Why Is Wisdom So Special?

Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made
crooked? Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realise that both come from God.
Remember that nothing is certain in this life.
Ecclesiastes 7:13–14

Solomon doesn’t abruptly stop this section of his journal before extolling two specific and all-important virtues of wisdom. It’s almost as if he hopes to grab the attention of some who may be teetering on the fence of indecision.

Wisdom offers two major benefits:

Wisdom preserves our lives from human pitfalls. The pitfalls? Go back to what the man wrote. I can think of several examples:

• With an inheritance comes the pitfall of pride. Wisdom preserves us from that.
• With affliction comes the pitfall of doubt and disillusionment. Wisdom preserves us from that.
• With the anticipation of relief, vindication, even rewards for doing what is right comes the pitfall of resentment and bitterness. Wisdom preserves us from that.

Solomon is absolutely correct: “Wisdom is protection.” But it is more than that.

Wisdom provides our lives with divine perspective. We are first invited to “consider the work of God,” then we are given several occasions when that will provide us the perspective we need: “For who is able to straighten what He [God] has bent?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13 NASB).

The Lord our God is ultimately in control. Theologians call this divine sovereignty. Unfortunately, it has become a point of argumentation rather than our personal ally. God is in charge, meaning if he has “straightened” something, it’s wasted effort to try to bend it. This divine perspective is designed to replace resistance with relief.

“In the day of prosperity be happy!” (7:14 NASB). Or, in today’s vernacular, “Enjoy!” There is no reason whatsoever to allow guilt to rob you of the joy that should accompany prosperous times. Divine perspective frees us to be happy.

“But in the day of adversity consider—God has made the one as well as the other” (7:14 NASB). Again, this divine perspective wisdom brings reminds me that the Lord God is just as involved and caring during adversity as during prosperity.

The Hebrew term translated “consider” suggests the idea “to examine for the purpose of evaluating.” In the hard times—when the bottom drops out, enduring days of financial reversal, or severe domestic conflicts—wisdom prompts us to examine, to evaluate with incredible objectivity. He wants us to walk by faith, not by sight. He won’t reveal the future, which is why the next phrase reads, “So that man will not discover anything that will be after him” (7:14 NASB 1995).

God’s ultimate design is nothing short of perfect. He’s got a plan, but without operating on the basis of His wisdom, we’ll panic and run or we’ll stubbornly resist His way.