Reading: “Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get insight.” Proverbs 4:7 

The first few chapters of Proverbs press home the importance of getting “wisdom.” Wisdom of course is not just more learning or intelligence. The wisdom of which the author is speaking is a spiritual wisdom, a Divine gift of grace. All the benefits that the believer receives from God, including wisdom, come through Christ. In fact, the wisdom spoken of in Proverbs is so closely linked to Christ that it is hard to distinguish the two. He

[Christ] is the “principal thing,” referred to in the New Testament as “the Wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).

Furthermore, wisdom is always linked to insight (KJV and NKJV “understanding”). When I have Christ, I have the “Spirit of Christ” and with this I have insight. To walk with Christ, then, is to “walk in the ways of insight” (9:6).

The exhortation to “get wisdom” is an exhortation to abandon everything that seeks to replace it, or replicate it. If I am to have Christ, self will no longer be the “principal thing,” but Christ. Everything else in life is subordinated to Him. If I succeed in everything in life and fail in this, I’m a failure. If I win everything but Christ, I’m a loser. If I have Christ, His Spirit gives me insight to navigate my way through life in His will.