Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding
The less you know, the more you think you know. This is what Dunning-Kruger says. The more you know, the more you realize you do not know. The less you know, the less you think there is to know and the more you might be inclined to feel like you know it all.
Now, knowledge is actually a person. Proverbs 9:10 repeats the theme of the book of Proverbs. It says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” God is the source, and wisdom is embodied in this person, this God, the Lord. It goes on to say, “The knowledge of the holy is understanding.” In short, wisdom is an attitude. It is not a body of knowledge, and it is not merely, though it would obviously include, knowing how to use what knowledge you have. There is a spiritual and attitudinal component to it. Wisdom is an attitude. The fear of the LORD is the beginning, the opening, the starting point of wisdom.
It is hard to know what you don’t want to know. Have you ever tried to tell someone something they didn’t want to know? Even if it was true, it really is hard for them to accept. A fool cannot find wisdom for the same reason a thief cannot find a police officer. It is hard to know what you don’t want to know, but truth is plain and right to those who want it.
In Proverbs 8 wisdom is personified and says, “I give you truth and I give you righteousness.” Proverbs 8:9 says, “They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge. So, truth and righteousness are plain, direct, understandable, and right to those that find knowledge. It is amazing how many times in the world at large light is dark and dark is light, black is white and white is black, right is wrong and wrong is right.
There are people who emphatically tell you that you are morally wrong for objecting to moral wrong and perversion. People who do not believe in any absolute believe you are absolutely wrong for objecting to things that are apart from God’s truth. So, truth is plain, understandable, and right to those who want it, but to those who don’t, it eludes them.
You know God and God knows everything. Verse 10 says, “The knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Do I understand everything? No. Do I know God? I do by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and I can grow in that if I wish. That means I don’t have to know everything that is going to happen in the next few days or the next ten years. I know the Lord and God knows everything from start to finish. So, I can trust Him and live in obedience to Him with the little sight I have. When I do what I know to be right, I can know that God knows how it will pan out and where it will lead.
Today, wisdom is not something you lack because you are not a genius. It is not something you have because you are a genius. Wisdom is an attitude and when you begin with that attitude toward God, God gives you the understanding that only He alone can provide.