A Sure-Fire Way to Wisdom
Essential Skills for Following Jesus: Wisdom (Pt. 5)
Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.1
I found wisdom in an unexpected place. One college summer, in a time of life when I had few responsibilities and could seek adventure with a whole heart. I used that freedom to spend the summer in a prison in Colorado. The very name of the penitentiary where I spent those three months hinted at the despair of its prisoners. Since 1892 the Buena Vista Correctional Facility has given its inmates a beautiful view of the Sawatch mountain range through the iron bars of their cell windows. They were allowed to glimpse the fourteen mountains in the range rising up more than fourteen thousand feet. There must have been days when the beauty encouraged them. But most mornings their line of sight only highlighted their situation. Each day they lived in a world as hard as the concrete blocks and iron bars surrounding them. They would not share the mountains’ majesty until their sentences were complete. Yet it was in this place that I found what I had been unable to secure in the free world. I gained that which was “…more profitable than silver and yielded better returns than gold.”
I worked four days a week in Buena Vista; a short work week for most jobs. But this wasn’t “most jobs.” The work day began with a check-in just outside the prison entrance. After the guard confirmed my identity, the massive prison gates released their hold on the community of more than 900 inmates. The gates opened with an angry buzz, as if irritated to be required to do the opposite of what they were made to do. Disconcertingly, their mood changed after I walked through. With a loud, self-satisfied finality they slammed shut again and held me captive for the next eight hours. I was locked in a confined universe no larger than the surrounding gates and filled with the tense relationships between prisoners and guards. The rules were harsh. Every aspect of life was pre-determined. By the end of each day, I was exhausted. As the sun set I would walk back to the guard station, through the unhappy gate, and hear it slam behind me again. I felt a deep sense of release each time the gate slammed shut behind me. The relief came with two other strong emotions; a strong desire to live my life in a way that would keep me far from personal faults that might lead to incarceration and a strong and sympathetic guilt for those I had left behind. I was never completely comfortable with the joy I experienced when I left that world or the dread I felt when I returned. But when our three-day weekend arrived each week, I desperately needed to live in my world of personal freedom for at least 72 hours. It was barely enough time to restore my strength and resolve.
This was my summer. But for Tom Durant, the prison chaplain I worked with, it was a way of life. He eagerly entered the prison day after day and week after week. He had found something I could not see. He knew he was making a difference with his life. I quickly gained respect for the man. It was Tom Durant who showed me the way to grab hold of wisdom day after day, no matter where I was or what I was doing. He simply suggested that I should read one chapter of the book of Proverbs every morning. With that suggestion, he gave me the gift that was more valuable than gold.
It turns out that wisdom is available to anyone. Whether you are in a hardened world akin to the Buena Vista Correctional Facility or a world of personal freedom, the book of Proverbs is available to you in any Bible you can get your hands on. Proverbs alone has 800 time-tested sayings collected and polished over millenia by a multi-generational, multiethnic community committed to makegoodhappen in their lives. Again and again in the first 5 chapters, Proverbs urges the reader to three key steps:
choose wisdom
listen to the teaching of the wise
persevere in following the way
The Proverbs express eagerness for everyone to gain the wisdom they hold.
Tom gave me a simple way to accept the invitation. Each morning I was to read a chapter in Proverbs three times.
The first time would be an overview. The goal of this initial reading would not be to understand everything. It was rather to let two or three of the proverbs surface and catch my attention.
The second read-through would be about seeking a deeper understanding of those particular verses. What did they say? Why did they stand out to me?
When I read the chapter for the third time I was to choose one proverb to focus on for that day. Then I would write it out by hand in my journal and pray that God would use it in the day ahead.
I chose wisdom and listened to her teaching. After a few weeks, I was amazed at the number of times the chosen proverb directly related to events I experienced later that day. Wisdom guided me in decisions and opened my eyes to see the deep inner workings of things going on in front of me. Every evening I would reread the morning’s journal entry, reflect on what I had written in light of the day’s events, and add a description of how the verse had been relevant. Then I would write a prayer of thanksgiving.
I not only chose wisdom and listened, but I also persevered. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. During my summer I read completely through Proverbs more than once. When I reread a chapter I found that different proverbs would stand out and be useful to me during the day. Not only that, but I saw a shift in my mental focus. Instead of reacting to the ever-changing worries and concerns of the headlines and social media, I would search for deeper insight into the issues underlying the situations in front of me. Whenever I needed to make a decision, I would reflect on my learning through Proverbs for guidance and direction. I was learning to see beyond the smoke and mirrors that are so common in life and venture forth with a newfound freedom to make good happen.
I conclude this post on wisdom with the opening words of the book of Proverbs:
“The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young –let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance –for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.”2
I’m going to try this. Excellent guidance