendous scripture for all of us to live by. He said, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God, shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

A child of God must fear HIM. To fear HIM would mean that we would be obedient unto HIS WORD, and do the things HE has commanded us to do. Idol worship was not only in Solomon’s life, but can be found in many or our lives. A thing becomes an idol when we put it before God. The Ten Commandments in the Bible stand true today. However, do we obey those simple Ten Commandments? I encourage each of us to examine our lives and see where we stand with God. Ask HIM; HE will tell you. One thing is for sure HE won’t lie to you. There are lots of things we can learn from Solomon. We can look at his life and see how he failed the LORD, but we can see how he exalted the LORD through his mistakes. He never condoned what he did, after he lost his kingship, but instead he tried to leave a legacy through his writings. He greatest prayer would probably be that man did not make the same mistakes he did. However, just as he did, we all learn from our mistakes. However, mistakes are usually made, because of our failures in seeking God in all that we do. I believe that we need to get back to the basics of wisdom and instruction through God’s Word. James said, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, that giveth to all men liberally, and unbraideth not, and it shall be given unto him." (James 1:5) If we ask for wisdom, God gives it. However, how we use that wisdom is totally up to us.