No Wisdom without Knowing God . . . Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10

There are many who say that they have wisdom for us - that their counsel will help us.  There are even those who say that we can get wisdom from people who do not know the Lord and even from some who deny Him.  Now, we might be able to get a little "temporary insight" on how to live here and now from such people, but wisdom - never.  Let me explain from this passage why this is true.

Wisdom lasts.  There is a statement that we need to grab hold of in this life.  The "temporary insight" that some have will not last.  It may hold promise for tomorrow and even for a year from now - but true wisdom holds promise for eternity.  Here we read the familiar statement that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  If we do not fear God - if we do not hold Him in highest regard with respect and honor - we are fools!  We don't even start into the path of wisdom until we get this one down.  Here's why this is true. 

If we are supposedly wise - yet all our wisdom passes away the moment we die - is that wisdom?  If we are one of the truly insightful, yet we walk into judgment completely unprepared, I think it is not a stretch to say that insight of that kind is blindness.  We need to acknowledge God - and honor and glorify Him as God - and then we will begin on the path of wisdom.  Until we do this - we are blind, foolish, and stupid.

Whereas the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord - the continuance from wisdom to understanding is knowing God.  Solomon tells us that the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  We won't have a lick of understanding and discernment into this life and the next without knowing God.  Lacking that is lacking what is most precious.  If we don't know God - we won't be able to understand and discern what is right.  There are those who want to divorce wisdom from knowing God - saying that we can gain wisdom in a way that doesn't know God.  They point to the so-called wise men and gurus of this world and say that they have wisdom.  Whatever wisdom they have is only because they have stumbled across Biblical principles.  But if they were wise, they would turn from their false religions and run to the Lord.  Because they do not - not only do they themselves act with penultimate foolishness - but they lead others to do as well.  They themselves will end their lives in eternal agony as they burn in the lake of fire with the smoke of their torment going up forever and ever.  They will suffer more from the reality that they have also led countless others into the same fate with their foolish advice.  The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.  We would do well to remember that - and cling to the wisdom that leads us to fear and know God.  That and that alone is wisdom indeed.