This verse makes an audacious claim. It says that wisdom is more valuable than our material possessions. That means it is the greatest of treasures. We are commanded to seek wisdom with all our available resources. To love and pursue it with all our might.
In the Bible, wisdom means choosing behavior that God deems to be in our true best interest. That means understanding and practicing the teachings of Scripture is the best use of our time. Listening to God and engaging with The Bible is foundational. But more important is the discipline of practicing what we learn all day long.
Only through listening to God can we gain wisdom. Too often, we settle for a photographed version of the truth. We catch glimpses (once a week or once a year or once a lifetime). But we don’t “go there”. We don’t press in. We don’t listen for more. We don’t make a decision to pay the price of discovery.
Wisdom begins when we do make that decision. When we do decide to actively obey the truths we discover. Photographs are nice. But there is more out there. Let’s not settle. Let’s fight for understanding. Listen to God. Commit to the discipline of exercising what we learn in everyday life. The promise is that the reward will be worth more than all the material possessions we could ever dream of accumulating.