“Blessed is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding, for she is more profitable than silver, and her revenue is better than gold… She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” (Proverbs 3:13-14,18)
“Do what makes you happy.” You probably have heard people spout this phrase as sound wisdom about relationships, job choice, or how to spend your free time. Regardless of the outcome, just do what makes you happy. Easy enough, right? Not so fast. In today’s reading, we see God beautifully construct His word through Solomon and teaches us sound wisdom of what truly brings happiness, not what we think makes us happy.
The writer sandwiches between what is the foundation of happiness—wisdom and understanding—between the nearly identical words (esher and ashar). The Hebrew term that the author uses first, esher, literally means blessed or happy and closes with ashar, the root of esher, that means “to be straight” in a wide sense of being level or right. Certainly doing what you think “makes you happy” may result in short term, instantaneous feelings of happiness, but these Hebrew words aren’t talking about momentary happiness, but a long term, dare I say, everlasting state of happiness and joy through God’s favor and grace through the wisdom and understanding he provides us.
But wisdom and understanding is not some mysterious thing that we need to determine ourselves. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of this wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24, Col. 2:2-3). Our call is, therefore, to embrace Jesus, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn. 1:14). His words and teaching are the wisdom we have that is greater than silver or gold or precious jewels. The way he lived his life through the Gospels is the wisdom we can use that leads to pleasantness and peace. From Jesus, our stream of living water, the security of our salvation, and our tree of life, and not from our own “wisdom” of “doing what makes us happy,” can we truly have esher.