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A Father\u2019s Letter from the Wisest Man Who Ever Lived<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n The smoke of a thousand burnt offerings still hung over the bronze altar at Gibeon when night fell. In the darkness, the Lord came to the young king.<\/p>\n In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, \u201cAsk what I shall give you.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n \u2014 2 Chronicles 1:7<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Creator of heaven and earth offered Solomon a blank check. He could have asked for long life, for victory over his enemies, for gold enough to pave Jerusalem. Instead, he prayed, \u201cGive me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?\u201d (2 Chronicles 1:10). God was so pleased that He added riches, possessions, and honor besides.<\/p>\n Now move forward forty years. The same king picks up his pen and writes, \u201cVanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:2). What happened between Gibeon and that sigh of despair? Scripture answers plainly: \u201cFor when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God\u201d (1 Kings 11:4).<\/p>\n Here lies the sobering paradox behind the book of Proverbs. The wisest man who ever lived did not always live wisely. Proverbs is not an ivory-tower lecture; it is a father\u2019s urgent letter, written so his children would not repeat his mistakes: \u201cHear, my son, your father\u2019s instruction, and forsake not your mother\u2019s teaching\u201d (Proverbs 1:8).<\/p>\n \u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n Solomon uses four words that English readers often blur together: learning, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.<\/p>\n Learning <\/b><\/span>is taking in information for the moment\u2014like glancing at directions to a stranger\u2019s house. You use them once, and they are gone.<\/p>\n Knowledge <\/b><\/span>is information you keep. You never need directions to your own home; the road is etched into memory.<\/p>\n Wisdom <\/b><\/span>is knowing what to do with what you know\u2014recognizing when the familiar road is flooded and choosing another route. It is the God-given capacity to act rightly. Yet it is a capacity, not a guarantee. Solomon owned it and still ignored it. Its opposite, folly, is not ignorance but rebellion\u2014knowing the right road and choosing the wrong one anyway.<\/p>\n Understanding <\/b><\/span>is the summit: truth so thoroughly learned, kept, and lived that you are now responsible to hand it on\u2014like teaching your grandson to drive that road home. Proverbs is Solomon\u2019s understanding, bequeathed to his sons and, through them, to us. Sometimes our deepest understanding is born from our failures; the scar teaches what the sermon could not.<\/p>\n \u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n All four steps rest on one foundation:<\/p>\n The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.<\/i><\/p>\n \u2014 Proverbs 1:7<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Reverent awe of God is not wisdom\u2019s graduation; it is the first day of class.<\/p>\n And wisdom is not playing hide-and-seek. Solomon pictures her as a woman calling out in public: \u201cWisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out\u201d (Proverbs 1:20\u201321). The problem has never been that wisdom is silent. The problem is that we are too busy, too distracted, or too proud to stop and listen.<\/p>\n \u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n Yet Proverbs points beyond its author. Jesus declared, \u201cThe queen of the South . . . came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here\u201d (Matthew 12:42). Christ is the wisdom Solomon possessed but could not perfectly practice. In Him \u201care hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge\u201d (Colossians 2:3). And He gives it freely:<\/p>\n If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.<\/i><\/p>\n \u2014 James 1:5<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n Proverbs has thirty-one chapters\u2014one for every day of the longest month. Read the chapter that matches today\u2019s date. Underline one verse and carry it with you. The blessed man is the one whose \u201cdelight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night\u201d (Psalm 1:2).<\/p>\n But do not stop at reading. Solomon\u2019s tragedy warns us that knowing is not the same as obeying: \u201cBe doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves\u201d (James 1:22).<\/p>\n Wisdom is calling in the street today. When in doubt, open the Book\u2014and then walk the road it shows you.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n Scripture quotations are from the ESV\u00ae Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version\u00ae), copyright \u00a9 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Father\u2019s Letter from the Wisest Man Who Ever Lived \u2767 \u2726 \u2767 The smoke of a thousand burnt offerings still hung over the bronze altar at Gibeon when night fell. In the darkness, the Lord came to the young king. In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, \u201cAsk what I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,199,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-devotional","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9157"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9159,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9157\/revisions\/9159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Four Steps from Information to Inheritance<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
Wisdom Is Shouting, Not Hiding<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
Someone Greater Than Solomon<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
A Chapter a Day<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n