Get wisdom! Get understanding! Proverbs 4:5 (NKJV)
Someone shared the following quote with me on Facebook and it got me thinking about the topic of wisdom: “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it into the fruit bowl. Philosophy is wondering if that makes ketchup a smoothie!”
Proverbs 4:7 tells us:
Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding. Proverbs 4:7 (NKJV)
In the previous chapter, Proverbs 3:13 says:
Happy is the man who finds wisdom
And the man who gets understanding. Proverbs 3:13 (NKJV)
Later in chapter 24 we are told:
Through wisdom a house is built,
And through understanding it is established… Proverbs 24:3
Sometimes in the Western mindset we merge the idea of knowledge and wisdom together without clear lines of demarcation. However, it is possible to be filled with knowledge and yet lack wisdom. So what is the difference? Knowledge is acquired information; wisdom is applied information. Wisdom lies not in the amount of knowledge acquired but in the degree of its application. Wisdom in general simply means the ability to apply the knowledge which we have obtained. We need knowledge.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge. Hosea 4:6 (KJV)
But we need to apply the knowledge gained and translate it into living. As James put it in his letter, it is possible to be deficient in wisdom.
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. James 1:5-6 (AMP)
Joshua shows us that by meditating on God’s Word and applying it to our lives, we can deal wisely.
You shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your ways prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. Joshua 1:8
May we all deal wisely and have good success today as we walk with the Lord.