Recently, I was reading one of my friend’s blogs. She was saying that all the choices she has made throughout her life have brought knowledge. She went on to say that while she knows she shouldn’t have done some of the things she did, she would be reluctant to trade in the knowledge she has obtained for ignorance. That got me thinking. Should we be pursuing knowledge or wisdom? Knowledge is the condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association, and wisdom is having the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships. Basically knowledge is having the facts, and wisdom is knowing how to apply those facts. Sometimes, we gain knowledge through our mistakes. No matter what you want, you can’t go back and get rid of this knowledge, but you can gain wisdom from it. We also gain knowledge through study and reading. There is nothing wrong with acquiring this knowledge, as long as it is leading toward wisdom. Ecclesiastes 12:12 says “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.†I heard this as an excuse not to study in college, but I really think it is saying is knowledge should not be our end goal. It should be the starting point of a journey toward wisdom. I think a lot of times we spend so much time on the gathering of facts, that we forget to apply them. We read countless books, blogs, articles…and we forget to actually use the knowledge we have gained from these sources to serve our Father. I can quote countless scriptures; name all the judges, apostles, plagues…whatever, but what have I really gained from this knowledge? It is not until I use that knowledge to discern truth that it becomes wisdom. It’s not until I act on it that it becomes faith. And, sometimes, in the process of applying this knowledge, we find out that what we thought we had all figured out is something completely different. This is from a book of prayers by Walter Bruggemann.
Just when we imagine that we have you figured out
you show up working the other side of the street
in your frightening freedom.
You meet us behind and before
as promise and as threat,
and we are overmatched whenever we sit to deal with you.
So we bid you to pay less vigorous attention to us
and we bid you to give us the freedom and courage
that we may withstand you
in ways that are proper to you and to us.
We pray in the name of the utterly humble One
whom you therefore exalted.
Give us wisdom and freedom
that we may sense the ways in which we may best live in this world
where the last become first and the first become last. Amen.
Please pray for our team that as we seek wisdom, we will have the courage and freedom to go where that wisdom leads us.
