Proverbs 1:1-2:15 - The Way of Wisdom

Introduction

Joe Rigney (a professor of theology at New Saint Andrews College) published a book several months ago on leadership. But a lot of his principles and insights are applicable for Christians more generally.

In the introduction of his book (Leadership and Emotional Sabotage), he writes, “we live in an age of angst and agitation, marked by fierce anxiety storms that shoot through [the whole of] society… Our world demands that [entire] communities adapt to their most reactive, unstable, and immature members… [The result is that] hardly anyone takes responsibility for themselves, their emotions, their actions, and their situation.”

I think he hits the nail on the head. Almost everyone seems only to react to the wildest and most tender-hearted people when they pipe up about the latest fear or offense… and this means that almost no one is actually moving in any logical and intentional and consistent direction.

We feel forced to act as ping-pong balls, just waiting for the next smack of the paddle that will send us in a new direction… or worse, we are acting as the paddles, smacking others with our emotional and reactive outbursts, rather than thinking and speaking and acting as intentional Christians… living ordered and consistent lives, regardless of our circumstances.

Rigney also diagnoses the popular (but foolish) attempts at solutions. He writes, “We live in a culture constantly looking for a quick fix, a silver bullet, a magic spell that will solve all our problems.” Many of us here are probably inclined to believe that our lives are meant to be lived without problems, and we can know that because when problems arise, we are likely to think of ways to avoid them or to eliminate them – rather than to address them and learn from them.

But is this the way God intends us to live?

Does God want us to avoid all problems?

Does God want us to live reactionary lives?

Does God want us to be driven by our emotions or passions?

Or…

Does God want us to learn and grow and mature when we face hardships?

Does God want us to live intentionally and consistently, resisting the urge to simply react?

Does God want us to be driven and ordered according to biblical commands and principles, and not by our passions?

In 1869 (at 35 years old), Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon titled “A Well-Ordered Life.” He said a lot of good stuff that day, but here are some of the highlights:

“A holy life is no work of chance, it is a masterpiece of order.”

“Every step a man takes in life, remember, is a step towards heaven or hell. We serve God or the devil in all that we do. No action… is unimportant. The pilgrim either gains or loses by each step he takes.”

“the believer should [aim] that his steps may be ordered in conformity to the relations which he bears to all things… toward God… [toward] the Christian church… our fellow pilgrims… [and] we must not forget our relationships to our families.”

And, of course, all of this order is according to God’s word.

Spurgeon said, “The true follower of Jesus [does] not ask to have his steps ordered according to the rule of pleasure [or passion, or emotion], as those do who always choose the grassiest road, whether it leads down to hell or up to heaven; this is childish folly. The good man is anxious [not for his circumstances, but] to be conformed to God’s word, let the road be rough or smooth.”

I’m not preaching Spurgeon’s sermon today, but I am going to try to point out and describe some central principles that the Bible gives for a well-ordered life.

We want to be the sort of people that have “clarity about [our] own life goals.”

We want to be men and women who are “less likely to become lost in the anxious emotional process swirling about [us].”

We want to take responsibility for our own lives and values and actions,

(1) so that we can rest in Christ when trouble surrounds us,

(2) so that we can trust God’s word and providence when anxiety threatens us,

and (3) so that we can enjoy the benefits of wise and maturing believers regardless of our circumstances.

Today we are going to read and consider a passage from the beginning of the book of Proverbs. This book of the Bible is all about offering the reader two ways to live – (1) the way or path or life of foolishness (which leads to sorrow, pain, anxiety, condemnation, and death) or (2) the way or path or life of wisdom (which leads to joy, blessing, peace, success, and life).

Now, it would be easy to mistake what I’m saying here for what is commonly called the “prosperity gospel.” Some preachers and teachers will tell you that the way to have worldly success (money, power, fame, etc.) is to follow biblical instructions that will inevitably pay off. This is not what I’m talking about!

Rather, I’m arguing for the kind of ordered Christian life that will lead to godly success, godly growth, godly maturity. Knowing and keeping God’s good rules for life may indeed produce some success in this world, but the sort of success we are after is holiness, Christlikeness, spiritual maturity, and (ultimately) rightly ordered worship of the God who made us to glorify and to enjoy Him.

Let’s consider the way of wisdom, and let’s aim to order ourselves accordingly today.

Scripture Reading

Proverbs 1:1–2:15 (ESV)

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.”

1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, 12 delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, 13 who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, 14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, 15 men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.

Main Idea:

God intends for Christians to live as wise men and women, instructed by those with wisdom, attentive to seeking and finding it, and applying it to all of life.

Sermon

1. Wise, Not Foolish

God wants us to be “wise” and not foolish. We have a whole book of the Bible devoted to wise thinking and wise living. God extols the great benefits of seeking and finding wisdom, and He warns us of the grave dangers of neglecting or forsaking wisdom.

The book of Proverbs offers the reader two ways to live, two kinds of women who call out for attention, and two paths that lead in opposite directions.

The author was King Solomon, and his aim was to give his son a basic philosophy of life that would lead toward true and lasting success – toward virtuous manhood.

This is a book about wisdom, written by a man who was given supernatural wisdom from the Lord… but more than that, this is the book of the Bible (which is ultimately authored by God Himself)… this is the book of the Bible that God has given entirely for defining, expressing, and commending wisdom.

We see the purpose of the book right there at the very beginning. This was written so that the reader would “know wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:2), so that he would “understand words of insight” (v2), so that he would “receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity” (v3).

The author wants to “give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth” (v4). He wants “the wise” to “hear and increase in learning” (v5), to “obtain guidance” (v5), and to “understand… the words of the wise” (v6).

In short, the author wants his reader to be wise and not a fool – “fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7), but the wise person “fears… the LORD” and embarks on a completely different path or way of life (v7).

Friends, it seems like it should go without saying, but we need to hear it (again and again, we need to hear it). God wants us to be wise and not foolish.

God warns us about fools… Don’t be a fool!

Fools “hate knowledge,” and so they are “simple” or ignorant (Prov. 1:22).

They “get disgrace” (Prov. 3:35).

Fools “come to ruin” (Prov. 10:8).

They think “evil is a joke” (Prov. 10:23), and so they “die for lack of sense” (Prov. 10:21).

But God praises the wise… Be wise!

The wise “hear instruction” and they are “blessed” for it (Prov. 8:33).

The wise “will inherit honor” (Prov. 3:35).

The wise conquer their enemies (Prov. 21:22), they store up “precious treasure” (Prov. 21:20), and they awaken “gladness” in the hearts of those who love them (Prov. 10:1).

The wise “turns away from evil” (Prov. 14:16), and so they “[avoid] the snares of death” (Prov. 13:14).

Brothers and sisters, God intends for Christians to live as wise men and women, not foolish ones. The whole point of the book of Proverbs is to urge those who know and love God’s word to choose the wise path… but every path has a starting point… and this one is the “fear of the LORD” (Prov. 1:7).

2. Fear the LORD

Right after the author of Proverbs explains the purpose of this book, he then tells the reader where to begin.

Maybe you’ve been to the Longview mall or some theme park before, and you’ve felt a bit lost. You know where you want to be, and you can even find it on the map… but in order to know how to get there, you first need to know where you are right now – “YOU ARE HERE.”

That’s what we all need for wisdom as well. We need to know where we are and how to begin, or we will never make any progress toward our final destination.

The author of Proverbs says that the “beginning” of “wisdom” or “knowledge” is the “fear of the LORD” (Prov. 1:7). And to “fear” God means:

to revere God’s name and word and authority above all others,

or to honor God’s perspective, God’s instructions, and God’s position above all others.

This phrase “the fear of the LORD” and the exhortation to have it or imbibe it or to embrace it is shot through the entire book of Proverbs. It is not only the “beginning” of wisdom, but also the heart and substance and culmination of it.

To “understand the fear of the LORD” (Prov. 2:5) is to “find the knowledge of God.”

To “fear the LORD” (Prov. 3:7) is to embrace humility and to “turn away from evil.”

The “fear of the LORD” (Prov. 8:13) is “hatred of evil,” the “hatred” of “pride… and perverted speech,” and the “hatred” of “the way of evil.”

The “fear of the LORD” (Prov. 9:10) is tantamount to the “knowledge of the Holy One,” which means that to “fear” God is to “know” Him… that is, to know Him rightly.

Friends, this is the purpose for which we were made. God created man to know Him or to be in right relationship with Him. As the old catechisms put it, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” – or to know God rightly.

This knowing and fearing and glorifying and enjoying God does not come naturally to us, however. We are fools by nature. Since Adam foolishly despised true wisdom and knowledge in the garden, and sought a false and deceptive knowledge through his own prideful strategy, every person born since then has carried on the fool’s legacy… We naturally hate God’s wisdom, and we love our foolishness.

This is why our journey toward walking the wise path must begin with a radical change. We must be confronted in our sin, we must come to terms with our guilt and our inability, and we must fear or revere or value God above all others… trusting that He will righteously judge all sinners… and also trusting that He will graciously love and save and bless us through and because of Jesus Christ.

In other words, we must be converted; we must be born again; we must be transformed from scoffers to believers. God alone can bring sinners from spiritual death to spiritual life – and when He does, He sets us to walking on the wise path.

Let’s now consider 3 features or aspects or characteristics of the wise path, the way of wisdom, or the well-ordered life (from Proverbs 1 and 2): (1) the need for and interest in wise instruction, (2) the necessary attention given to seeking and finding wisdom, and (3) the diligent and consistent application of wisdom to all of life.

3. Wise Instruction

As I’ve already said earlier, wisdom is not natural to us. As sons and daughters of Adam (fallen and sinful), we are not only lacking but also hostile toward true wisdom from the beginning of our lives. But even when God changes our hearts, such that we truly want to love and honor Him (i.e., when we really do have “the fear of the LORD” operating in our lives)… even still, wisdom does not come from within.

Wisdom is something we have to receive from the outside – we must be taught; we must be instructed; we must acquire wisdom from those who have already learned it and applied it well.

That’s why the very next verse (after v7, which tells us where to begin)… the next verse (v8) is an exhortation to “hear” the “instruction” of wisdom and to not “forsake” the “teaching” of wisdom that comes from others – especially from “father” and “mother” (Prov. 1:8).

In His kindness and wisdom, God has given fathers and mothers the role of commanding, of instructing, and of disciplining their children; and God has given children the role of obeying, of honoring (or respecting), and of submitting to their father and mother.

God is not to blame for foolish or negligent parents, nor is it His fault when a child is particularly rebellious or defiant. We will all have to give an account for how we live according to our specific roles and responsibilities.

Boys and girls, it is sin when you disobey or disrespect your mom or dad. God hates it, and He is serious about it.

When you sin like this, you should confess that sin to God, and you should ask Him to help you trust in Jesus to forgive your sin… and you should also ask God to help you obey His good rules… including obeying and respecting your parents.

And moms and dads, it is sin when we neglect our responsibilities too.

When we fail to command our kids (when we treat them as our equals, rather than as subordinates who desperately need our leadership),

when we fail to instruct our kids (when we assume that they will develop a moral compass and a biblical worldview pretty much on their own),

or when we fail to discipline our kids (thinking that their hurt feelings are more important than their right behavior)…

when we neglect our responsibilities, we are sinning – sinning against God, and sinning against our kids.

When we sin like this, we too should confess it as sin, and we too should ask God to help us trust in Jesus to forgive our sin… and we should also ask God to help us obey His good rules for us.

We will delve a lot deeper into this subject (of a rightly ordered and functioning family) a little bit later this year. Lord willing, I’ll preach on the well-ordered home in May… But for now, let’s at least note here the need for wise instruction from outside of us.

As children, we come into this world with a complete lack of wisdom. It’s not usually old men who injure themselves by jumping like superman from the rooftop, and older people are usually far less likely to sign up for a get-rich-quick scheme.

Of course, some older people have never become wise, so they suffer from the same foolishness that plagues children and teens… and that’s the point! Wisdom is something we need to gain or to receive from elsewhere. It does not come from within us; it does not bubble up from our feelings; and it does not simply occur to us – no matter how old or young we are.

Wisdom is something we gain by the instruction, teaching, and example of others. We have to be taught what wisdom is, we have to be shown what it looks like, and we even have to be instructed on how to learn it. In other words, we need someone wise (or better yet, many someones) to show-and-tell us how they got there.

Friends, this is Christian Discipleship 101. A disciple is a learner, a follower, a student of the Christian way of life. A Christian disciple has entered the school of Christianity, and he or she has made a commitment to learn what to believe, to learn how to act, and to devote himself or herself to applying such wisdom to all of life.

And all of this requires us to get ourselves around other Christians who are doing this whole discipleship thing pretty well – they have learned a lot about what Christians believe, they understand what Christian behavior is supposed to look like, and they are well-practiced at believing and behaving like Christians.

Friends, this is one of the reasons why the local church is so important. It’s one thing for us to read our Bible, pray, and aim to be “good people” with no one else around… but it’s another thing entirely to publicly read and apply the Bible, to publicly confess sin and pray for God’s help, to publicly commit ourselves to live as consistent Christians alongside others.

Individual Christianity – with a daily “quiet time” and artistic Bible verses in our homes or on our social media – this kind of Christianity is paper thin and just waiting to be crumpled up and thrown in the trash at the first sign of any real test.

But communal Christianity – the kind that is lived out in the open, the kind that’s lived in meaningful relationship with other Christians, and the kind that’s devoted to humbly exposing our own ignorance and errors so that we might gain true wisdom by hearing and watching the instruction of others who have traveled this road before – well, this kind of Christianity is solid, substantial, and steady. And when the trials of life break like waves on this sort of Christianity, it only exposes more of the rock upon which the house is built.

Brothers and sisters, let’s “hear” wise instruction, and “not forsake” it. Let’s make it a high priority to participate in every way as church members – formally and organically, with the whole congregation and with particular members of it, watching and hearing and soaking up all the wise instruction we can from those who have it and give it away.

And this leads us to our next point. We not only need wise instruction from the outside, but we must also give our own active attention to seeking and finding wisdom where it is available.

4. Wise Attention

The first feature or aspect or characteristic of the wise path, the way of wisdom, or the well-ordered life (from our passage today) is the need for and interest in wise instruction. This is the exhortation of Proverbs 1:8.

And the rest of Proverbs 1 is a warning about the inevitability of temptation – the temptation to join sinners on the foolish path. The author says (in v10), “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” (Prov. 1:10). “If they say, ‘Come with us…’” (v11), “my son, do not walk in the way with them” (v15).

In v20, the author introduces the main poetic metaphor of the book – he personifies both wisdom and folly as two different kinds of women.

The foolish path is like a forbidden or evil woman – she is attractive in all the wrong ways, but she is deceptive, and her invitation to enjoy what she offers is enticing.

Watch out! It’s more dangerous than you think!

“Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned” (Prov. 6:27)?

But the wise path (the well-ordered life) is like a virtuous woman – her beauty is more than skin-deep, and she invites her hearer to enjoy that which is truly good and satisfying.

“whoever listens to [her] will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster” (Prov. 1:33).

And this, then, is the second feature of the well-ordered life. The wise man or woman gives attention in the right direction. He or she attends to Lady Wisdom and not to Lady Folly. He or she seeks and means to find wisdom. He or she does not “love being simple” (Prov. 1:22), but instead “turns” when wisdom “reproves” or “criticizes” or “scolds” (Prov. 1:23).

Friends, wisdom is available to us, but…

we must “receive” and “treasure” it (Prov. 2:1),

we must “make” our “ear attentive” to it (Prov. 2:2),

we must “incline” our “heart” to wisdom (Prov. 2:2),

we must “call out” for it and “raise” our “voice” for it (Prov. 2:3),

and we must “seek” and “search for it as for hidden treasures” (Prov. 2:4).

This is no passive activity. If we want to be wise, if we want wisdom to grow in our lives (affecting our thinking and our behaving), if we want to live a well-ordered life (ordered according to God’s design and instruction), then we must act!

We must act even when we don’t feel like it.

We must act even when it’s hard to do.

We must act even when others do not.

And we must act even when we’re not seeing the “results” we hoped for.

In the NT, discipleship (i.e., spiritual maturity and growth in wisdom) is compared with physical training. The Apostle Paul wrote to his young friend Timothy, “train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:7-8).

The connection is easy to see. Training or discipline or attention aimed at godliness is far more valuable than attention aimed at bodily training, but both require the same kind of “training.” The Greek word here is where we get our word “gymnasium,” and this carries the imagery of athletes training their bodies.

In the same way, friends, we must train ourselves for godliness – we must give our attention to seeking and finding wisdom – we must discipline ourselves to know God, to grow in holiness, to understand the Scriptures, and to live in keeping with God’s design and instructions for us.

What is your plan? How are you training? Is your focus and attention often on godliness and wisdom? Or is your focus and attention usually on those sinners who mean to entice you to come and run with them?

Brothers and sisters, God intends for Christians to live as wise men and women, but we must be attentive to seeking and finding it.

5. Wisdom for All of Life

So far, we’ve established (1) the fact that God intends for us to be wise… and (2) that God Himself is the origin, the substance, and the destination of wisdom. Then we began to unpack 3 features or characteristics of the wise path or well-ordered life – the first two being (1) the need for wise instruction and (2) the necessity of giving our devoted attention to seeking and finding wisdom.

Let’s conclude our time together by focusing on the third feature, which is really the culmination of all that we’ve been talking about so far.

Bible reading, prayer, fellowship with other Christians, and all other spiritual disciplines and efforts to learn are not merely exercises in “knowledge acquisition.” We don’t want to just know more stuff… we don’t want to just be “wise” people in our heads… this would be a misunderstanding of wisdom altogether.

We want to be wise in thought, word, and deed. We want to know what is right, and we want to do it. We want to know God’s wisdom, and we want to live according to it. We want to be the sort of people who don’t just know what the wise path is (as some thought exercise), we want to walk the wise path in real life.

The third feature of the wise path or well-ordered life is the diligent and consistent application of God’s wisdom to all of life.

Notice how our main passage describes the effects of wisdom in a person’s life. The Scripture says:

“you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path” (Prov. 2:9).

In other words, the wise person will know or understand what the good path is and how to live it.

“wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul” (Prov. 2:10).

In other words, the wise person will not want to neglect or forsake knowledge/wisdom, but he/she will delight in knowledge/wisdom, he/she will love it, he/she will want to seek it and find it.

“discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil” (Prov. 2:11-12).

In other words, the wise person will be guarded and guided on the right way (or path) and also delivered or protected from the wrong (or evil) way (or path).

“discretion” and “understanding” will even deliver the wise person “from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways” (Prov. 2:12-15).

In other words, not only will the wise person keep off of the wrong path, but he/she will also be delivered or protected from those foolish people who try to entice or discourage them.

In short, the wise person will walk the wise path, he or she will live the well-ordered life, he or she will consistently and pervasively press the knowledge of God’s word (God’s doctrine and God’s commands – what is to be believed and what is to be done)… the wise person will press it all into every corner and crevasse of their lives.

Friends, the differences between a wise person and a foolish one are not observed over the course of a weekend or a month or even a year. Wisdom will shape the well-ordered life over the course of a generation. Wisdom is the sort of thing that won’t usually show up in a news headline or social media posts; it’s what we notice when we’re sitting at a funeral service, and we’re pondering all the ways that this person’s life was one well-lived.

Brothers and sisters, the well-ordered life is not a sprint to the finish, it’s a journey over hills and through valleys; it’s a climb and it’s a crawl. The well-ordered life is not a destination; it’s a way of living that will lead us to the place we seek.

Allow me to conclude today with some of Charles Spurgeon’s final words from his sermon on this topic about 200 years ago. They ring true and relevant still today.

Spurgeon said, “You all desire to extend the power of the gospel and the glory of Christ’s kingdom; know then that you can by no possibility do anything which shall be more likely to accomplish this than by seeking after holiness [i.e., conformity to Christ and to His word]. A holy church is always a powerful church. A band of people without gifts, without wealth, who shall exhibit much of the likeness of Christ, will be a power in the land. Covet not talent, but covet grace. Pant not so much after honor as after holiness. This is the great point with you, if you are to win the battle for Christ, and put the crown upon his head [i.e., fear or revere or honor the Lord Jesus Christ above all others]. O give me but to know that you are godly parents, that you are obedient children, that you are pious masters, that you are diligent servants, and my… rejoicing will be bright indeed… but ah! if your lips be unhallowed, your testimony goes for nothing, and my [rejoicing] is gone. I pray you, by the glory of him who wore the thorn-crown for you, by all his love and his compassion, and by the love which you bear him in return, ‘watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation,’ and commit your ways unto God that they may be directed in his fear.”

Indeed, may God help us to fear Him, that we may be the wise men and women He intends for us to be. May God humble us, that we may be instructed by those with wisdom. May God motivate us, that we may be attentive to seek and to find wisdom while we can. And may God grow us to ever-increasing spiritual maturity as we aim to order our entire lives by applying His wisdom in every way.