Are We Choosing the Right Side?

King Solomon, one of the wisest men who ever lived, had a lot to say about foolishness and wisdom. Three books of the Bible are generally attributed to him–Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. These three books and the additional books of Job and Psalms make up what is known as wisdom literature, because all five books share a perspective on the value of wisdom and how to achieve it.

What else can we glean from these wisdom books? In Proverbs 2:6, we read, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” Wisdom comes from God! That shouldn’t really be a surprise, should it? I always suspected that the Creator of the Heavens and Earth was a smart fellow.

Proverbs 1:7 tells us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Does that mean that we should be afraid of God? Well, yes and no. Yes, because if we don’t follow His ways, we won’t end up any place good. And no, because God wants us to love Him rather than to be afraid of Him.

A better word for “fear” in this verse would be the word “awe”—our awe of God is the beginning of wisdom. My father, on more than one occasion, told me to think before I speak (or act). Dad must have been reading Proverbs 14:8 because Solomon said that “the wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.” My awe and fear of disappointing my dad kept me on the right path more than once.

Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 10:2 that “the heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.” As delightful as it would be to imagine that Solomon’s words were a prophetic metaphor about the state of American politics centuries later, that would not be entirely accurate.

Since ancient times, right has been positively regarded “as the position or direction associated with blessing, favor, or reward …while left has been negatively associated with disfavor or condemnation, stemming from such considerations as the majority of people being right-handed.” Additionally, the right hand was, and still is, used for taking vows.

While Solomon’s use of right and left was a metaphor, it was not a political metaphor. In fact, the association of right and left with conservative and liberal thought has its roots in pre-revolutionary France, where the conservative members of the legislative assembly sat to the right of the king while the liberal members sat to his left.

Regardless of whether we sit to the left or the right of an earthly king, or President, if we want to be “right” with God, we need to incline our hearts to wisdom. The heart that inclines to wisdom also leans toward goodness and love.

The New Testament also gives us advice about wisdom. In James 3:17, we learn that “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peacable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” The next time you’re listening to a politician, keep that in mind.