Will wisdom make you a person of joy? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
It’s surprising to see this praise in the middle of Ecclesiastes, and yet, here it is. In the middle of what is seen as normally a depressing book is a statement of praise for wisdom. Let’s look at it from Ecclesiastes 8:1
Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,
and the hardness of his face is changed.
Happiness is one of the great goals of our life. While he did not mean the same thing that we mean by it, Aristotle back in his day said that the chief end of man is happiness. The medievals did not disagree with him, but they did say that this happiness is only found in the beatific vision, getting to see God. Happiness is more than just a feeling. It can produce that, but it is not limited to that.
There is a lot of joy though in having wisdom and knowing what you’re talking about. How many times have you seen someone speak on a subject and you know they do not have a clue? If you have been on Facebook or X or any other social media site where debate takes place, you’ve seen it. I’ve seen internet atheists think they’re brilliant for what they share in a meme. I’ve seen Christians make embarrassing statements and think that they have to be right because they’re “Spirit-filled.”
Usually, the people you will meet who are the wisest are also the most quiet about it. Wisdom is not something you have to announce to the world. Wisdom is something that can be seen in how you interact with others and how you go about acquiring knowledge and what you do know.
If you do this, odds are you will be happier than most people are. In thinking about this, I consider what it would have been like to have gone through a divorce without all that I had acquired over the years of studying Christianity. When I first began to have panic attacks, it was awful. If I had been divorced with the same level that I had then, I doubt I would have survived. All those years of study and knowledge kicked in. Was it still hard and is it still hard? Yes. However, it was not as hard as it could have been.
The face to shine metaphor is also interesting since it can bring to mind Moses having his face shine after his encounters with God. Normally in Scripture, changes of face seem to be negative, but this one is positive. Wisdom can cause you to look at a bad situation differently. It is not a denial of the suffering of the situation and how painful it is, but it is a way to look at it and realize that there could be hope in the midst of the suffering. Wisdom causes you to look deeper than the surface.
Pursue wisdom. It can give you happiness.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)