July 13 - Wisdom and Hope

July 13 – Wisdom and Hope

“Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” (Proverbs 24:14)

Wisdom is more than knowledge.  James Bryce says, “wisdom grows out of the temper and heart of a man as well as out of his intellect.” 

Solomon sought wisdom and because he did so rather than wealth or power, God granted him immeasurable amounts.  I think that it was also an incredible request because he was still in his youth.  When I was young I didn’t understand the difference between knowledge and wisdom.  I wanted to understand things like my parents did and make decisions based on the information that I had.

What I didn’t realize was that they were also basing their decisions on experience and understanding of the world – they used everything they knew to make good decisions … they used wisdom.

It has taken me a lot of years to begin to grasp the vast difference between the two.  I look for wisdom as often as I look for knowledge.  I want to understand what is at the heart of a situation rather than just understand the situation.

This is where we find hope.  With wisdom we begin to look for understanding in the heart of God.  It is greater than just knowledge of God and His creation.  When we get to that point, we find that our hope is based in a foundation that wrought the earth and the heavens … humanity and all that is around us.