HIGH VALUE
Proverbs 20:15 CSB
15 There is gold and a multitude of jewels,
but knowledgeable lips are a rare treasure.
Solomon was known for a couple of things in this lifetime as the king who succeeded David. He was known for asking for wisdom from the Lord to enable him to lead God’s people. He was known for being incredibly rich. So much so that silver was so common during his reign that it lost value. He was known for having seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. Which makes us question just how much wisdom he had. But Solomon’s wisdom was a gift from God, and until he disobeyed God by trying to appease his foreign wives, Solomon was supernaturally smart.
So when Solomon declares that the lips of knowledge are a rare treasure, he knows what he is talking about. Solomon came to understand that money was not the answer to life. Money certainly opens options and creates levels of freedom. But Jesus spoke to the deceitfulness of riches. It’s not that gold and precious jewels are evil. Money is not evil. But money does not answer everything in life. Money is not the answer to happiness. Jesus also warned that a person’s life is not defined by the abundance of things they own. The problem is when we don’t have enough money to handle the basics of life or the emergencies that arise. When we are barely surviving and don’t have enough to give because we are barely taking care of our own. And because so many people live there, the concept of wisdom and knowledge being the big ticket item, the thing of greatest value, is much harder to grasp.
But Solomon was inspired by God to write the Proverbs, and God’s wisdom is accurate and timeless. The NLT says regarding verse fifteen, “Wise words are more valuable than much gold and many rubies.” It’s harder to see that truth when a person is in desperate need of an extra thousand dollars to cover an emergency. But the value of wisdom, what makes wisdom and knowledge the big value thing, is to understand how to get to the place where the money margins are not so thin.
When I was in Bible School back in the eighties, I was working in retail sales for a Dillard’s Department store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I worked in the men’s wear department selling slacks. Haggar slacks in polyester, to be specific. But I had the opportunity to get paid hourly and a lot of quiet time to meditate the scriptures. I had learned in Bible school that meditation in the scriptures would cause me to prosper, and Joy and I needed more money. So when I was offered an opportunity to move into the men’s suits department, I turned them down. I needed to meditate in order to prosper. But men’s suits offered commission, and the opportunity to earn more money was right in front of me. But I was stuck on meditation in Haggar land. Thank God for the wisdom of God. During one of my quiet times in the Haggar department, the Holy Spirit was able to get across to me that here was an answer to more money. So I took the change in departments and made more. Wisdom was what produced more income.
We can keep looking for the extra thousand, or we can begin to seek God for His wisdom as to how to thrive so we don’t live so close to the edge. God’s wisdom and knowledge can come as you read scriptures, listen to messages, visit with people who actually have knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge are available if we give them a place of high value in our lives.
PRAYER
Lord, I value You and Your wisdom even more than money. Please reveal to me the wisdom I need for the challenges I face in this life.