Wisdom
By Foy Valentine, Founding Editor
The genre which I have generally used in writing for this journal has been one of intentional low voltage. (Admittedly, this has not been a strain for me for low voltage is one of my very best things, my modus operandi, as it were.) Other contributors have provided the meat of strong doctrine, while still others have addressed the weightier issues of Christian social ethics. I have tried to focus on such things as Paul, I imagine, must have envisioned when he wrote the wonderful insights of Philippians 4:8, "Whatsoever things are . . . lovely . . . think on these things."
In recent times, however, I have been so driven to wade more daringly into the deep waters of the concept of wisdom and so compelled to try to find ways to communicate the importance, if not the primacy, of wisdom that I simply cannot now be disobedient to what I have perceived to be this "heavenly vision." Woe to me if I preach not this gospel.
A few months ago my motor was turned over regarding this business at hand when an acquaintance from another state wrote to ask me to respond to some penetrating questions and stimulating ideas about wisdom. It seems that he was writing a doctoral dissertation about wisdom and wanted a little input from an elder (I`ve turned 78 now) on the subject.
I gave it careful thought, and have continued to do so across several months. So, buckle up and hunker down. I`m fixing to make a run at wisdom.
Wisdom is a subject that deserves more attention than it has recently been given and obviously more than I can possibly give it here; but perhaps a quick look may prove to be better than no look at all.
Wisdom is that quality of personhood associated with good sense, gumption, judgment, discernment, knowledge, prudence, enlightenment, and insight. Wisdom distinguishes between good and bad and then between better and best. Wisdom tells the difference between right and wrong. Wisdom discerns the distinction between light and darkness, prudence and foolishness, aspirations and appetites, discipline and desire, timeless values and transient whims. Wisdom perceives the true and moves toward the true. Wisdom has to do with the exercise of sound judgment in choosing right means to attain right ends. Wisdom understands that you don`t burn down a cathedral to fry an egg even if you have a ravenous appetite.
That wisdom is today in astoundingly short supply is not debatable. Its scarcity is evident in public life, in organized religion, in international doings, in economic affairs, in politics, and in family relationships.
The Bible teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10). The Bible`s "wisdom literature"-Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes-constitutes a major category in the Scriptures. And the New Testament`s little book of James, the favorite book in the Bible for many, might well be called "The Wisdom of James" for as Martin Luther grudgingly admitted after having omitted it entirely from his first edition of his German translation of the Bible and then included it in the second edition, for he said, "It has many a good saying in it." The dour monk was wise to come around.
Who is wise?
By asking this question, some specificity may be realized which would otherwise elude us. I hope we can agree that a person is wise who has at least the following characteristics.
A wise person fears God and keeps his commandments. That is, a wise individual respects God, honors God, obeys God, and loves God. When asked by the lawyer which was the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus answered wisely with the great Hebrew Shema, "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment, and the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Mark 12:29-31).
A wise person sees. That is, a wise individual is a consistent seer, a perceiver, a discerner, continually seeking knowledge, understanding, perception, and insight that will bring deliverance from pitfalls, the safety that comes from walking daily in the light, and a growing commitment to wholeness and holiness which leads more and more toward the perfection which our Lord has challenged his people to strive for. Did not Robert Browning glimpse this when he wrote, "Trust God, see all, nor be afraid"?
A wise person takes the long look. That is, a wise individual is not shortsighted, is not foolhardy, counts the cost before embarking on a new enterprise, and looks before leaping.
A wise person listens. That is, a wise individual asks, hears, welcomes counsel, learns from others, and stays teachable so as to profit from the lessons of history, the advice of those with experience, and the accumulated lessons learned by those who have gone before.
A wise person combines patience with enthusiasm. That is, the wise individual`s life and work are characterized on the one hand by calmness and composure in the realization that sometimes it is required of us that we wait on the Lord and on the other hand that fervor, ardor, zeal, and passion are qualities without which not much good ever gets done.
A wise person does right consistently. That is, a wise individual understands that honesty is the best policy, that purity is better than filth, that love is better than hate, that giving is better than getting, that building is better than burning, that peace is better than war, and that it is better to suffer for righteousness` sake than to compromise with evil.
A wise person acts. That is, a wise individual, even while understanding the ambiguities of life and realizing that many difficult decisions are not subject to absolute black and white resolution, refuses to be everlastingly stalled in neutral, always immobilized, and forever dallying on the plains of hesitation, like T. S. Eliot`s J. Alfred Prufrock descending the stairs in anguished consternation as he tries to decide whether or not he dare eat a peach. Wisdom requires action, work, involvement, and an incarnational commitment to be about the Father`s business, actively working to redeem the time.
Too hurried to be still and know that the Lord is God, too harried to possess our own souls, too busy to take even one day out of seven to rest, too preoccupied with pleasure to experience joy, too busy getting and spending on earth to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven-modern people keep stumbling past the gate of wisdom.
There is a better way.
It is the way of intentionally seeking, and by God`s grace, actually apprehending, wisdom.
More than almost all other virtues, wisdom is found by those who seek her. A good start in that search is to read carefully the book of Proverbs. Then read the book of James. Then find some wise old persons with whom to sit down and talk at length to discover what they have to teach you. Then read such literature from the classics as may appeal to you. Start anew in whatever way seems right to you, a renewed journey into the world of wisdom. In that world is peace that passes all understanding, riches more precious than silver or gold or stocks or bonds or houses or lands, and abundance of life beyond anything we might imagine to think or to ask.
"Wisdom," Jesus said, "is justified of her children" (Matthew 11:19).
