Wisdom: The Principal Thing

A wise woman named Barbara Frank once said to her children, “If I prepare you for Harvard, but not Eternity, then I have failed you.” In today’s world many would scoff at those words, laugh them off, or label them obsolete. But if we were to travel back in time and say them to who the bible calls the wisest man that ever lived, Solomon, he would probably agree with her. Solomon was David’s son. God called David a man after God’s own heart. He was Israel’s King, and he had timeless wisdom that he passed onto his son Solomon. Solomon wrote the majority of the chapters in the book of Proverbs which is a collection of wisdom and poetic literature. Today we find ourselves in Proverbs 4 verses 1-9 to glean what the wisest man who ever lived was passing onto his children.  

Proverbs 4:1-2 says, “Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding; for I give you good doctrine: do not forsake my law.”  

Notice first that Solomon knew that his home was the primary arena for learning. He taught his children. He didn’t hand off his responsibility to the school system, the church, or any other person, rather, he took the mantle of raising his children in wisdom seriously. With so many distractions competing for our children’s attention, Solomon decided he would train their focus instead of allowing the world and its systems to disciple them. He instructed them to hear, pay attention to, and not to forsake what he had to say. How many of us know that we can hear someone but not listen to what they have to say. In that ancient world, when people said “hear translated Shama” it meant so much more than perceiving sound. It meant active listening, understanding, and obedient action. It meant responding in faith, taking it to heart, and doing what is asked right away. In Hebrew culture hearing was an active process that involved the mind and body. To hear was to obey.  

Solomon goes on to say in verse 3-4a, “When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, He also taught me, and said to me:” 

In 1 Chronicles 29:1 we find King David doing exactly this, teaching Solomon and now Solomon was passing down these timeless truths to his children. Maybe you don’t come from a lineage of faith. Maybe your father never passed down the principles and truths of God’s word. Maybe you are the first in your family line that is saved or has a relationship with the LORD. It is never too late to pass down a legacy of faith. If you are still drawing breath, it isn’t too late to steward your children in the ways of God. After all they have been entrusted to you. 

As we continue reading, we will learn what David imparted to his son Solomon, that he then passed on to his children.  

Proverbs 4:4b-9, “Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands and live. Get wisdom! Get Understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head and ornament of grace and a crown of glory she will deliver to you.”  

David instructed Solomon to allow his heart to retain his words. The heart is the seat of our emotions. There is a popular saying today that says, “Follow your heart, or do what is in your heart” but David combats this worldly way of thinking with, let your heart retain wisdom. We must have a receptive heart. The responsibility was put on Solomon to “let” or in other words allow his heart to be open to the truth. David cultivated that with his son Solomon. David was a man after God’s own heart. He knew the Lord so intimately that what was on God’s heart was on David’s heart. He knew that retaining God’s words and keeping God’s commands was a life and death situation. This could be why he instructed Solomon to ‘let his heart retain his words; keep his commands, and live.”   

How about us, do we have a receptive heart to the truth of God’s word? Or is our heart hardened to the things of God? When we inventory our lives are we living the abundant life Jesus died to give us, or are we abiding in decay? Maybe the key is that we haven’t opened our hearts to God’s word and allowed it to fully penetrate down to the joint and marrow.  

David then goes on to say; “Get wisdom! Get Understanding!” This word Get or Qana, is a term that means to buy or purchase something. Wisdom will cost us at times. When my husband or I make a bad or wrong decision, a lot of times will say to one another, “well you bought your wisdom.” We laugh now but it’s true that things that cost us at times come with it the classroom of wisdom. Trials we have endured refine us in wisdom. At other times we watch or read about the trials or consequences of others, and we glean wisdom from them as well. It cost them everything for us to gain perspective. It is important for us to be thankful for these lessons in wisdom. Unfortunately, there are other times when we just don’t “get it” and we keep repeating the same behavior repeatedly. God help us to pursue, value, and sacrifice for wisdom!  

David warned Solomon in the second half of verse 5, “Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth” Sadly later in his life, Solomon did turn away. You can read about it in 1 Kings 11:1-13. To paraphrase, Solomon LOVED many different women from other faiths, and they turned his heart away from God’s wisdom. God punished Solomon’s son because of Solomon’s disobedience. His son reaped the disobedience Solomon selfishly sowed in his lifetime.  In the beginning of his life though, in 1 Kings 3: 7-12, Solomon did heed his father’s instruction and asked God for wisdom. God did grant him his request along with riches and blessings beyond.  

As Solomon penned his father’s timeless advice, he personifies Wisdom as a she. It is important when we read the bible to ask the Spirit of God to give us sensitivity to genre, purpose, and context of the author’s original intent. Remember Proverbs are poetic and wisdom literature so as we read them, we will encounter figures of speech, personification and gender. The Hebrew language uses gender. Wisdom translated chokmoth is a feminine noun, so the pronoun “she” is for grammatical purpose not meaning the physical gender of wisdom.  David goes on to say through Solomon, “do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her and she will keep you.” 

When we forsake wisdom, we drift away from what we were created to be. To preserve something means to maintain something in its original or existing state. When we love wisdom, wisdom will keep us. Keep us from self-deception, and self-destruction. When we forsake wisdom, we begin to lean on our own understanding which will eventually self-destruct and lead us astray from God’s purposes and plans for our lives.   

Then David says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore, get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding” 

Solomon emphasizes that his father drilled this truth into him. Wisdom is the base upon which all of life is built. This is the core element of life. This is the most important thing one could obtain. Not fame, not fortune, not status, not success, not relationships, but wisdom and understanding. What are we chasing? What do we pursue more than anything. May I suggest to us that two indicators can reveal our priorities: How we spend our money, and how we spend our time. Taking inventory this week, and self-reflecting, is our priority to obtain wisdom and understanding, or is it to chase vain pursuits? 

Solomon finishes his father’s words with, “Exalt her, and she will promote you; She will bring you honor, when you embrace her. She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you.” 

We live in a world where self-promotion is the supreme thing, not wisdom. “Look at me”, “Pay attention to me”, “Notice me” screams across social media on all platforms.  What if we were meant to live differently? David and Solomon certainly believed so. Wisdom is a core attribute of God. If we are to exalt wisdom, then we are to exalt Him. He is the source of all wisdom, not us. How do we exalt wisdom one might ask? How do we embrace it?  By putting it into practice. By going to the ultimate wise source, the bible. By surrounding our lives with wise people. Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with wise men, will be wise. But the companion of fools will be destroyed.” Promotion comes from the Lord. Psalm 75:6-7. By making wise decisions based on the word of God. Look at the benefits we will receive if we heed Solomon’s advice: 

1. Wisdom will preserve us when we don’t forsake her. 

2. Wisdom will keep us when we love her. 

3. Wisdom will promote us when we exalt her. 

4. Wisdom will bring us honor when we embrace her. 

5. Wisdom will place an ornament of grace upon our heads. 

6. Wisdom will crown us with glory. 

The bible says we are to go from glory to glory in 2 Corinthians 3:18, This Beloved, cannot take place if we neglect wisdom. Wisdom is supreme. As we close, it seems fitting to pray the words of Moses that he cried out in Psalm 91 verse 4. Heavenly Father, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom, in Jesus Mighty Name Amen!  

Signing Off,  

Live Unashamed!  

Rocky