Wisdom Wednesday: Wisdom in the Psalms
Part 5 Wisdom and Understanding about Pride and Prosperity
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.” (Psalm 49:3) NASB 95
We continue to proceed through the Psalms, examining the wisdom theme. We have seen the contrast between wise and foolish lives (Psalm 1), the wisdom of worshipping the Lord (Psalm 2), and the extolling of His grandeur because of His glory (Psalm 8). Psalm 19 described how the heavens revealed God’s glory, leading to the fear of the Lord, and that God’s written word revealed His wisdom and was the foundation for living a wise life. The 37th Psalm describes the security of fearing the Lord and living in the wisdom He provides to walk through life without stumbling.
Now, the 49th Psalm focuses on the importance of a faithful walk with God and, like many other Psalms (e.g. Psalm 37 and 73), contrasts walking with the Lord with the ultimate worthlessness of trusting in the things of this world. Verse 3 is the introduction to this 20-verse chapter that is considered a “wisdom poem”.
- Speaking Wisdom – This Psalm articulates wisdom – the application of God’s wisdom to see life from God’s perspective.
- Understanding in the Heart – This wisdom requires meditation (deep thought and reflection of the heart) to provide understanding. Him In this chapter, it is about reflecting on life, how people live, and the consequences. A similar passage in Psalm 119 states: “The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130). The unfolding of God’s word is literally the “opening” of God’s word to comprehend what God is teaching from a willing heart – the “simple” who need or desire God’s direction.
With this introduction, the Psalm proceeds to lay out its case for considering the lives of the faithful and the proud, prosperous.
- The Prosperous and Proud (49: 5-12) Those who trust in their wealth (v.6) must realize it does not last forever (v.9) and they will die, just like the beasts (v.12). Wealth will not redeem the soul (vv. 7-9). Jesus warned, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matt 16:26).
- The Hope of the Righteous (49:13-15) The prosperous and proud apart from God will be consumed by Sheol (the nether world, apart from God), but the wise will be redeemed by God.
- The Discernment of the Consequence (49:16-20) The foolish who rely on their wealth and fame apart from the understanding provide by God will never see the light of eternal life (v.19, cf. Psalm 56:13)
It is interesting to note that in Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes, this observation is developed in greater detail, as Solomon recognized the meaninglessness of living for prosperity and the pride of accomplishments. In Ecclesiastes chapter 2, he recounted the fruitless search for meaning in creativity and the sense of achievement in cultural projects (2:5-6), employment and business (2:7), wealth creation (2:8), social life (2:9), and fame (2: 10).
All of this was added to the pleasures, which were not alone sufficient to provide meaning. But the combination of pleasures and accomplishments still left Solomon without ultimate meaning: “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun’’ (Eccles. 2:11).
Solomon turned to wisdom (2:12-16), looking at the big picture of life and developing insight into God’s wisdom as well as man’s folly (2:12). It was his foray into human philosophy. Solomon realized two things: 1) Wisdom is indeed better than folly, because it provides light in this life under the sun, (2:13-14) but 2) Both the wise and the fool ultimately die – they experience the same fate (2:14). Solomon realized that the wise and the fool, alike, will not mouth down be remembered (for their accomplishments or failures, respectively) and both will suffer the same fate of death (2:16). Because of this Solomon concluded, “Then I thought in my heart, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said in my heart, “This too is meaningless” (Eccles. 2:15).
After searching through pleasure, accomplishments and knowledge, Solomon concluded: “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Eccles. 2:17). He even hated the things he had worked so hard to create (2:18). He realized that the results of his labor would be given to his descendants (or his nation’s conquerors). In a common phrase, Solomon said, “So What?” This realization led to despair (2:20) and he noted that “even at night [a person’s] mind does not rest” (2:23).
Psalm 49 and Ecclesiastes 2 both emphasize the worthless and empty end state of pride and prosperity. The alternative is walking with God and gaining His wisdom. The 51st Psalm summarizes, “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.”