Proverbs 4:5,6 - Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve you: love her, and she shall keep you.
Mark Twain once said that the condition of humanity is, basically, laziness. I tend to agree, and I think the Word of God confirms that as well. We cannot idly sit and casually wait for progress and advancement. The blessing and provision of God does not automatically fall on us like ripe fruit falling off a tree. Proverbs is a book of distilled wisdom and this wisdom is always practical and brings results, but, like anything of value, it must be diligently sought after.
We are commanded here to get wisdom, that is, we are to be proactive about procuring it. Wisdom is available but we must be the ones who hunger and seek for it. The opposite of being a proactive person is being a reactive one. To be proactive is take action ahead of time and ahead of potential trouble, however, to be reactive is to take action only after something has happened and by so doing we are always in crisis mode and seem to be playing catch up. If we are constantly reactive then circumstances and situations are in control of our lives and not us. Those who pursue and acquire wisdom are those who will eventually come to a place of significance, success, and satisfaction.
Wisdom and understanding are two of the essential elements needed to obtain and maintain long-term viability and usefulness. A wise person is one who is vigilant; constantly looking ahead to see what may be coming. There are always enemies to any progressive venture in life, and the person who is aware and alert can make wise choices to safeguard and defend themselves against opposition. Not only are we to look ahead for possible trouble but wisdom will also look ahead for prospective opportunities. How many of us have missed opportunities that we regret not taking? It may be a piece of land that we didn’t buy; a beautiful girl that we never asked out; a university that we did not go to or, a promotion that we did not accept. Missed opportunities are the lament of the unwise.
When Solomon assumed the throne, and was invited by God to ask for whatever he wanted, he asked for an understanding heart. An understanding heart is a hearing heart; it is a listening heart. We have many who want to be heard but very few who want to listen. If we want to understand and have keen insight, we have to listen very carefully. Stephen Covey encouraged us to develop the habit of ‘seeking first to understand, then to be understood’. Human nature is such that the desire to be understood tends to eclipse all else. What if we changed our thinking about this? What if, when we pray, we sought to understand God’s heart? What if we patiently listened to our wives and children? What if we took time to really hear the boss’ perspective? How about our Pastors, our friends or our customers? To be the kind of people who sincerely seek to understand others first would radically revolutionize all of our relationships.
Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, some time ago, wrote that it is always harder to maintain something than it is to obtain it. We are to acquire wisdom and to obtain understanding and then maintain both qualities by not being forgetful. Sadly, all of us seem to have an unusual tendency to forget important things. Any married man knows that there are certain dates that he better not forget, and likewise, any student knows that there are certain facts that he better not forget. That is why we live in a world of reminders; we have them on our phones to alert us of appointments; we have them on our stoves to tell us when the food is ready and we have them on our computers to tell us when updates are needed. We all tend to forget. We all need reminders. God, through His Word is giving us a reminder; do not forget.
Do not forsake wisdom, that is, do not relinquish your intense pursuit of it. Most men love the chase, but they don’t always love the work needed to maintain what they have gotten; just ask the wives. We are created to pursue; we are created to achieve and, we are created to accomplish but, we are also created to preserve and sustain the results. A wise person is concerned not only about obtaining greater levels of output and productivity, but also, about retaining the principles and maintaining the relationships that brought them to that level.
I once read the story of how a young man had an opportunity to meet and transport a guest speaker to a conference. The guest speaker was a very successful pastor, having built a large congregation over many years. Full of admiration, the younger man blurted out his assertion that the pastor’s success must have come about because he was a man of such great character and was so powerfully gifted. The wise older man calmly responded, ‘Son, if you are walking down a path and you come across the sight of a turtle on top of a fence post, you can immediately be sure of this one fact; that turtle did not get there by himself. Someone lifted him up and placed him on a higher level. I am that turtle and I have had a lot of help getting here’.
Now, that is wisdom and understanding worth pursuing. I wonder are there any other turtles out there that would agree?
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