11 Blessed is the One Who Finds Wisdom (Proverbs 3:13-18)
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Recently I was going back through a book that I’ve read, flipping through the pages for no honest reason and as I was re-reading I came across a note I had written down at the top of one of the pages and the note said:
‘We tend to daydream about what we desire most…’
Followed by the question:
‘What do you daydream about most?’
I love that and I think it is true (which is probably why I wrote it down).
‘We tend to daydream about what we desire most’…so what do you daydream about most? What is that thing that you find your mind drifting to in the middle of the day, what is it that you wake up & go to sleep thinking about?Is it money? Is it a spouse? Is it a job? Is it status, reputation? Is it success? That’s a big one. How about relationships? That’s a big one too.
What do you daydream about most?
You see it’s in our pattern of thought that our greatest desires are revealed.
It’s in our daydreams, in our thoughts, where we can find out what we treasure most.
As we will see today, Solomon shows us what we should treasure & desire above all things. He shows us what we should wake up and go to bed thinking about. He shows us what we should find our minds drifting to in the middle of the day…He shows us what we should daydream about most.
Let’s talk, once again, on the value of wisdom.
‘Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed’ (Proverbs 3:13-18).
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Today we are moving on to the next subsection called ‘Blessed is the one who finds Wisdom’, which covers the remaining verses of the chapter, verses 13-35.
This section, though it is somewhat lengthy given the 22 verses, can be simplified and broken down into four parts. And actually if you have your Bible’s on you you’ll be able to see that. The subsection itself contains four distinct breaks in it, producing what Bruce Waltke calls ‘4 individual poems’, which collectively serve to further the purpose of chapter 2 that wisdom is valuable and that those who pursue and possess her are in fact blessed.
And that is the theme of the verses we are studying today.
Today’s verses can be characterized as a beatitude, beginning in verse 13 and ending in verse 18 with the word ‘Blessed’.
Now some translations say ‘happy’ instead of ‘blessed’, but either way the sentiment and theme of this passage is the same:
Possessing Wisdom both begins and ends with blessing & happiness.
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Verse 13 says,
‘Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding…’
The Hebrew word used for ‘find’ there in that verse is māsā' (maht-sah), which implies an intentional search with an expectation of finding.
I think that’s important to note because there is another hebrew word qara (kaw-rah), which also translates to find, however it implies a stumbling upon type of find, an unintentional ‘O there you are’ type of find. So Solomon’s choice to use māsā' (maht-sah) in this verse instead of qara (kaw-rah) furthers this truth that wisdom is something to be pursued and something to be pursued intentionally, with an expectation of possessing it, not something that one falls into unexpectedly.
Again if you remember back to chapter one wisdom is calling out to us in the streets; wisdom is not hiding. So Solomon is not saying ‘Blessed is the one who finds wisdom’ because wisdom is hard to find and it's some sort of impressive achievement, like you won a game of hide and seek. No, he’s saying ‘Blessed is the one who finds wisdom’ because wisdom is worth so so SO much, more than words can say, though Solomon tries to here in the next few verses.
Verse 14 Solomon continues,
‘For the gain from her (wisdom) is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold’.
Solomon builds on verse 13, explaining why those with wisdom are blessed, by first comparing wisdom to material wealth.
He says wisdom’s gain is better than that of silver & gold.
Why? Because, and I’m paraphrasing and adding to Bruce Waltke’s commentary here, because:
Money can put food on the table, but not fellowship around it. Because money can buy you a house, but it cannot produce a home. Money can give a woman jewelry but it cannot buy her real love. Money can do a lot of visible things, but it cannot affect the invisible heart.
By contrast, however, wisdom gives both physical and spiritual benefits… he food and the fellowship, the house and the home, etc, etc, hence why it is better.
And if that wasn’t enough to showcase wisdom’s value, Solomon continues in verse 15, saying that
‘15 Wisdom is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her’.
This has to be one of my favorite verses in all of Proverbs, because it moves me to prayer. It really does.
You mean to tell me that nothing, absolutely NOTHING I desire can compare with wisdom?
That is wild to think about because I can desire up some pretty stinking good things. I could desire to be the wealthiest man on the planet, I could desire to be the healthiest and most fit man on the planet, I could desire to be the most athletic man on the planet and dunk on Lebron James. I could desire to be the President of the US & bring about such great change in our country and in the world and yet none of that, none of those desires, nothing, can compare with the desire for wisdom. And that’s also not to say those desires aren’t good desires, but Solomon says nothing, absolutely nothing can compare with wisdom.
This goes back to the intro of this podcast talking about what we desire and treasure most.
Wisdom is to be desired above all things, sought more than all things, and valued above all things.
Why? Because wisdom is ‘THAT GUY’ so to speak and that guy is the person of Jesus Christ.
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There’s an old proverb that says ‘If you lack wisdom, what have you acquired? And if you’ve acquired wisdom, what do you lack?’
That’s so good.
‘If you lack wisdom, what have you acquired? And if you’ve acquired wisdom, what do you lack?’
Nothing you desire can compare with wisdom. Nothing you desire can compare with Jesus Christ. Amen to that. Nothing you desire can compare with wisdom, for
‘16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace’.
I really love the imagery provided in verse 16 of the hands. It provides emphasis on what matters most.
You see in Scripture the right hand is a symbol of greater worth and greater blessing. In the days of the Bible many blessed and sought blessing from the right hand. It was customary and symbolic.
You see it with Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s sons in Genesis 48, where Joseph sought his father's right hand blessing on his oldest child, because it symbolized greater blessing. Now Jacob blessed both of Joseph’s sons using his right hand for one and his left for the other, and both sons indeed were blessed, but the one under Jacob’s right hand, the younger one, received greater blessing.
So by saying that long life is in wisdom’s right hand and that riches and honor are in her left hand, Solomon is making the distinction that long life is of greater worth than wealth and honor.
And that is so crucial to understand. That life, life in abundance, life in full, long life, is of greater worth than wealth and honor.
I like Bruce Waltke’s commentary on this. He says ‘Wealth is a desirable state and the reward of wisdom (see 3:9-10), but it is not the aim of one's life. Solomon serves as a model: he asked for a "listening heart", not for long life and riches. Therefore, the LORD rewarded him with these benefits as well (1 Kings 3:9).’
Riches and honor are a byproduct of wisdom. They are glorious side-effects for sure, but they certainly are not the main focus. Long life, life in full, life in abundance, that is.
So what does that mean for us?
It means if our main goal in pursuing wisdom is for wealth and honor, if it's for tangible gain, if that’s what we’re in it for, then we’re goats, we’re not sheep.
It’s foolish of us to want the supply apart from the supplier. It’s just foolish.
We ought seek wisdom for wisdom, and not just for her benefits. And that’s also because verse17 says,
‘Wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace’.
Not that may be easier said than truly lived out in trust, especially when things don’t seem pleasant or peaceful, but all of wisdom’s ways are pleasant, and all of her paths are peace. And they are pleasant, they are peaceful, because they lead us down the best possible path for our life.
Now best doesn't mean easy. Best doesn’t mean free of suffering. That may be what modern culture says, since our culture has strongly associated best with comfort, but the Bible doesn’t say that. The Bible says the gate is small and the way is narrow. But it also says it's the best. Proverbs 12:28 says ‘the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death’. You see few enter the narrow gate, few pursue and possess wisdom, but those who do live in the way of pleasantness, they walk the paths of peace, their paths are paths of life and in them there is no death.
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Now verse 18 concludes this first poem and our passage today saying wisdom,
‘is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.’
I love how this poem ends the same way it starts…’those who find and those who hold fast to wisdom are BLESSED’. B L E S S E D. Blessed. Their appetites are forever satisfied because they eat from the tree of life. They live life in abundance. They never are in lack…
Now all of this in many ways seems too good to be true. Like to think that the Bible says wisdom is better than material wealth, and that nothing I desire can compare with her, that with wisdom comes long life, wealth and honor, peace and pleasantness…that is just CRAZY.
And all of that drives me to prayer. Wisdom is worth praying for, because wisdom is truly THAT valuable. Remember, there’s a reason Solomon asked for wisdom above all things.
And let’s not forget Who wisdom truly is.
I love you all. God bless.
