Let the wise man hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire guidance, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.     Proverbs 1:5-7 LSB

Proverbs gives us many nuggets of wisdom. Throughout the book of Proverbs, it mentions the advantage of having wisdom. Here in the beginning, it speaks of why we need wisdom and then in verse 7, we are told how to get wisdom. The first thing we need to do in order to obtain wisdom is fear the Lord.

Before we go any further, let me explain something. Knowledge and wisdom are two very different things. We obtain knowledge through our studies and learning. We obtain wisdom from God. You can be brilliant in the studies of quantum physics, but you will not be wise unless you obtain wisdom from God.

We all know someone who is filled with a massive amount of useless information, but who seriously lacks wisdom. Many people have a great deal of knowledge or book sense but lack common sense.

What’s really scary to me is that many people spend a great deal more of their time trying to amass more useless information than studying God’s word. If we knew as much about God’s word as we knew about what was going on in the world, we would be extremely wise.

Gathering information about what is going on in the world today is not a bad thing, but I can assure you studying God’s word will benefit you in the end where knowing what is going on in the world will not. The world is passing away. God’s word is eternal.

I can recall a time when the Bible didn’t make sense to me. I would read it and not understand what I had read. Looking back, I now realize I couldn’t begin to be wise because I did not fear the Lord. I didn’t realize that He was a God of wrath, and He would not tolerate my sinful behavior. I didn’t fear Him in a way that gave me the reverential awe I have of Him now. I thought He loved me and would never do anything to cause me harm. I was wrong. We serve a God who is slow to anger, but He will eventually have enough of our disobedience (Romans 1:18-24).

Do a little self-assessment. How much do you know about what is going on in the world? How much time to do you spend on social media looking into the lives of others? If only their lives were as wonderful as they proclaim them to be on Facebook, right?

Now, ask yourself this question, how much time per day do I spend on social media or watching the news or any type of reality programming? Then I want you to ask yourself how much time per day you spend on studying your Bible?

If you are intimidated by Bible study because you feel it hard to grasp what the Bible is saying, I feel you. I’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt. I want you to know, however, that when you begin to truly fear the Lord you will be given the wisdom to understand what you are reading.

The other thing I want you to know is you need to choose the right Bible. Choose a Bible that you can actually understand. Some good versions are the English Standard Version (ESV) and the Christian Standard Version (CSV). Also be sure to get a good study Bible. This is a Bible that has a commentary to explain the verses in greater detail and help you to have a better understanding of what you are reading.

My friend there is going to come a day when we will either be welcomed into heaven or thrown into the lake of fire. I can assure you God is not going to test your knowledge of trivia and social media. He wants to know that you have honored Him, obeyed Him and brought glory and honor to Him. The best way to know how to do this is to study your Bible.

Wisdom begins by fearing the Lord. Do you have a bunch of knowledge, or do you have true God-given wisdom? Knowledge will never be a substitute for wisdom.

Have a great day!