“Does not wisdom call?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
Hear, for I will speak noble things,
and from my lips will come what is right.”
My doctoral work set us back tens of thousands of dollars. I do not regret it. Spending money to acquire knowledge is a good thing. The writer of proverbs says "Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23).
How valuable is a good education? It is priceless.
“For wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.”
When God says, "Buy truth," and "wisdom is better than jewels," I take him seriously. Education and books are high on my priority list. On the other hand, if I think I have to mortgage my future to acquire knowledge and wisdom I have blundered badly.
Wisdom comes free for those who listen.
That statement may make little sense in a day when the cost of education is spiraling up, but it is true. Wisdom stands and "raises her voice" for those who will listen. But isn't that just like God? He gives freely that which is priceless.
I heard Wisdom's call sitting in bed with my recently purchased, used, 1958 copy of One Hundred And One Famous Poems, compiled by Roy J. Cook. I picked up this little gem for a few bucks.
Sitting there, I heard Wisdom's voice. It spoke softly, but quite clearly, through the poem Opportunity, penned by Edward R. Sill (who died 135 years ago).
Read this poem slowly. I suspect you’ll encounter a few words that will give you fits: "Shocked" means "sudden and violent blows"; a "craven" is one who is cowardly; and "bestead" refers to that which is situated.
This is a life-lesson in seventeen short lines.
This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream: --
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle's edge,
And thought, "Had I a sword of keener steel--
That blue blade that the king's son bears--but this
Blunt thing!" --he snapped and flung it from his hand.
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
How many times have I been ready to quit because the resources in my hands were "not good enough"? How many times have I failed to see the opportunity hidden in the sand?
Wisdom shouts: "Don't play the craven. You are the King's son. Engage!”
Reading Sill's masterpiece, I realize opportunity never knocks. It shouts. And when it doesn't shout it lies half-buried in the sand, patiently waiting to be grasped.
You will hear Wisdom’s voice pointing to opportunity today.
Listen. Pick up the sword.