Choosing God Is Choosing Wisdom

https://odb.org/MY/2021/09/11/from-wisdom-to-joy

Ask any active older folks (like those around 80 or so) about life and there will likely be pearls of wisdom like pace yourself (as in today’s ODB) or enjoy nature or don’t hold grudges or smile, to name a few examples. Usually people who are older are wiser as they have eaten more salt than us, a colloquial and Chinese way of saying that they have gone through more in life than us.

Proverbs 3:13-14 teaches that blessed are those who find wisdom, who gain understanding as she is more profitable than silver and yields better return than gold. That’s very true as wisdom is the best investment of all. However, Proverbs 9:10 advises that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, as much we know from the life story of Solomon choosing wisdom over riches is the right choice, wisdom in the context of Proverbs is actually the fear of the Lord. What the fear of the Lord does is to draw us closer to God – in the Old Testament, the fear of the Lord is another way of saying to love God and His laws and percepts. In the end, true wisdom in the “Proverbs sense” is to know and love God; to fear Him, to put Him first in all things. Jesus taught this in another way, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). In other words, put God first and you will have tangible things like wealth and riches, and intangibles like love, peace and joy.

If we are asked to choose today between wisdom and riches like God did with Solomon; what would we choose? Surely we will choose wisdom, right? This is because we can have wealth if we have wisdom. But it is actually Matthew 6:33 that Jesus taught – because wisdom is God (wisdom in Proverbs is the fear of the Lord). Thus, if we choose wisdom, that is we choose God always in all the things that we do (seek ye first the Kingdom of God), all these things (including wealth and riches) shall be added unto us.

In conclusion, the”wisest” thing anyone can do as a human, a mortal with an immortal soul/spirit that lives on forever, is to choose God and as we choose God and continually choose God throughout our life (every step of the way until we grow old and depart this earthen vessel) – we will find the joy and all the goodness of God, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!