Debsue and I are big Jeopardy fans. Debsue is particularly adept at getting the obscure answers right. I have encouraged her many times to try out for Jeopardy, but she won’t do it. On the other hand, I am only good at the sports and the bible categories. The other week they had a category on stock symbols and I did pretty good at that as well. Tells you where my priorities are.
A few months, ago, Jeopardy put a series of IBM computers named Watson in competition against two of the all-time human champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson cleaned their clock. Watson could source through thousands and thousands of gigabytes of data effortlessly to piece together the answer. There has been all sorts of speculation about how Watson can be used practically. Technology is a marvelous thing. I remember often my dad would see me working on my computer and challenge me to a math contest pitting his brain against my Excel program. Finally, my dad succumbed and at now is a computer user. Now he doesn’t use the computer for a whole lot, but he does use it.
Computers assemble data and turn the data into information. Thus, computers become a vast source of knowledge to us. I can’t imagine being without my iPhone. It is such a versatile device and I am always only a few touches from some piece of information. Need to find something on the web? Am I lost and need to get somewhere? Want to play a song? Want to access my e-mail? It is all there in one device. It is an amazing piece of technology and I love it.
But where computers can never go is how God has wired us. God says to seek wisdom and the kind of wisdom God tells us to seek is only available from him (Proverbs 2:6). Knowledge tells us that a man is 6 feet tall, wisdom tells us he is a man to be trusted. Knowledge tells us factually about the wonder of the human body. Wisdom tells is it is a living breathing organism that represents the church. Knowledge tells us about four distinct seasons. Wisdom tells us it is a representation of living, dying, and rebirth.
Solomon has told us the true wisdom starts with a fear of the Lord. We cannot get wisdom from knowledge. We can only get it through asking for it, seeking it, living for it. We can’t ask for wisdom flippantly. It must drive us and be our all consuming desire. It does not come naturally, it can only come supernaturally. Wisdom takes the facts and data that our brain processes and turns it into meaning.
Proverbs 2:10 says “For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul”. Watson spits out knowledge into answers. But this proverb flips it. It is wisdom that must come first. Wisdom is internalized and it results in knowledge that is trustworthy. Head knowledge can never result in heart knowledge.
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