“Maintain sound wisdom and discretion. My son, don’t lose sight of them. They will be life for you and adornment for your neck. Then you will go safely on your way; your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be pleasant. Don’t fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.” (Proverbs 3:21-26 CSB – Read the chapter)

Security is a big deal in our world today. Our need for it keeps all sorts of companies in business. We want our homes to feel secure. We want our health to feel secure. We want our finances to feel secure. We want our spiritual lives to feel secure. We want to know that everything is going to be okay, and we’re willing to go to pretty great lengths to make sure that it is. But while a certain amount of feeling secure is related to a variety of physical things we do, a significant portion of it is also a state of mind. It is a state of mind that wisdom can help address. Let’s talk about it.

When I ran cross country, my coach was very much a no-nonsense guy. I think he may have been one of the history teachers, although I never had him in class. He was pretty straightforward in his dealings with us. One of the things said to us fairly often was that we needed to remember the 5 P’s. Proper planning prevents poor performance. The idea, which I’m sure you’ve heard before, conveys a profound truth in the simplest of terms. If you prepare adequately for the path ahead of you, the likelihood that you will walk that path successfully increases greatly.

Or perhaps let’s switch our attention elsewhere for a moment. Have you ever been driving down the highway faster than the posted speed limit (I know you were just “keeping up with traffic,” but for the sake of argument) and saw a cop up ahead on the side of the road? What did you instinctively do in that moment? You shifted your foot slightly to the left and tapped on your brake pedal to slow down to something closer to the actual speed limit you were previously ignoring.

Why did you do this? Probably not because you felt particularly bad about speeding. You did it because you didn’t want to get a ticket for speeding. You didn’t want to deal with the consequences of getting caught breaking the law. Just so you know, unless you spied that officer on a particularly long, straight, and lonely stretch of highway, if he had his radar gun pointed in your direction, by the time you saw him and were able to process the thought that you needed slow down a bit, he already had your speed clocked. Those guns use lasers which process at the speed of light. Your neurons, nervous system, and muscles don’t.

You may not like planning ahead, especially if that planning involves much effort on your part. You may not like driving at the posted speed limit, especially if you are running late and are in a hurry. But there is nonetheless wisdom in both endeavors. When we make the decision to operate by godly wisdom (as if there was really any other kind), there are a whole collection of concerns that will largely be moved off the table for us. This is what Solomon calls us to in these next few verses. “Maintain sound wisdom and discretion. My son [or daughter], don’t lose sight of them.” Commit to walking that path, and don’t veer from it to the left or to the right.

Doing this will bring all sorts of benefits. “They will be life for you and adornment for your neck.” You will avoid all sorts of trouble. What’s more, you will become known in your community as someone who is wise. You will become known as the kind of person who sagely avoids trouble. If people want to have a good experience as they navigate through life, all they have to do is follow the path you are taking. That’s a reputation you want to carry.

“Then you will go safely on your way; your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be pleasant.” Let’s make clear what this is not saying. It’s not saying that if you act by wisdom you are never going to trip. Remember: the proverbs offer general truth that apply in most circumstances. When you live by wisdom, while you won’t necessarily be able to avoid every single instance of discomfort or pain, you will avoid a lot of what might otherwise come because of foolish choices. When you are watching where you are walking when you are heading off down a risky path, you are far less likely to stumble and fall. That applies whether we are talking about hiking and the kind of footing we have, or life more generally and the kinds of choices we are making.

When you can see down the path a ways because you have prepared adequately for what’s coming, the likelihood that you avoid pitfalls and snares that are lying in wait for the unsuspecting traveler goes way up. When you make the kind of choices that give you assurance that you aren’t going to face needlessly caused trouble (versus the unexpected pitfalls that are simply part of life in a broken world), you rest easier. You’ve had nights where you’ve gone to bed with some foolish, sinful choice weighing heavily on your conscience and you did not sleep well at all. When you operate by godly wisdom, you’ll have many fewer of those. Your sleep will be a great deal more pleasant.

“Don’t fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.” Now, once again, this does not mean that God is going to keep anything bad from ever happening to you. The kind of snare the Lord will keep your foot from here is the snare that comes from sinful choices or the snare that comes from other people whose actions you can anticipate because of wisdom. Even if you should fall into some kind of trouble, though, your confidence is still in the Lord. Your righteousness is set, and you know that He has your back both in this life and – more importantly – in the next. When you live by wisdom, you don’t live by fear. The one naturally precludes the other.

The simple truth is that wisdom leads to a happier, more peaceful, more contented life than the alternative. It leads to greater health and flourishing than any other path. It makes you more of a blessing to the people around you than choosing your own way. Like Solomon has already declared: Whatever it takes for you to gain wisdom, do that. It’ll be worth the effort.