"Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold." - Pro 3:13-14 ESV.
Scientists in the food industry are always trying to find ways to make breeds of plants for our food sources to become more and more high-yielding. When I was in my teens, many farmers in our place were still hesitant about new rice varieties and their preferred choice were the traditional ones. Their argument was that the old variety was more resistant against pests and tasted better when cooked. In a sense, they put value on taste more than yield. My father, being the non-traditionalist that he was, became the talk of the neighborhood when his one hectare of ricefield was able to produce twice as much using the new variety compared to the ones using the traditional one. These days, high-yield rice varieties can produce as much as five times per hectare but again not everyone will pick the new over the old for one reason or another. And usually, their reason is based on some value whether monetary or not.
Much of our choices are like that rice story. We pick one thing over another because for the same cost, we believe our choice will bring the greatest value into our life. Some people save their money while others buy things with it. Both sides will claim their choice to be wiser than the other.
It can be sometimes surprising how people determine or decide which things to value more than others. Psychologists will credit such differences to desires and their fulfillment. A person who desires comfort will always prioritize it over food or activity. A parent whose desire is the best education for his or her child will prioritize paying for a higher tuition in a better school and sacrifice that vacation abroad. Between a house or a vehicle for mobility, one person will always pick one or the other based on what he desires more.
It's not that desire is always subjective. It can be based on a real and a practical need. But the fact that people still come up with one thing over another is a testimony to the truth that even a person's judgment about whether one thing is a need or simply a want can also be biased. There is a need for a third party, one whose standard is not biased nor clouded by some unmet personal desire of his own. Someone whose judgment is based on true outcomes as far as cost and benefit is concerned without giving in to preferences or superficiality.
In today's passage, we are told that wisdom is one thing we can choose that can give us more value than gold or silver, more precious than jewels and nothing we desire can compare with it (vs. 2-3). But how many people really pick wisdom over those other things? How many would rather spend their money on jewelry and other expensive things and yet won't even send their children to good schools because they are deemed expensive? A more readily available gratification in enjoying what money can buy today appeals more to many than what it will produce in the future. Thus, wisdom usually loses to today's indulgence.
The bible is a book full of wisdom and it is the kind that is not prejudiced toward any particular ideology or politics. It is simply a book of truth written for all men. Those who don't believe it would consider it biased toward Judaeo-Christian beliefs. But labeling the bible's content as Judaeo-Christian doesn't make it less true. It is still God's briefing for human race if we want to live life to the fullest and free from our own biases and ignorance. It doesn't leave room for our own preference and prejudice based on our unfulfilled desires. It is simply an objective instruction if we have to find the maximum yield for our every effort toward relationship, knowledge and a happy and fulfilled life. In short, the bible is the wisdom of God given to people. It should be the source of wisdom that we covet for each day as we build our person and character. In a world where every person is rich but without biblical wisdom and another which is full of it though not as rich, there is no doubt which one will be better world.