Wisdom has many benefits for the one who chooses to walk in it. That is what we are told today in Proverbs 3:16. We are told that God promises by long life and riches and honor to the ones who walk in wisdom.
First let us look at the promise of long life. When a man walks in God's wisdom he will walk in peace. Wisdom counsels us to be made right with God and to cooperate with Him throughout life. This will calm a man and grant him a longer life. Reports come back regularly explaining to us that a peaceful, tranquil heart is great for our health. Stress will kill a man in the end - because stress will release toxins in the body and cause the heart to have to work much harder than it usually does. Wisdom will also offer us long life because wisdom calls us away from the excesses of the wicked. Having embraced a life of moderation and temperance, we will be spared much of the difficulty that comes from the varied gluttonies of life.
We are also told that wisdom will give us riches and honor. Throughout the book of Proverbs we read tremendous amounts of wisdom in regard to our finances and how we should operate in business. Having talked with several of the successful businessmen in my own congregation, they have assured me that reading the proverb of the day - and learning to follow the counsel of Scritpure on financial matters will yield wealth. I'm not talking about the kind of wealth that the health, wealth, and prosperity people tout. This is the wealth that acrues due to wise management of our money and our lives.
Wisdom also holds in her hands honor for us. The word for honor here is "kabod" - which speaks of a weightiness in life. This speaks of honor given by others as they see how we live. Wisdom will help us to live an honorable life in the sight of God, which in turn will move the Lord to grant us honor in the sight of others - and most importantly, in His sight.
Rather than health, riches, and honor due to a "name it, claim it" type of mentality, this passage is truly teaching us something amazing. Just for the fun of it - I would call this the "learn it, spurn it" mentality. As God teaches us wisdom - we learn from Him of His ways and paths. He instructs us in the way that we should go - and that has reference to everything we do and everything we are. We learn it - in His presence - by His Spirit - as He endeavors to educate us teaching us His Word. As we embrace His ways - we also learn to "spurn it." This simply means that the more we learn of wisdom and of God's Word, the more we will spurn the ways of this world, and the ways of our own flesh. This will help us to truly be blessed in all that we do.
Before I finish with this proverb, I would like to show a couple of New Testament verses that reiterate this same principle for us - just using slightly different language. First is what Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Here in very simple language is the pursuit of wisdom. We learn to seek as the first order of business in our daily lives, His kingdom and His righteousness. Said another way, we seek for His rule and reign over every thought and action, and we have Him determine what is right in every situation. Truly this is wisdom - and the promise we receive? He will add all the other things (here refering to food and clothing) to us.
The second verse is 1 Timothy 4:8, ". . . for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." Here we see that wisdom will always lead us to live a godly life. This godliness is profitable here and now, as well as throughout all eternity. Seeing this, it is my hope for both you and me that we will embrace her - embrace wisdom - and find that in both hands there awaits us great blessing from God.
In determining the value of something people often turn to how what they are valuing compares with other things we know are of great worth. That is what Proverbs does today in seeking to help us grasp just how valuable wisdom is to us every day.
There is a profit to wisdom - a payoff. When we learn to live lives that ask what the wise thing we should do - we will receive the rewards that wisdom has to offer to us. Then the comparisons begin in our passage. Wisdom has a greater profit than silver - and a better gain than gold. I'm writing this in 2010 and those who made a decision just a couple of years ago to purchase silver and gold know what kind of profit they got from it. They know that our federal government has played fast and loose with monetary policy and our economic position has suffered because of it. Our paper money has lost its value as the government continues to spend at a rate that cannot be maintained. Thus our money is being deflated as they print more to spend more - without anything to back it. But gold and silver are commodities that have real value to them. Thus while our paper money is floudering - gold has almost doubled in price. Silver is not far behind - because they have real value. There is something else that has real value - wisdom. When we have it - we will find amazing profit in keeping wisdom and following hard after wisdom.
Wisdom is also more precious than jewels. These are ornamental jewels like rubies, diamonds, sapphires, and other valuable jewels. Once again these items are rare - and are considered to be worth something. But what Proverbs is saying to us is that wisdom is more "precious" than jewels. Here we are not talking about profit as with silver and gold, but we are talking about how something it valuable to us. Wisdom is personally valuable to us. We know that if we wear wisdom in our lives - people will notice. Just like a woman with a large diamond hung around her neck is noticed, so also is the man or worman who lives wisely noticed. The jewels are considered beautiful - even though they are only rare hunks of rock. Wisdom adorns us with God's character, with godliness, with a holy life - and are the most beautiful things that we can have because they last long after the physical jewels of this life are gone.