The gap between clever and wise
Something’s been playing on my mind this week.
Over the years, I’ve sat with people who were sharp, capable, well-read - people who had made all the sensible choices on paper. And yet, somehow, they’d ended up somewhere they didn’t want to be. Not because they weren’t intelligent. But because intelligence and wisdom really aren’t the same thing.
Most of us sense that gap exists. We just rarely stop to ask how wide it actually is.
This week, I’m starting a short series called Wisdom for Real Life, based on the book of Proverbs - one of those corners of the Bible that’s far more direct than you might expect. But today’s verse comes from Job. Chapter 28, verse 28, to be precise.
It’s the conclusion of a long, searching poem that asks again and again: where does wisdom actually come from? The writer says you can mine the earth for gold, chart the ocean floor, calculate almost anything - but wisdom can’t be dug up or worked out.
And then comes the answer, short and completely countercultural: the fear of the Lord is true wisdom.
That phrase doesn’t mean dread. It means reverence - orientating your whole life around who God is and what he says is real. Wisdom begins, says Job, not with a sharper mind, but with a humble heart.
I keep coming back to a line I used in this week’s first video: intelligence says, I’ve worked it out. Wisdom says, Lord, I need your view.
That’s the question I’m sitting with. Maybe you are too.
The full devotional is about five minutes - I’d love for you to watch it when you get a moment. You’ll find it here:
See you tomorrow.
Rob
Read this week’s devotionals here - https://open.substack.com/pub/battledrilldevotional/p/when-clever-isnt-enough?r=643q6o&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true