God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and knowledge as vast as the sands of the seashore. 1 KINGS 4:29 (NLT)

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Advanced education has been critiqued as “knowing more and more about less and less.” While there may be a measure of truth in this statement, it is those men and women who know more and more about little things called viruses who are working on a cure and a vaccine for COVID-19. Let us appreciate their attention to detail.

King Solomon was a man with great wisdom, as you may have heard. How smart was he? He was one of the all-time greats. Read 1 Kings 4:29-34 for a nice summary. He was the smartest smart guy of all smart guys. People loved to listen to him talk about stuff. Ask him a question and he had an answer. Not just any offhand observation, but a well thought out, insightful description and explanation. He was not faking it. He knew what he was talking about. His powers of focus and imagination were legendary.

All of these reputational accolades aside, how do we really know how smart he was? The best evidence is found in v. 32: “He composed some 3,000 proverbs and wrote 1,005 songs.” Three thousand proverbs works out to over eight years of daily summarizing lessons learned in bite-size chunks. Solomon was not content to learn everything like a super achieving know-it-all. He turned knowledge into wisdom by capturing essential truths and packaging them in a simple delivery system. His was the original News You Can Use.

One thousand and five songs comes out to about twenty years of a song a week. (Please check my math. Katie is still asleep.) Songs help people express their deepest thoughts and feelings. They are wonderful teaching tools. They fill emptiness and shape moods. Songs rouse us to action. Songs soothe our wounds.

Solomon was a man comfortable with a stylus and parchment. He delivered transformational truth in a manner those who heard them then or read them now can apply with confidence.

Smart. Very smart.

Want to be smarter, much smarter? Want to be considered wise? Keep a journal. Write down lessons learned. Find a way to shrink those lessons into tiny packages which speak volumes and expand exponentially when deeply considered.

Blaise Pascal did that. He jotted down his thoughts (pensees in French). People still marvel at his wisdom and mathematical genius. He died at age thirty-nine and yet his journal sets minds ablaze today.

You and I are neither Solomon nor Pascal. Even so, our thoughts and insights may well provide the key which unlocks the mysteries of the universe for someone. What’s your best thought by night or by day? Jot it down in your journal. Wisdom flows from the ones who choose to not only wonder and ponder but to those who record the meanderings of their minds.

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I will journal more intentionally.

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Our Father, please bless us with wisdom. Give us the discipline to record your words of truth and life. Empower us to think your thoughts after you. Give us teachable spirits. Amen.