Kurt Payne - "...And the Pursuit of Wisdom"

From my experience, I have come to define wisdom as having gained knowledge, experience, and intuitive understanding, along with a capacity to apply these well. It is the judicious application of knowledge. With this definition, it is important to distinguish wisdom from knowledge alone. The importance of the difference between wisdom and knowledge is emphasized in the following scripture form 2 Nephi. “O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.”1 While knowledge itself is important, its application, which has been defined as wisdom, is even more important. I believe that all the knowledge in the world is not nearly as important as having just a little bit of wisdom.

Wisdom is one of the key virtues emphasized in the scriptures, and verses referencing it abound in all the books of the standard works. However, in this scriptural context, the definition of wisdom gains one more facet, as is shown in the book of Job. “And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”2 It is important to note that this instance of fear is not like the one we use today. To fear God is to be humble before him and obey his commandments, not to actually be afraid of him. However, one of the most important examples of Wisdom from the scriptures is that of Solomon, son of King David. As David grew old and died, the mantle passed to Solomon. Feeling overburdened, Solomon prayed to God for help. God answered by agreeing to give Solomon whatever he desired. Solomon asked only for wisdom to govern his people in righteousness. God replied with the following statement: “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.”3 This gift proved to be an excellent choice for Solomon, as his wisdom and judgement were taxed by ruling over Israel. The most famous exercise of this wisdom is Solomon’s decision about the baby, when he used this gift of wisdom to determine the true mother of the child.

Gaining wisdom is a difficult process, and yet also incredibly easy, as there is more than one way to do it. One simple of gaining wisdom is just being alive; living life will give you more wisdom as you grow in experience. This is the big difference between younger and older people, that they have more experience and thus are able to make better and more well-informed choices. At the beginning of the semester, I had an opportunity to buy a business that was owned by a recently-graduated BYU student. I really wanted to do it because it promised very flexible hours and excellent pay. However, since it required a large capital investment, and since I am just a beginning Freshman, my parents advised me against doing it. After talking to them about it, and thinking about my two choices, I decided to follow the wisdom of my parents, who are much older and more experienced than I am. I am now glad that I listened to them, because I am finding that my Freshman year isn’t as much of a breeze as I thought it would be. Listening to the wisdom of others is another way to gain wisdom. In fact, listening to the wisest person, meaning God, is the best way to gain wisdom. As stated by Moses, “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations,”4 I have found that this has been very useful to me in my life, and I have felt truly blessed by keeping the commandments. One example is following, ironically, the Word of Wisdom. I have seen the difference in my life compared to the lives of my friends who aren’t members of the Church, and how healthy I am compared to them. I have never broken a bone, had to have surgery, had any major disease or other ailment, or had any other serious medical problem, and I believe that this is because I have followed the Word of Wisdom.

Wisdom helps us throughout our lives, primarily in making choices and decisions, which is the primary focus of this life. Heavenly Father has put us here to see if, after learning of what we should do, we will decide to do it. The best way is, again, to rely on the wisdom of He who knows all things, and the best way to do this is through prayer. If we petition God through prayer with faith, he will give us an answer, as stated by James. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”5 When I was deciding to buy this business, I prayed a lot because it was such a big decision. While there was nothing to be lost by not doing it, there was a lot of potential for both gain and loss if I were to do it. After praying for a long time, and thinking about it all day in school, I had a really nasty feeling in my gut, and, thinking that to be my answer, I decided not to do it. Looking back on it a few weeks later, I determined that it really wasn’t the right time for me to have a business, in addition to trying to figure out how college works.

Relying on someone else’s guidance may seem like an especially bad idea when making important decisions. For example, you wouldn’t want to decide who to marry based on what some stranger told you. This situation is made even more complicated when you don’t have faith in that person, which is sometimes the case when we talk to God. We might not have a testimony that God will hear us and will answer our prayers, and so we don’t ask him for help. I believe that, in this case, the most pertinent thing to do would be to work on your testimony, and strengthen it to the point where you believe that if you pray with a question, then you will receive an answer. Who better to trust in than our Heavenly Father, because he loves us more than anyone, and he’ll never lead us astray. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”11 I bear my testimony that as we put our trust in the Lord, he will lead us towards our destiny, and we will grow and progress in wisdom along the way. I hope that it will be as the song says, “may my heart be blessed with wisdom and may knowledge fill my mind.”7



Sources

1. 2 Nephi 28:8
2. Job 28:28
3. 1 Kings 3:12
4. Deuteronomy 4:5-6
5. James 1:5
6. Proverbs 3:5-8
7. Hymn 277 – As I search the Holy Scriptures