Bob Tamasy
Are you old enough to remember encyclopedias, which salespeople used to peddle from door to door?
These included the encyclopedias Brittanica (its name alone sounded awfully smart); Americana; Funk & Wagnalls (which had absolutely nothing to do with funk music); the aptly named Book of Knowledge; Collier’s, and others. Most of them amounted to a library all by themselves.
For many in my generation, when we had to write a report or term paper, the encyclopedia with its vast storehouse of information was our go-to resource. The trick was avoiding the temptation to copy what it said on a particular topic word-for-word.
If you didn’t have an encyclopedia, or yours didn’t seem to have all the answers, there was always the library and its card catalog (again, remember that?) with its rows and rows of file drawers listing every one of its books by subject and author. Wading through that was tons of fun! (Uh, no.)
But in the ‘olden days,’ those were two primary sources of information. Fast-forward to today. We’ve had an explosion of information that rivals anything Mount Vesuvius spewed out. We’ve got the traditional media – TV, radio, newspapers (print and digital), magazines, and books – as well as social media, the Internet, and now, artificial intelligence. AI has the answers before we even know the questions.
Immersed in this vast sea of information, it stands to reason we’re also growing in knowledge. My grandkids probably know more than I did after graduating from high school. That’s great. But have you noticed despite all this wealth of information and knowledge, we seem impoverished by a lack of wisdom?
I won’t cite specific examples, but you know what I’m talking about. Turning on the TV, it often seems as if we’re watching the old film, “Ship of Fools.” One person trying to one-up the other by uttering the most nonsense. News and reality shows revealing folks doing and saying absolutely foolhardy things.
Getting back to the question of wisdom and the shortage thereof, what is wisdom anyway? One definition says it’s “the ability to make sound judgments and decisions based on deep understanding of situations and experiences, often involving knowledge, good judgment and the ability to discern what is right or true.” But how do we gain this ability?
There’s the story of a young man, hoping to experience a successful life, going to his mentor, the wisest person he knew. “How do you acquire wisdom?” the young fellow asked. “Through experience,” his mentor replied. “Then how do you gain experience?” “Through making good decisions.” “Well, how do you learn to make good decisions?” The wise man quickly replied, “By making bad decisions.”
Another young man approached me years ago to discuss what mentoring was all about. I asked, “Why do you want to be mentored?” His response: “So I can learn from your mistakes.” Good answer. As it turned out, the young guy still made plenty of his own mistakes.
Again, how do we get wisdom? Walmart doesn’t have a Wisdom department. And we can’t buy it at Target, Saks Fifth Avenue, or even Neiman Marcus. Amazon doesn’t have one-day delivery for wisdom; neither do FedEx or UPS. It’s not a commodity for sale.
We can gain wisdom through experience. And experience comes through decision-making and learning from mistakes. But one source for wisdom is largely underutilized: The Bible. The Scriptures present us with examples of people who exercised great wisdom – and many who didn’t.
The Old Testament offers several ‘wisdom books,’ including Job, Psalms and Ecclesiastes. Most-quoted of all is Proverbs, which declares, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). Thousands of years later, things haven’t changed much. We find an assortment of fools everywhere – politicians, business leaders, entertainers and others, mostly operating without a biblical worldview. This fits how Judges 17:6 and 21:25 describe the Israelites: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” This isn’t wisdom, but foolishness.
Contrast this to what we read in Proverbs, largely attributed to Israel’s King Solomon, called the wisest man who ever lived. He said the proverbs are “for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, for doing what is right and just and fair” (Proverbs 1:2-3).
If this is true, wouldn’t it be a good idea to discover what Proverbs teaches? To that end, many people have resolved to read one chapter of Proverbs every day. Since the book contains 31 chapters, the entirety of Proverbs can be read in a single month. In a year, that’s 12 times soaking in its wisdom.
Proverbs offers insights on numerous topics, such as the importance of restraining anger; receiving correction and discipline; the need to seek wise counsel and guidance; the value of having discernment and being prudent; dealing with envy and jealousy; overcoming sexual temptation; cultivating generosity; working diligently; pride and humility; striving for integrity and honesty.
Ultimately, they’re all anchored in “the fear of the Lord.” This doesn’t mean expecting God to pounce on us whenever we step out of line. It’s having a reverential awe for all that He is and does – His holiness, righteousness, power, love, mercy and grace. And recognizing He’s the source of every good thing.
Repeatedly Proverbs affirms that fearing the Lord’s a good thing:
“The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble” (Proverbs 19:23).
“Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4).
“He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death” (Proverbs 14:26-27).
Ultimately, fearing and loving the Lord provide the foundation for becoming the people God intends for us to be. Need proof? Study Proverbs.
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Robert J. Tamasy is a veteran journalist, former newspaper editor, and magazine editor. Bob has written, co-authored and edited more than 20 books. These include ”Marketplace Ambassadors”; “Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace”; “Tufting Legacies,” “The Heart of Mentoring,” and “Pursuing Life With a Shepherd’s Heart.” He writes and edits a weekly business meditation, “Monday Manna,” which is translated into nearly 20 languages and distributed via email around the world by CBMC International. The address for Bob's blog is www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com. His email address is btamasy@comcast.net.