Proverbs Chapter 1
The beginning to wisdom
Every week I study one chapter of proverbs. This is the beginning of what I’m learning. I hope it brings much wisdom to you as it does to me. A lot of this information is already known, but it’s always good to meditate on the things of God (Psalms 1:2).
Verses 1-6 The Introduction
The book of Proverbs was written by Solomon, the son of King David of Israel, to give wisdom and help us understand wise sayings and deep meanings. If you’re wise, you’ll be wiser. If you’re smart, you’re begin to understand and gain wisdom. Proverbs will help anyone who follows its instructions. Proverbs is for the young and old, and every social class. Proverbs ultimately helps us understand the rest of God’s word.
Wise or Smart
The Proverbs (CEV) uses both the words “wise” and “smart” because there are differences between the two. A definition of being wise is: full of applied knowledge and understanding, sound judgment and common sense. A definition of smart is: mentally quick and resourceful; intelligent. A smart person can remember and quickly recall things; they can learn faster, and they possess skills that come from mental discipline and practice. Being smart has to do more with your mental ability and capacity of the physical brain. Being wise has more to do with the knowledge of morality, justice and common sense, and the application of that knowledge in our daily life. Being wise has to do more with godliness (Proverbs 2:6).
Example: Tiger Woods is a smart golfer. It takes skill and intelligence to choose the correct club, to account for the changing wind variations, to calculate the distance from the hole, and to hit that ball with just the right amount of force to land it near its target. But he wasn’t wise when he committed adultery with all those women. During his apology to his family, friends and fans (which was the humblest I’ve seen of late), he said he’d be going back to his religious roots: Buddhism. Unfortunately, that is another unwise move. Only Jesus restores, only Jesus can change a man. Come to Jesus Christ, Tiger!
Defining Knowledge
Knowledge is simply data: information about someone or something. Some knowledge, by itself, isn’t good enough because if you don’t understand it, or have no way of applying it, it’s useless.
Defining Understanding
Understanding is knowing what the information means (in a correct and practical sense) but not necessarily doing anything about it. But understanding is not just the sum total of knowledge, but it also refers to physical senses. Understanding has to also do with our perception, awareness and discernment in the spiritual. With a good understanding (or good sense), we can detect people’s motive and intentions by how they act and what they say.
If a person is blind, they can’t understand what’s going on around them. If a foreigner doesn’t speak the language of the natives, then they can’t understand what those natives are saying. I know that this may be simple and a no-brainer to you, but I just want to be correct with my own understanding of these words and I thank God for his correction (as I mentioned in Proverbs chapter 4 – I originally had these definitions partly wrong).
Defining Wisdom
Wisdom and knowledge are the same thing. But wisdom is a different kind of knowledge. Wisdom is a knowledge that is true, moral and lasting. Knowledge alone is data that can be applied to life, but has no lasting moral effect.
Example: I know how to build websites, but knowing that it is best to abstain from fornication and whores is wisdom. The profession of web development hasn’t always been around, but whores and fornication have. To abstain from fornication is knowledge that is moral, true and lasting because it will keep me from unwanted children, drama, broken relationships, shame, hurt and possible death in hell.
Wisdom isn’t better than knowledge, it’s just a different kind of knowledge that serves the purpose of bringing about a long and prosperous life. Finally, wisdom is applying and practicing what you know and understand to achieve some desired effect. As learned in Proverbs 4, wisdom and understanding must go together, without understanding you don’t have full wisdom. Therefore knowledge is the beginning and application of it (wisdom) is the end product.
Example: Knowledge says, “Sin is wrong.” Knowledge later says, “Sin is destroying your life.” I mention knowledge twice because knowledge has a tendency to grow. The more you know, the closer you are to an understanding. Understanding says, “Sin is leading your soul to hell. You should stop sinning and you need God’s help to do so.” Wisdom says, “I will do as the bible instructs: I will confess and repent of my sins and obey God through the power of his Spirit.”
The fool says, “I’m eternally secure. I can practice sin and the damnable consequences won’t apply to me because I’m a ‘Christian’.”
4 From these, an ordinary person can learn to be smart, and young people can gain knowledge and good sense. 5 If you are already wise, you will become even wiser. And if you are smart, you will learn to understand (verses 4-5 CEV).
In verse 4-5, Proverbs doesn’t continue to say, “If you’re a fool you will become smart, or wise.” This is because fools reject knowledge. They wouldn’t even be studying Proverbs or the Bible to begin with. So if you are, or have studied Proverbs, count yourself among those on the right track, for all those who study Proverbs and apply what they read will gain much wisdom. But what kind of wisdom? Godly wisdom. The wisdom that will lead to an abundant life and the salvation of our souls.
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Great study Neal. Bless you for sharing it with us. I never really distinguished knowledge from wisdom until you showed it clearly in this post.
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First of all, this is a great article. I’m looking for material to share with my fellowship and I found your writing. Thank you so much for writing, and keep on writing more! God bless you.
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Good stuff
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