Wisdom

During the sermon this morning, I read Proverbs 12. Understand that I heard most of the sermon on Genesis 17 (one of my favorite parts in the life of Abraham), but I did have some supplemental material that drew my interest. Why chapter twelve? Well, I had a teacher in high school who used to start off our class reading the chapter of Proverbs that corresponded to the day of the month. He suggested that as a great way to learn them and internalize the wisdom they contained, especially since the number of chapters nicely fit in with our monthly calendar system. So the urge to do just that welled up in me during the service.

As I read each couplet, I tried to take my time "chewing" on it and let it's wisdom flavor dance on the taste buds of my brain. Themes of wisdom, prudence, the righteous vs. the wicked, and language showed up the most. While I read about the just plans of the righteous juxtaposed with wicked advice (v. 5), or the righteous caring for the needs of their animals (v. 10), or fools being quick to show their displeasure at a comment (v. 16), something occurred to me for what I believe to be the very first time. I came to the realization that wisdom has less to do with the mind than one might expect. We are quick to associate wisdom with brain-knowledge, yet it is the heart where wisdom gets its depth. The author doesn't suggest that the wise are such because of their GPA or logical reasoning abilities. Instead, there is considerable evidence that wisdom is cultivated by a compassionate heart. I might go so far as to say that wisdom is the product of a healthy mature balance of head-knowledge and heart-knowledge. The verse that drove that point home for me was v. 18:

"The words of the reckless pierce like swords

but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

How could words bring healing? Only by the resonance of compassion and love within the heart, that makes its way to the throat, where it is packaged in perfect language that rolls off the tongue as Truth.

Being wise is not just discernment or critical thinking. Wisdom is not data and factoids. It is brokenness and healing. It is head and heart. It is the surrender of our own frail frameworks for the eternal sound strength of the Word.