Marriner’s Moment: Celebrating Wisdom and Knowledge – Pt. 1

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)

A wise woman found a precious stone in a stream, picked it up and put it in her bag. The next day she met a stranger who was hungry, so she opened her bag to share her food. The hungry man saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The man left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime, but a few days later, he returned the stone to the woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said, “I know how valuable the stone is, but I’m giving it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this precious stone.” ~ Author Unknown

Some things are priceless and can’t be bought or stolen from others. Wisdom is one of them. Wisdom is a precious gift that one either has or acquires. Moreover, there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. For example, it is possible to have a lot of knowledge – book sense – but very little wisdom. The dictionary defines wisdom as, ‘the quality of having experience AND good judgment; the quality of being able to apply that judgment.’ ‘Application’ of knowledge is the key to wisdom.

Both wisdom and knowledge are recurring themes throughout the Bible. We read about characters that possessed great wisdom; Solomon, Joseph, Ruth, and Nabal’s wife, Abigail, (I Samuel 25:1-43), are among them. One of the best books in the Bible to learn about wisdom is in Proverbs. It contains many easy and understandable nuggets of truth and wisdom; in fact, the word ‘wisdom’ occurs 46 times in Proverbs – the first occurrence is in Proverbs 1:2 and the last is in Proverbs 31:26.

This month, we celebrate wisdom and knowledge.

”Peace and power.

© Dr. Melvin O. Marriner,
Grove Church
August 2017