Pursuing Fulfillment

            The book of Proverbs contains 31 chapters that would be great to accompany your daily study of God’s word.  Take the chapter that accompanies the calendar day of the month and you will be able to read through one of God’s most practical manuals for living 12 times throughout the year. 

            The pursuit of knowledge has been a quest of mankind since the beginning of time.  Adam and Eve sought wisdom when they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:6).  Man’s desire for knowledge seems insatiable still today, especially in the U.S.  It is expected for kids to go to kindergarten, graduate high school, go to college, and possibly graduate school.  There is a myth that you have to have a college education to do something important with your life.  We could fill this article with names of people who either dropped out of college or did not go at all and yet did something extraordinary with their lives.  Have we gotten so caught up in the myth that a scholastic education is necessary that we have neglected some weightier matters?

            Solomon recognized education was important, “To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles” (Proverbs 1:2-6).  Something we will read several times throughout Proverbs is the acquiring of wisdom and knowledge comes through reading and listening.  It is easy to get busy talking and never take the opportunity to be quiet and listen. 

            There is a kind of wisdom and knowledge we should pursue and its beginning is “the fear of the LORD…fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).  With this in mind, do not neglect what Solomon observed from his pursuit, “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow” (Ecclesiastes 1:18).  In our pursuit of fulfillment, let us seek knowledge, wisdom, and learning of our righteous and loving creator, the LORD God and make him our focus.