Wisdom seems to be lacking in today’s society, even among Christians. But today’s Bible Journaling verse explains why we need to gain wisdom. “Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.” (Proverbs 19:8 ESV) The King James Version says, “He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good.”
After looking at several commentaries, this is what I found. The Enduring Word website says, “The possession and pursuit of wisdom is so good and helpful to us that we can and should get wisdom simply out of self-interest. In so doing we love our own soul, our own life.” In his commentary, Rev. Joseph Benson says, “He that getteth wisdom — That takes pains, and labours to get knowledge, grace, and acquaintance with God; loveth his own soul — Or, loveth himself, because he procures great and lasting, yea, everlasting good to himself, as sinners, on the contrary, are said to hate their souls, chap. 29:24, because they bring evil upon them; he that keepeth understanding — That observes, and carefully practises its precepts; shall find good — Shall have great benefit by it, both for his conduct in this life, and for his happiness in the next.” Each of these commentaries highlights that wisdom is a good thing for us to pursue and that when we seek wisdom it shows that we have self-love to our betterment.
The Pulpit Commentary states, “in the Hebrew, the word ‘leb’ shows that wisdom means heart, and that getting wisdom is not just a matter ‘of intellect only, but of will and affections.’” So, from what I understand, getting wisdom or seeking wisdom is good for us and results in loving ourselves. When I was growing up, my Dad was so adamant about Romans 12:3 which says, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,” (NIV) that he would hardly ever say anything about any of his accomplishments, and he had many. He would do a lot of negative self-talk. That idea was pounded into my head repeatedly to the point where, whenever I do something dumb, I do a lot of negative self-talk. My husband has been trying to help me see that my Dad’s interpretation of that Scripture was not correct. Daddy seemed to forget the rest of that verse where it says, “but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” (NIV) It seems to me that if we are to have sober judgment, we need wisdom, and that wisdom comes from God.
James tells us we are to ask God for wisdom. “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5 CSB) If seeking wisdom would cause us to think “more highly” of ourselves than we should, why would James tell us to seek it out and ask for it? We seek wisdom from God because we love our souls, we love who God has made us to be. Our Scripture today says we also receive understanding, and when we do, we will discover good, and that good comes from observing and following Biblical precepts, which benefits us Spiritually as well as physically. It helps us learn how to live our lives in this world.
This is a lesson that I’ve tried to learn, especially since my husband has been helping me understand that “God don’t make junk!” So, one result of wisdom might be that gaining wisdom from God not only is good for us Spiritually but also in the natural. With Godly wisdom we learn more of who God made us to be, we learn more of who God is, and we learn how to navigate this world in a society that hates God. We also learn how to love and see ourselves the way God sees us.
donnasmusings 