WHY SHOULD WE WANT WISDOM?

Answer: BECAUSE “WISDOM IS THE PRINCIPLE THING”

Proverbs 4:5-10 – “Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.”

Proverbs 4:7 – Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Among all of the things man could get, be sure to get wisdom first; or better yet: employ all that you have to gain wisdom: part with anything that interferes with this goal, if need be for wisdom’s sake (Matthew 13:44-46 – Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.) The fact that men so universally prefer wealth to wisdom, shows the blindness of our natural heart, our old sin nature; but they whom God’s Spirit has enlightened, understand that the knowledge of the truth, and true wisdom, is far better than all the riches a man could have.

WHY DO WE WANT WISDOM? – Because of the benefits of wisdom. In Proverbs 4:5-10 Solomon list 6 benefits to wisdom:

• Wisdom will preserve you. (verse 6 – Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee….). Wisdom will keep us from harmful situations.
• Wisdom will guard you. (verse 6 – love her, and she shall keep thee.). The word “keep” in the verse means to guard. Wisdom will be a guard to us.
• Wisdom is the most important possession. (verse 7 – Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom…) – Simply because wisdom is so important we should strive to obtain it, and by obtaining it, be blessed with the benefits of it.
• Wisdom will promote you. (verse 8 – Exalt her, and she shall promote thee….). You know that saying, “don’t toot your own horn”? If you have wisdom, people will recognize that and recognize you for that.
• Wisdom will bring you honor. (verse 8 – she shall bring thee to honour,….). People around you will notice the wisdom in your actions and you will start getting honored for it. Having wisdom will cause you honor in one way; because people will seek your counsel out and promote you to others because of this.
• Wisdom will give you an ornament of grace, and a crown of glory. (verse 9 – She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.) Wisdom will give you grace to handle what life throws your way, and because of wisdom you will have a good reputation of living out a Godly life.

If wisdom does all this for us, gives us all these benefits then why aren’t more of us striving to get wisdom? Why are there so many people content to be, and remain simple, or even worse, a scorner or a fool?

Illustration: Suppose you had a part-time job. You were making just the minimum wage. You made enough to have some spending money but you would like to make some more. Your boss comes up to you and says he needs a volunteer to work twice as long, working twice as hard. You think why would I do that? What is my reward? Then he says he will pay you 10 times as much to do it. You would jump at the opportunity. The reward or payoff would be worth it to you.  That is what getting wisdom will do for you. It takes hard work, but the reward of wisdom far outweighs the work of wisdom. And the work of wisdom is reading and studying the Bible daily. Praying daily. We are to be in a constant state of fellowship with the Lord. The work of wisdom is seeking out wise counselors and using their advice. Getting wisdom will not be easy, but it will be the best pursuit in your life. It will be the best thing you will ever do for yourself and for those around you who are influenced or affected by your life. And the work of wisdom will soon turn into joy, and it won’t feel like work anymore. It will be what you look forward to everyday. You will look forward to your time in God’s word; you will look forward with anticipation to your prayer time. You will look forward to your opportunities to hear God’s word preached.

WHY DO WE NEED WISDOM? – Let’s look at Wisdom’s Cry to find out. (Proverbs 1:20-33)

• In verses 20-20 wisdom is personified as a woman inviting all to come and learn, but most, sadly, refuse her cry. (20 – Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:)
• In verse 22 Wisdom is pleading with the fool, scorner, and the simple to get wisdom, and stop living the way they are.
• 23 – “Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.” – Wisdom is saying here, listen to my correction. Turn your life around and I will pour out my wisdom to you. Turn away from your foolish ways and I will make wisdom known to you.
• In verses 24-25 wisdom is saying she has tried and tried to get you to turn your life around. She has warned you of the consequences of your sin, she has pleaded with you to live right. But they have neglected her teaching and would not listen to her reproof.
• Verse 26 is saying you are a fool if you have repeatedly rejected the teaching, the preaching and the pleading of those trying to give you wise counsel. Wisdom is saying here; she will laugh at you. I think it is the kind of thing like, “see you got what you wanted, now how do you like it?”
• 27-32- “When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:” – When your life starts falling apart, then you will wish you had listened to the wise instructions you were taught.
• When fear overwhelms you over a mistake you have made,
• When destruction of all you have worked for in your life happens,
• When you are distressed over bad decisions,
• When mental and emotional anguish over powers you,
• Then they shall call upon wisdom. They will look for it everywhere, but they will not find it. Why? Because they have not done the work required before hand. They have not done the work of Bible study and prayer. They have not listened to instruction and observed situations. They have not prepared themselves for it, so they cannot ask God for something they are not prepared to receive. In the end, they will not be able to find wisdom, because of their own sin of neglect and apathy toward obtaining it. Remember, God just doesn’t give it to you. You have to work at getting wisdom, learn, and prepare yourself, and then ask, and ye shall receive.
• 33 – “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” – But wisdom says here that if we just listen to her, and live our life by her, we will not have to endure any of the heartache and problems brought on by our own foolish ways.

SO WHY SHOULD WE GET WISDOM? – Proverbs 8:32-36 sums it all up beautifully. Here, wisdom herself is speaking and she says, “Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” If we do not make it our aim to “get wisdom,” we will suffer injury, and finally death. Therefore, the command, “Get wisdom; get understanding,” is very important.

Those that reject the counsel of God reject it against themselves.  (Luke 7:30 – But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.) An assurance of happiness is to all those that listen to Wisdom and obtain if for themselves. They are blessed in Proverbs 8:32, and again in Proverbs 8:34. They are blessed that watch and wait at Wisdom’s gates. Just their presence there is happiness; it is the best place they can be.

Doom is passed upon all those that reject Wisdom and her guidance (Proverbs 8:36). They are left to ruin themselves, and Wisdom will not stop them, because they have ignored her counsel, and instead have chosen and caused their own destruction to fall upon them by their own actions and inactions concerning wisdom. Their crime was very great; they sinned against Wisdom, rebelled against it by their own foolish actions, and offended it. By doing so, they sinned against Christ; they acted in contempt of His authority over their life and in contradiction to all the purposes of His life and death. According to this passage, their punishment will be very just, for they willfully brought it upon themselves (Proverbs 8:36)

IN CONCLUSION: Among all of the things man could get, be sure to get wisdom first and foremost. Make getting wisdom the top concern in your life. Getting true wisdom is far better than all the riches a man could have. Wisdom will keep us from harmful situations. Wisdom will give you grace to handle what life throws your way, and because of wisdom, you will have a good reputation of living out a Godly life. Getting wisdom will not be easy, but it will be the best pursuit in your life. It will be the best thing you will ever do for yourself and for those around you who are influenced or affected by your life. Why should we get wisdom? – Because those that get wisdom will be blessed by God. They will be able to be content and happy in whatever situation life finds them in (Philippians 4:11 – Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.) Because if we get wisdom, we will not have to endure any of the heartache brought on by our own foolish mistakes. Why get wisdom? – Because “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom”!