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“Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.” (Pr 8:34-35 AV)

The idea of Proverbs chapter eight is the personification of wisdom.  So, the personal pronouns in the above verses is wisdom speaking to mankind.  Wisdom begs mankind to desire her.  She tells us that if we hear and watch for wisdom, we find life and favor from God.  She encourages us to watch for her.   She promises if we do, then some rewards follow.  Wisdom is not something we seek and find.  Wisdom is something that finds us.  Our role is to watch for it and wait for it.  We can learn the principles of the word of God, but it takes observation to see how they are applied.  This is the idea here of waiting and watching.  We can learn truths, but wisdom comes when we observe how those truths are applied.  Mere academic exercise is not enough.  There has to be real-life application for there to be any value in the facts we have just learned.  Running about with knowledge in our heads without any practical use for it makes no sense.  Our lives become a game of Jeopardy.  We spew out truths, but they have no real value unless we use it.  This is the point here.

In Boy Scouts, we learned how to tie knots.  There was the slip knot.  There was the half-hitch.  There was the two half-hitches.  There was the sheet-bend.  There was the taut-line hitch.  There was the clove hitch.  There was the double fisherman’s knot.  There was the square knot.  There was the timber hitch.  Then the venerable and most difficult, bowline hitch.  Each knot had its purpose.  Over the years, I have learned to use these different knots for different applications.  The taut-line hitch was used to tie tent ropes to their stakes.  The tautness of the line could be adjusted very easily.  The fisherman’s knot comes in handy when repairing a lure to a snap swivel.  The slip knot is always handy.  But the bowline is perhaps one of the most useful.  A knot that is guaranteed not to slip.  These knots were learned and tested.  To advance, the scout had to pass a test of proficiency in tying them.  We could pass the test and advance.  The real value of learning how to tie those knots was the application.  When put in different scenarios, learning the purpose for those knots became evidently clear.  We had to be exposed to situations that called for a specific knot.  If we tied the wrong knot, it might cause a bit of a problem.  Tying a slip knot to haul someone out of a hole is not a good idea.  A bowline hitch is a lousy knot to use when dragging a deer out of the woods.

Learning facts is nice.  It just might help to win a game or two of trivial pursuit.  Being able to ace any test one takes might be nice and the result is a great looking diploma or recognition to hang on one’s office wall.  This is not wisdom.  Wisdom is not the accruing of facts.  Wisdom is knowing how and when to apply the facts one has learned.  This can only come by observation.  Watching as the facts are applied in real-life situations is the gaining of wisdom.  Theory ends in the classroom.  Wisdom begins as we leave the desk and walk in the real-life applications of that which was once written on the blackboard.  I have met many who are wonderful students and great magnets of facts.  However, when they get out in the real world, all they have worked so hard to attain is forgotten.  It doesn’t matter if we have a brain like a computer if we don’t stop and watch for a while.  We might be smart.  But we can also be unwise.  A collector of facts is not wise unless he is still enough and humble enough to watch and learn the greatest lessons of all.  That is, how to apply all those facts which he has collected and stored in the recesses of his mind.