51 - Why You Should Be Pursuing Wisdom (& Where To Find It)

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In undergrad I interviewed with a homebuilder (this was the height of the real estate boom), and I remember the interviewer asking me an area I needed to improve in. I replied that I needed improvement in organization. I then explained how I had begun to keep a calendar to keep track of all my appointments, deadlines, etc., and basically to manage my time.

What I did not emphasize in that interview was that I had very recently begun to do this, and that organization had been a lifelong struggle for me… in fact it’s one that continues to this day. This is a skill that I have had to learn and relearn over and over. Today, in case you’re wondering, I keep my time organized with two systems: a three-fold notebook and something called a Passion Planner. I track my goals, months and weeks in the Passion Planner, and my notebook is for Idea Work, Daily Tasks and my Journal. All that to say, this is something I’ve had to work hard at, and it’s honestly something I’m still working to master.

But organization, the mastery of one’s time, is more than a matter of keeping a schedule. It’s about wisdom. In Psalm 90, verse 12, Moses prays, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Wisdom is knowing how to put knowledge into practice in an understanding way. And it’s something that must be learned (notice Moses asks God to teach him this).

That means wisdom is not inherent. You aren’t born with wisdom. And left to your own devices, you will not gain wisdom but remain foolish. But if foolishness is “natural,” then what’s so bad about it?

And so the question facing us is: Why is it important to pursue wisdom, and where can we find it? In this episode I want to take a look at the book of Proverbs, chapter 8, in which Wisdom herself is going to answer these questions for us.

What we’ll see is that wisdom is supremely valuable, and it is attainable. Even a foolish person can become wise, by getting after it the right way and eschewing lesser pursuits.