“Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” — Proverbs 24:14 (NIV84)

What a contrast between the psalmist’s use of the word “hope” and Solomon’s use in the book of Proverbs. What I mean is that the psalmist repeatedly reminds us that our hope is rooted in God’s Word, His unfailing love, and His history of faithful providence. In contrast, most of Solomon’s uses of the word “hope” are in the negative. He constantly warned that people who lack wisdom and follow the ways of the world would find themselves hopeless. He used the word about 10 times, and almost every time, he used it as a warning of hopelessness to the one who rejects godly wisdom. But in today’s verse, Solomon wrote of hope in the positive. See how clearly Solomon connected our future hope to finding wisdom.

Solomon wasn’t referring to just any wisdom, but godly spiritual wisdom. This is a wisdom rooted in God’s character and made evident in His Word and how He deals with humanity. The important thing to realize is that God’s wisdom is always in contrast to folly, or foolishness. What that means is that we are choosing, whether we know it or not, to base our lives on divine principles to lead us to meaning, purpose and hope, or we are basing our lives on principles that lead us to meaninglessness and futility. Biblical wisdom tells us that this world we live in is God’s world. He created it. He redeemed it. He has an overall plan for it and for us. It is this certainty that gives us a reason to have hope. This is why Solomon says that wisdom is sweet to the soul. In a world filled with shades of gray and more question marks than one can count, wisdom shines the light of truth and provides exclamation points.

The one thing that Solomon and King David had in common on the concept of hope is that it wasn’t a wish but rather a certainty to them. Hope is firmly rooted in divine certainty. May we hold onto wisdom and live in the certainty of our future hope.

Peace!

Pastor Tom

www.firmlyrooted.church