November 9, 2026 -- Proverbs 16:16 -- What's better than gold?

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

How much better to get wisdom than gold!
To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Proverbs 16:16 ESV
 
Doesn’t it often seem that the Proverbs are just a random collection of sayings? They are hard to read precisely because they seem to go all over the place. I have an excellent commentary on the Proverbs, and the insights of it truly help to make sense of what otherwise seems so disjointed. For example, the verses 16 to 26 form a section within chapter 16, which describes a person who has and exercises good sense.
 
If you want to get rich, there are no shortcuts. It takes hard work. It takes persistence in building up the bank account and not getting diverted by all kinds of trinkets and temptations. The comparison in Proverbs is teaching you it takes as much work to get wisdom as it takes to build up a good-sized stockpile of money. However, thieves and taxes can easily take your money. Wisdom once gained, is yours forever.
 
Understanding, which can also be translated as discernment, is the complementary prize worth pursuing through-out one’s life. Earlier in Proverbs wisdom declared, “My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver” (Proverbs 8:19). Like this text just cited, our text today and the verses which follow will prove how wisdom and understanding are better than gold and silver. Look ahead at verse 25, an ordinary man, without wisdom or understanding, chases what seems good and “its end is the way to death”.
 
Luke wrote about Jesus, “the child grew and become strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40). This, dear readers, is all we need to know about Jesus’ childhood. The hard work of growing up Jesus invested in gaining wisdom—He was hungry for it. He didn’t chase sports or race horses, or money, or fame, or popularity—He spent His strength knowing God and implementing what He’d learned so that understanding became wisdom, the guiding impulse of His heart.
 
Those who are in Christ invest their time, their skills and their efforts in knowing God. Reading the word. Talking with friends. In prayer asking the Spirit to show them the sins which are short circuiting their progress and keeping them from delighting in God. It is hard work. It is the most worthwhile work of our lives.
 
Father in heaven, thank You for the riches of Your Word. Thank You for the promise that those who seek You will find You. I confess I am how easily diverted from truly and persistently seeking wisdom. I am more ready to go and do a dozen different things rather than bearing down and mining for godly understanding. Thank You for the new life that is mine in Christ. By Your Spirit’s presence in me, help me to truly turn from worldly ways, deny myself, and follow Jesus. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/W0vKNYDQa9Q?si=MFOlaT7QtBrHc7N_
 

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