To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the Lord. Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn.
Proverbs 1:7
Proverbs begins with a brief introduction that lays out the purpose of the book, which is an anthology of wisdom and sayings of the wise. The opening chapters are the wisdom of King Solomon. Verse seven is the first actual proverb and there is a good reason the anthology starts off with this one.
Lesson one, if you get nothing else out of this book, if you retain no other lesson, is the most important. All knowledge comes from God. In order to obtain true knowledge and wisdom, you must have reverence and respect for the Creator of all knowledge. If you do not, whatever “knowledge” you obtain is tantamount to foolishness. This first lesson reveals to us two prerequisites for obtaining wisdom.
THE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE
Solomon may have been the smartest man who ever existed, but his knowledge is limited and not infinite. In fact, all of the knowledge obtained by human beings prior to Solomon and all knowledge obtained after Solomon is limited. All of the knowledge and information catalogued across the entirety of the Internet, which to our minds seems infinite, is in fact limited.
God has infinite knowledge. God is the Creator of all things and the author of all wisdom. It is the mind of God that is supreme, so if you’re going to be wise, you must revere God. Some translations use the word “fear” but this isn’t the kind of fear you think of when you think of a parent or boss who uses fear as a method of control. This “fear” really is more of standing in awe of something.
In the first book of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Lucy asks her new friends, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver if the mighty Lion Aslan is safe. The response goes like this: “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
The King of the Universe, by nature is not safe, and upon encountering him, even the strongest skeptic stands in awe. This is reverence and respect. This is the first lesson above all lessons about knowledge. When you realize there is One who is greater than yourself, greater than humankind, and you stand in awe of that being, then your path to true knowledge begins.
The first prerequisite for wisdom is reverence for One who is wiser than us.
THE DESIRE TO LEARN
The second prerequisite for wisdom is a desire to learn. A fool is someone who doesn’t desire knowledge and who has no respect for knowledge.
If you’re reading this, you probably have a desire to learn. You are, after-all, several paragraphs into a post about knowledge on a website about being smart and obtaining wisdom. You’re probably scratching your head at the very concept of someone who doesn’t want to learn and doesn’t respect knowledge. Who are these people?
Assuming you are standing in the center of the political spectrum, you will see to your right those who scoff at education and science. To your left, you will see those who scoff at the idea of God or any supreme being and who scoff at the value of any sort of tradition. Basically, anyone who closes off their mind to any idea, concept, or brand of learning that goes against their preconceived notions or background is the modern equivalent of the people who have no desire to learn in this proverb.
So, those are the prerequisites for true knowledge and if you meet those requirements, you will get something out of this study of proverbs. If you don’t have any reverence or respect for God or at least the idea of a supreme being, this study isn’t for you. If you just, for whatever reason, don’t wish to learn or think you already know everything there is to know, this certainly isn’t for you. I would assume if you are in either of those camps, you stopped reading long before now.
If you have some reverence for God or a supreme being, and think you’d like to learn more about this wisdom and knowledge talked about in Proverbs, this website is one you’ll want to bookmark and come back to. I look forward to sharing more with you in the future.