Good morning. Are you one of those people with a burning desire to know things? I would assume so or you probably wouldn’t take the time to read these ramblings I call my “thoughts for the day”. But there is a problem with gaining knowledge and securing understanding.
This problem is one that was addressed to me by my dad many years ago. I don’t remember the exact occasion, but I must have been feeling smug after receiving recognition for succeeding in some aspect of my education. My dad congratulated me, and then shared a bit of wisdom that I have since found to be absolutely true. He said “The problem with making progress in your education is that the more you come to know in this life, the more you realize that you don’t know. There is never an end to it, so your satisfaction will not last long”.
My Dad was right about many things (although it often took me years to realize how true that was) and he was certainly correct in that particular assessment. I am not suggesting that he was against education, far from it. He wanted me to appreciate that while education certainly serves its purpose, it will never fully satisfy, and it will never bring you peace.
This thought brings me to a very well known and loved passage from the Proverbs:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
Most of us human beings share an insatiable appetite for trying to figure things out. I think that it has to do with our desire to gain a sense of mastery over our lives and circumstances. But the world presents us with a never-ending variety of problems. As soon as we feel we have mastered one, the next appears, and it may well be even more vexing than what we have previously considered. The relief or satisfaction we feel with the solution of the first is quickly replaced with concern for the new dilemma.
What Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us is that we should not seek mastery, we should seek the Master.
King Solomon, when asked by God what would be his heart’s desire, asked for wisdom that he may better lead the people. God did bless him with great wisdom, and He didn’t stop there. We read that Solomon possessed incredible knowledge about the world. So much so that people would come from everywhere to sit at his feet and try to gain knowledge and understanding.
We read in 1 Kings 10:24 And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.
In 1 Kings 4:34 we read much the same, but there it tells us that foreign kings sent their best and brightest to listen to Solomon in order to gain greater understanding and wisdom.
Did such vast knowledge and wisdom give Solomon peace? No, absolutely the opposite. We read from Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 I said to myself, “Look, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.” I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is like chasing after the wind.
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
as knowledge increases, grief increases.
Ultimately, Solomon completely lost his way. He sought satisfaction on the old route of wine, women, and song, but found no peace or satisfaction there either. Finally, he came to understand that his personal efforts amounted to nothing but vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
I will repeat my sentence from above, for I think it makes the point to ponder on this winter’s day: What Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us is that we should not seek mastery, we should seek the Master.
To prove the importance of that point I will also repeat Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
We should remember that God inspired Solomon to write these words in Proverbs as life lessons to his son, and to us.
Obviously, after some difficult moments in his life, Solomon learned to give up his attempts to master life’s problems and instead to seek the Master!
Vern