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| “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” |
| —Proverbs 9:10 |
Through the research of Howard Gardner, the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, we have learned that God dispenses intelligence in a variety of forms. Since 1999, Gardner has identified eight intelligences: linguistic, logic-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. Gardner is informally considering two additional intelligences, existential and pedagogical.
Over the years since Gardner first published his findings, many have written peer-reviewed papers analyzing his work and, in some cases, attempting to refine and re-characterize some of Gardner’s findings. No doubt this research will continue for many years to come. Gardner, who is now in his early 70s, continues to study this ground-breaking topic and encourage others to extend his research.
As an educational developer for the insurance company where I worked for 30 years, for the last nine years as Director of Loss Prevention Training, I often referred to Gardner’s earliest published papers as I tried to develop and refine a full-blown certification program for our 400 fire protection engineers. It was very helpful to observe the individual differences of students using a variety of observations and instruments, such as the Gregorc Style Delineator™.
But, I also learned that the application of knowledge requires both wisdom and understanding. It’s not enough to have a grasp of the factual information as artifacts of an intellectual exercise. The practical use of knowledge depends on the ability of an individual to understand the knowledge and the wisdom to apply it properly.
In one of my writing classes in college, a young high school senior—the son of a professor—had received permission to take the class. The class focused on writing radio scripts and this young man had an interest in radio. He had studied hard over the summer and taken the First Class Radiotelephone License exam from the Federal Communications Commission. Frankly, I was quite envious of this accomplishment on his part. I had long desired to achieve this license and had even spent a rather large sum of money for a correspondence course from the Cleveland Institute of Electronics in order to learn enough electronic theory to pass the portion of the exam dealing with radio frequency (rf) transmission. I needed this particular exposure because I already had a fairly broad knowledge of the audio portion of radio broadcasting.
The professor in charge of the class thought that this bright young man might be able to help out at the campus radio station and enlisted his assistance in making some repairs to the transmitter. But, when he showed up to work with some of us on this project, we realized that his knowledge was purely intellectual. He had no practical experience working on a transmitter. In fact, he didn’t even know how to use a soldering iron or other electronic tools. He knew what he had read in a book about test instruments, but he had never used one to take readings on the various circuits.
I learned a very important lesson or two from this experience. First of all, I should never be envious of anyone. Every person has gifts and talents and has achieved things that I will never achieve. Likewise, I have things to offer that others might not have. Being envious is a waste of time and energy. Secondly, I learned how important it is to seek both understanding and wisdom to go along with whatever knowledge one might acquire.
King Solomon knew quite a bit about wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. History records that Solomon was a very smart man. It also records that he was a very wise man. So, it is no surprise that Solomon wrote these words that appear in Proverbs 9:10:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
If we want to understand what life is all about, we must first seek to give the highest respect to the God who created all things. The word translated from the Hebrew as “fear” is unique in that it contains an expression of the greatest possible respect and the caution of approaching the object of respect with a full recognition of that being’s power and authority. That certainly fits how we should approach God.
We need to bow before God in humility and reverence. We need to extend every possible respect to God. We need to also overflow with gratitude that God has chosen us to belong to Himself and has paid the penalty for our sin to satisfy His justice by sending His one and only Son to die on the cross in our place. No greater love can be expressed than God’s love for us. No greater fear is owed someone than the utmost respect we owe God.
The more we open ourselves up to God’s will, the more we study His Word, the more we yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit, the more wisdom we will have. Imagine what we can do, as brothers and sisters in Christ, if we harness the power of this God-given wisdom to go forth and change the world.
