²¹My son, let them not vanish from your sight; keep sound wisdom and discretion, ²²so they will be life to your soul and adornment to your neck. ²³Then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble. ²⁴When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. ²⁵Do not be afraid of sudden fear nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; ²⁶for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.

The famous rock climber, Alex Honnold, scaled El Capitan, the iconic three-thousand-foot granite wall, with no ropes or anchors (called “free solo”) in just under four hours. Just one slip and he would meet his death. He speaks about doubt being the precursor to fear, and that he gained confidence in conquering his doubt and fear through preparation and rehearsal of every move before attempting the climb. In the same way, the book of Proverbs tells us that consistent, repeated choices for wisdom are the precursor to confidence in wise living. And that is what our passage today is about.

(Note: The immediately preceding passage, Proverbs 3:19-20, speaks of wisdom along with knowledge and understanding. The three are not precisely interchangeable, but the trilogy is so interwoven that the distinctions fade in the light of their unity. Proverbs often use the term “wisdom” as the summation of all three.)

Solomon continues writing as a father to his son and stresses the need to keep wisdom in front of our thinking and to embed all its applications deeply into our souls. Wisdom cannot help but show itself outwardly. As Jesus said, “[W]isdom is vindicated by all her children” (Luke 7:35).

In the most basic terms, wisdom will secure our daily decisions from missteps. We can sleep well at night with our minds at ease, knowing we are relying on the wisdom of God. Unexpected attacks against us or circumstances that surprise us are nothing to fear when we have set wisdom as our standard for thinking about such things. We will have confidence knowing that we are well equipped with wise thinking that will carry us through tomorrow. As Jesus said, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matt. 6:34).

Notice that wisdom is not a static thing, not simply a philosophy, but something that guides our decisions and actions and therefore involves our emotions. We have nothing to fear if we have made wisdom our lifestyle. We don’t have to figure out all eventualities; we just need to deal with what is before us today. The same wisdom will help us deal with whatever may confront us when tomorrow comes.

A question comes up, though: even wise people make mistakes in the real world, so how does that square with the teaching of Proverbs? The answer is that learning wisdom is not a binary thing, but wise thinking exists on a spectrum, where the wise person continually moves ahead by learning from experience, counsel, and further study of the Word of God. Proverbs presents the goal, and we pursue that goal of wise living. Am I wiser today than yesterday? Am I confident that wisdom will help me deal with the things I face today?

Lord, I commit to orienting my soul to Your wisdom; help me in my un-wisdom.