The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice and equity; to give prudence to the naive, to the youth knowledge and discretion … (Proverbs 1:1-4)

Knowing wisdom is the overriding theme of the book of Proverbs. Solomon continues with a few qualifiers. To know wisdom, we need instruction. A child is born with a clean slate but is endowed with the capacity to learn, which over time fills up his mind. Scientists tell us that neuropathways in the brain form the circuitry that produces our thoughts. We lack space here to investigate the interaction between brain and mind, body and spirit. But we believe that since the garden of Eden, all humans live in a fallen state in a broken world. Both our spirits and our brains have been affected. While an infant begins the process of learning, that learning process bends toward bad, dysfunctional, distorted ways of thinking and viewing life. In other words, thinking wisely does not come naturally to us because we are inescapably bound to our self-centeredness. We need to learn wisdom.

For us to know wisdom, we need to be taught to us. This teaching comes by way of “sayings of understanding,” which occupy most of the Book of Proverbs (chapters 10–31). Oh, that we could brand these indelibly on our grey matter, but it isn’t quite so easy as memorizing the book. We will spend a lifetime absorbing these sayings into our very being so that we can overcome our natural propensities toward the stupid and become wiser with each day.

As every reader of Proverbs notices, chapters 10–31 seem to consist of scattered truth statements with little structural connection. Each proverbial statement can stand alone, but we find it helpful to group them by similar themes. Solomon delineates four categories or themes to guide our thinking, and these all involve instruction for whoever wants to learn wisdom: personal behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity. As we read through, we would be, er, wise to always be thinking, “How does this proverbial statement guide us in one of these four categories?”

Solomon begins by addressing youth, whom he calls “the naïve.” There is nothing morally wrong with being youthful and naïve, but we should not remain that way. The first step for youth is to learn prudence, which is common sense or “street smarts.” This is the way out of naiveté and leads the way to knowledge and discretion.

Lord, help me develop a lifestyle of learning Your instruction in wisdom.