BLUF: There is a world of difference between information and wisdom.

Introduction: I am old enough to remember life pre-internet. So old, in fact, that when teachers assigned us students to research a person/event/topic, etc. we had to go to these things called libraries and use a card catalog system. If one were indolent, he might dart straight to the set of heavy pleather-bound encyclopedias along the walls or on rolling carts. It is funny to me now when someone is asked a question about a person/event/topic, etc. the default position by most folks is to ‘google it’. There is a reason Google has amassed myriad data on all its users; Google knows us perhaps better than we know ourselves. But having information, or even easy access to it, is quite a different matter than having and inculcating wisdom. Wisdom involves proper application of accurate information; it involves, if you will, daily living.

Segue: In the book of Proverbs, Solomon portrays two main women throughout its 31 chapters to teach on the differences between folly and wisdom. Listen to how Lady Wisdom speaks: “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Pr 8:17 ESV). And “Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors” (Pr 8:34 ESV).

Encouragement: We are perhaps blessed unlike previous generations vis-à-vis our access to more information than we could ever sift through as individuals, but information alone is just that; what is always needed is wisdom. It is one thing to be able to use a search engine to excavate data; it is quite another to know how to appropriately use said information.