The Potency of Wisdom

And the impotence of unbelief

“A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.”(Prov. 21:22)

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O see the triumph of wisdom in this text—her potency, power, and dominion! See how she overcomes with a step all the foolish hopes men, who look for security in cities, fortresses, and strength. In the face of wisdom’s advance each of these proves to be a false ally, an untrustworthy friend. Each gives way in the day of testing and crumbles like a weapon made of sand. Raw power is no match for wisdom’s march. Wisdom moves ever upward: up the walls into the midst of her enemies, until she at last comes out the victor.

And this victory, importantly, is not at all because she has strength of numbers on her side. The text presents to us a single man against a city of warriors, and the contrast is not without purpose. We are meant to see in it the ridiculousness of the contest, meant to feel the great imbalance. And yet, as the verse continues, we are meant also—precisely through the lopsidedness of it all—to perceive wisdom’s supremacy. A lone man, full of reverent fear toward God and a hunger for His righteousness, is enough to bring down all the unbelieving strongholds of the world, no matter how secure. Wisdom triumphs over power.

Doers of the Word

This truth, the potency of wisdom, demands at least two things of us if we are to be doers and not simply hearers of the word.

First, it means we must become people who are rapaciously engaged in the pursuit of wisdom—doggedly so. There is no room for foot-shuffling and dawdling here. The pursuit of wisdom is a desperate pursuit, an urgent pursuit, one in which we “seek,” “search,” “call out,” and raise our voices for understanding (Prov. 2:3–4). Wisdom must be prized before she is found. And anyone who refuses to recognize this, or who thinks wisdom will fall into his lap like Newton’s apple, is a fool: “...the complacency of fools destroys them” (1:32).

The pursuit of wisdom, in other words, is not a passive pursuit; slackers will not be rewarded. Rather, wisdom is gained through hunger, and so hungry people are just the kind of people we need to be.

But secondly, having set ourselves to seek wisdom, we should also let it fill us with a holy and volcanic boldness. This is the marvellous thing which our text reveals to us: wisdom is astonishingly ambitious. It scales the city wall, thwarts the desire of the mighty, and brings down the fortress in which they trust. Wisdom, in other words, is no coward, and neither are those who possess her. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD (9:10), and those who fear God have no room in their hearts for the fear of man. Theirs is a defiant and indomitable courage.

If we are going to be led by wisdom, then, we need to earn ourselves a dishonourable discharge from the ranks of the cautious and careful, and enlist instead with the likes of David, Jonathan, Gideon, Elisha, and Paul. Which is to say, we need to recognize that wisdom is sometimes more unwise than we assume, sometimes less careful than our sensibilities might allow.

Sometimes wisdom looks like a shepherd boy bravely facing down a pagan giant (1 Sam. 17); at other times it appears as a lone soldier and his armour-bearer taking on an army of uncircumcised heathen (1 Sam. 14). The difference is never in the size of the army or the strength of the champion. Rather, victory is apportioned on the basis of one’s trust and obedience in God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. Those who fear God scale the city and bring down the mighty; those who trust in the strength of man find themselves grovelling in the dust. Wisdom and might are not competing on the same level. In the world God has made, wisdom is a far more potent force than brute strength.

The Wisdom of the Cross

At the end of it all, we should also remember that the wisdom of God has been revealed to us, not in the arena of human might and achievement, but in the weak and foolish sight of a lone Man gasping and heaving upon a Roman cross.

And though this event looked for all the world like one destined to perish in obscurity, it was in fact the very way God in His wisdom was overcoming the world.

He was, in the cross, “reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19).

He was disarming the rulers and authorities, triumphing over them and putting them to open shame (Col. 2:15).

He was destroying the one who held the power of death and delivering all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Heb. 2:14-15).

He was making propitiation for the sins of His people, bringing many sons to glory (vv. 18, 10).

And all this while none of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:8).

The world, then, does not operate the way the wicked think—on brute force and power. It moves according to a deeper influence, the “Deep Magic,” as Lewis put it so well. And understanding this is a source of great comfort and great courage in evil days. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).

Remember this, Christian, and forge ahead wherever God has placed you. Trust Him and take the city.