The Beginning of Wisdom

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”

~Miles Kington (1941-2008), British journalist, musician, and broadcaster

“The wise person doesn’t give the right answers, but poses the right questions.”

~Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009), French anthropologist

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

~Socrates (c. 470-399 BC), famed Athenian philosopher

“The endless cycle of idea and action,

Endless invention, endless experiment,

Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;

Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;

Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,

All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,

But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.

Where is the Life we have lost in living?

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries

Bring us farther from GOD and nearer to the Dust.”

~T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), The Rock (1934)

“If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom.”

~African Proverb

“A humble knowledge of myself is a surer way to God than a search after learning."

~Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380-1471), German-Dutch priest

“There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (‘Man’s search for God’!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), literary scholar

SERMON PASSAGE

Proverbs 1:1-33 (ESV)

Proverbs 1

1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David,

 king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction,

   to understand words of insight,

3 to receive instruction in wise dealing,

   in righteousness, justice, and equity;

4 to give prudence to the simple,

   knowledge and discretion to the youth—

5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,

   and the one who understands obtain guidance,

6 to understand a proverb and a saying,

   the words of the wise and their riddles.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

   fools despise wisdom and instruction.

8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,

   and forsake not your mother’s teaching,

9 for they are a graceful garland for your head

   and pendants for your neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice you,

   do not consent.

11 If they say, “Come with us, 

   let us lie in wait for blood;

   let us ambush the innocent without reason;

12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive,

   and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

13 we shall find all precious goods,

   we shall fill our houses with plunder;

14 throw in your lot among us;

   we will all have one purse”—

15 my son, do not walk in the way with them;

   hold back your foot from their paths,

16 for their feet run to evil,

   and they make haste to shed blood.

17 For in vain is a net spread

   in the sight of any bird,

18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood;

   They set an ambush for their own lives.

19 Such are the ways of everyone

   who is greedy for unjust gain;

   it takes away the life of its possessors.

20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,

   in the markets she raises her voice;

21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;

   at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

22 “How long, O simple ones,

   will you love being simple?

   How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing

   and fools hate knowledge?

23 If you turn at my reproof,

   behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;

   I will make my words known to you.

24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,

   have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,

25 because you have ignored all my counsel

   and would have none of my reproof,

26 I also will laugh at your calamity;

   I will mock when terror strikes you,

27 when terror strikes you like a storm

   and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

   when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;

   they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

29 Because they hated knowledge

   and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

30 would have none of my counsel

   and despised all my reproof,

31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,

   and have their fill of their own devices.

32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,

   and the complacency of fools destroys them;

33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure

   and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Proverbs 9

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

   and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.