Wisdom, understanding, knowledge – all these are inseparably connected to the life that is “upright,” or wise. In this book, there is a contrast between the simple, the mocker, the fool, and the righteous person, the upright person.
The simple person is the one who never thinks about his words or actions. He just acts – like the person who is constantly forwarding every inane thing he finds on the internet that sounds good without checking it out. You can reply that he should check his sources, but the simple person never does. The mocker, like the simple person, not only doesn’t accept correction, he will de-friend you on Facebook for suggesting he might be wrong. He will hate you for your correction. The fool doesn’t hear correction. He’s too busy telling you what he thinks he knows to hear any other view.
There is only one difference between these two groups. That difference is wisdom; specifically God’s wisdom.
In chapter 1, God’s wisdom is pictured as searching you out, walking the streets calling out like a parent frantically calling out for a lost child in a crowd. But in Chapter 2, those who would be wise are every bit as much interested in finding wisdom as wisdom (God) is in finding them.
Wisdom’s value? Ultimate victory, success in the undertaking, and protection in the process. Ultimately, not a worry free life, but the only kind of life anyone would ever really want to live.