Genesis 3:1-7
On Gaining Wisdom
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Proverbs 1:1-7
On Gaining Wisdom
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
John 14:6-7
Jesus Says He is Truth
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Man is curious…He is constantly searching for knowledge…And in his search for new things to learn, we have learned many things…In this pursuit of learning about new things and more things, we have learned many good things, and we have learned about evil and bad things, as well as good things...But this constant search for knowledge has lead us to a most modern society with technology at the forefront…And as well as technology has given us more information, science too has lead the way to new discoveries and has show us new things about the universe…But where does the Spiritual and Eternities stand after more and more knowledge?...Are we overlooking the Spiritual as we modernize?...
With science and technology and more and more information about the earth and the universe are we better off now with all the new gadgets and information that gives us news and knowledge at the tip of our fingertips twenty four hours a day?…I believe most people would say knowledge and wisdom are good for the most part, and the modern world is a natural move and is progress and progressive...
When I think of knowledge, I often think of understanding and wisdom…Wisdom defined in Hebrew can mean skillful, good sense, and correct judgment…Wisdom can also be defined as the ability to discern, to perceive; to discern mentally, to understand; to have understanding, to be intelligent, wise; to be discreet...Wisdom can mean the ability or result of an ability to think and act utilizing knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight...Wisdom is an accumulation of knowledge, a learning, or enlightenment with a soundness of mind…For isn’t it better to have wisdom and understanding as we take in new and more knowledge…And when I think about knowledge, understanding, and wisdom -I believe that these things are the tools we use to search for the Truth...
Sometimes I wonder when the Fall of Man happened, why wasn’t the word knowledge used instead of wisdom or wise, as Eve was contemplating eating the forbidden fruit…It is written, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”…The words also desirable for gaining wisdom are especially interesting for me...The tree was the one tree to be desired to make one wise and to be associated with wisdom...The fruit that the evil one was tempting Eve to eat was "also desirable for gaining wisdom."…It seems unusual to me that Moses used the word wisdom, but that is what is written…But it helps me to think of Solomon’s proverb that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”…So I like to think that wisdom pertains to God as we set out in gaining new knowledge and wisdom…I believe that this pursuit of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, does have an end result, and the result is in finding the Truth...I have and keep the verses in Proverbs and Jesus telling His Disciples that He is Truth in mind, as I read about the Fall of Man trying to gain wisdom and knowledge…
And back to Adam and Eve did they gain more knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil after they ate the fruit, despite God telling them not to eat from this tree…When their eyes were opened what had they learned?...And I wonder if was wisdom that they found that day?...And what kind of wisdom was actually gained the day the forbidden fruit was ate?...Were Adam and Eve more Spiritual and closer to God after eating the fruit?...
As I think about these questions Jesus comes to mind....Because for me the gospels tell us that our constant search for wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and Truth ends with a Man, who would die on a cross for our personal inequities...We diligently study and curiously search the scriptures to find that they are about a Man, a Man named Jesus...The trail of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom leads to Him...
We seek knowledge to learn understanding to gain wisdom to find Truth...