Wisdom and Knowledge will Protect You Solomon’s Wisdom Part 7

Wisdom and Knowledge will Protect You

Solomon’s Wisdom Part 7

Proverbs 2:10 - 11

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

We have been on the search for wisdom and knowledge and how to best gain it, what is next? Let’s dig deeper.

All to often we stop at the literal meaning of the “heart”. When we think of the heart, we think of love, emotions, caring, understanding, and literally – life. But it is more than that, the heart is in the center of our body, it is our “control center”, our inner being. According to John Kitto, the heart is also to key to our mind, soul, and understanding. It is also the repository of our strength and courage – “do you have the heart to do this?” Oswald Chambers writes, "The Bible term “heart” is best understood if we simply say “me,” it is the central citadel of a man’s personality.”

We find this definition in Abarim Publications, “To the Hebrews, a creature with a heart was a creature who was able to assess the kaleidoscope of impulses around him, sieve out the things that were most important and more or less disregard the rest. Heart-forming lies at the base of both intelligence and determination, and the opposite of having a heart is being either ignorant, indifferent or cowardly.”

Let’s move on to the soul.

According to Bible Study Tools the definition of Nephesh (soul) is as follows:

soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion

1. that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man
2. living being
3. living being (with life in the blood)
4. the man himself, self, person or individual
5. seat of the appetites
6. seat of emotions and passions
7. activity of mind
8. dubious
9. activity of the will
10. dubious
11. activity of the character
12. dubious

Nephesh is a word that has been discussed, debated, and argued over for thousands of years. What is the soul? We can’t touch, see, or understand it – does it even exist? According to the bible God breathed life into man and He became a living soul. Before that he breathed life into all the living creatures, they became living souls. If we look at that we can then accept that the soul needs two key elements, breath, and life.

Sam Kneller writes, “The MATERIAL aspect of life. In the above two verses, the body, and breath. These can be touched, physically felt and measured. The IMMATERIAL aspect of the soul is; desire, heart (in a figurative sense) and lust.”

So why do I go into such detail? It is important to understand that we need to bring wisdom and knowledge into our entire being, heart, and soul!

When we do this, Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

Pretty powerful stuff.

Mezimmah is the Hebrew word for discretion.

It also means purpose, discretion, device, mischievous, thought, wicked device and plot. Many people have erroneously concluded that discretion is evil or using evil. In fact, the word machination comes from the word mezimmah. But as we all know there are two sides to everything and that we want to use the definition of making plans for positive purposes. To use discretion in all that we do and not to take anything for granted and at first blush. It is all about looking ahead and making plans – checking the road for potholes.

We have already dealt with understanding or as the Hebrews say tabuwn. The ability to understand, it is a skill, it shows insight and intelligence, and finally it is the object of knowledge.

So now we know that through wisdom and knowledge we have the building blocks for discretion and understanding. So how do we develop discretion and understanding?

Krejcir writes. “Discretion keeps our minds and focus on sound judgment, giving serious attention and thought to what is going on around us. In that way, we can better choose our words, attitudes, and actions carefully to model goodness and righteousness for any given situation, thus avoiding words and actions that could result in adverse consequences. 

Here are some key pointers to be mindful of when making a decision and developing better discretionary judgment:

1.  Dr. Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis coined it best when they wrote:

“The first phase of judgment, preparation, incorporates three steps. First is to sense and identify the issue, which entails reading early signals; second is to frame and name it, setting clear parameters and providing a context; and third is to mobilize and align key stakeholders, inviting their input and harnessing their energy.”

2.  Think before you speak

3.  Never react emotionally

4.  Set your priorities – what is most important to your values, morals, self

5.  be sensitive to other’s opinions, beliefs, ideas and feelings.

6.  Develop your emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a measure of how well we understand our own emotions and the emotions of others

7.  Accept and learn from your mistakes

8.  Don’t take short-cuts

9.  Compare and evaluate possible courses of conduct

10.              Always look deeper, always think of the better question.

To sum up we look to Tichy and Bennis again; “A leader’s most important role in any organization is making good judgments—well-informed, wise decisions that produce the desired outcomes.”