Our Favorite Proverbs: Proverbs 3:13, Wisdom's Reward

0:00Welcome to this moment of hope. I'm Jen Houston joined by Pastor David and Marilyn Shadwick. We're in a series called Our Favorite Proverbs with today taking a look at Proverbs 313. Marilyn, we share with us about wisdom's reward. And isn't it interesting to think that wisdom can be rewarding? You know, we know it's a good quality and it's something we should ask for by the Bible tells us blessed are those who find wisdom. Those who gain understanding and that is Proverbs 313. And so I'm thinking now about what brings reward and profit in the world around us. And you know, people talk a lot about profitable investments and especially the ROI or the return on investment. But according to Proverbs, there are very few investments in this earthly life that are as profitable as the gaining of wisdom. So you'll find it really threaded throughout Proverbs. The continued admonition to seek wisdom. The gain from wisdom is, quote, better than the gain from silver and her profit is better than

1:02the gain from gold. She's even more precious than jewels. And nothing that we desire on this earth can compare with her. It's interesting wisdom is called a she or her. But if you want to be wise, think about King Solomon. He sure did. That's what he asked God for and God blessed him mildly for his prayer, which was in 1 Kings 3 versus 5 through 15. So apparently if we lack wisdom, we too should ask God. I think we find throughout scripture that it's a prayer he loves to answer. David, would you agree with that? God loves to answer the prayer for wisdom. Well, we see that in the life of King Solomon when he was given the chance to ask for anything and he asked for wisdom and God in my own paraphrase that good for you. That was a good request and gave it to him. And James says if we ask for, he'll give it to us in abundance. And we know that James is the proverbs of the New Testament. So I think we all should seek wisdom, ask for wisdom. And I think God would want to give it to us because as he honored Solomon asking for it, so he will for us as well.

2:03Which James makes a distinction for us that I think it's important to pay attention to. And that is the difference between mere earthly wisdom, which he calls. And I think about this. It's pretty strong. He calls this kind of wisdom unspearial and demonic. That's out of James 315. So he contrasts earthly wisdom with the better heavenly wisdom, which he says the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure, then peace loving, then considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. So earthly wisdom, I think we've all seen that. But heavenly wisdom is probably not the thing that we're familiar with. What do you think of when you think of earthly wisdom? I think of knowledge. I just think of kind of flat knowledge, just wanting to gain and gain and gain just more information. And I think of wisdom. And maybe I learned this from you all is knowledge applied and how to work that out and how to communicate it and how to solve problems and not just gaining brainiac space with knowledge. That's what I think.

3:05Well, I think as well. Yeah. And I was going to say to David, I bet you might want to weigh in on this because you shared with me one time that earthly wisdom is kind of interwoven with envy and selfish ambition. You want to unpack that a little bit? Well, it's of the flesh. It is your own strength. It is what you think is right. And it's not always the path of God. Those two things don't necessarily intersect because we have so many different feelings in our flesh that want us to succeed for our own glory and our own glory alone. So when we seek heavenly wisdom, it is God's wisdom. But it ultimately gives him the glory. And for us, if we seek earthly wisdom, it is for our glory and ultimately only hurts us. And I think that's the difference between the two. Yes, request wisdom, but request heavenly wisdom. And Marilyn, I think a key that you wrote about in today's blog is humility. And you know, really nobody asks for humility. Do they? I think that's not the virtue that everybody says they want. And yet that's the one place in scripture. Jesus described

4:05himself as being make and humble. And of course, David, you know, as well as I do that that means bridled power. So I think humility and heavenly wisdom, if we'll give it a chance, is stronger than any brand of earthly wisdom. Well, God gives us all gifts. They all come from him, but we bridle those gifts by saying they all come from him. And then we try to use them for his glory to give them back to him so that we can hear his ultimate well done, my good and faithful servant. Well, what an awesome conversation again today. David and Marilyn, thank you so much for your thoughts.