Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars.
Proverbs 9:1
If wisdom is a builder and she has hewn out its seven pillars, we must find out these seven pillars.
- PRUDENCE
I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence.
Proverbs 8:12a
Prudence involves being careful to manage men and materials to yield maximum extractable value out of resources. Prudence is the opposite of waste. Prudence is usually evident in the presence of lack. When there is abundance without prudence, waste is inevitable.
When you travel round Nigeria, you see wastages by government and by individuals. Wastage is seen in extravagant burial ceremonies, marriages, and birthday celebrations even in the midst of poverty. In our streets, you see burst pipes gushing out water that is meant for drinking. In homes and offices, light bulbs and electrical equipment that are not in use are left on even during the day to waste electrical energy.
Our children know how to waste their time in Africa. We even waste human beings in different forms. We make our children unproductive and many of them are not ready to maximize the little they have to generate more value.
Jesus was an example of prudence to the core. Let us use this instance to illustrate.
“How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. Mark 6:38-44.
Jesus was with the disciples in a remote place and there was a need to feed a large multitude. Jesus was prepared to meet the needs of the people. He was conscious of what would befall them if they were left to go home hungry.
Prudence stems from an awareness of responsibility and needs of those around us.
Next, Jesus needed to know what they had vis-à-vis what they needed. Prudence involves finding a way of extracting more value from what you have to meet the demands upon your life. This is what I have now . . .How do I use it to get what I need?
A foolish man spends more to get less or nothing. A foolish person spends what he has for what he does not need.
Poverty + Prudence + Providence = Prosperity
- THE FEAR OF GOD
Jesus first prayed to God in heaven. He had value for the relationship He had with God, the Father; He observed protocol. Prudence observes protocol with reverence for God. We need leaders that fear God, fathers that fear God, and pastors that fear God, and believers that will fear Him.
Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 15:33
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people. Proverbs 14:34
It is the fear of the Lord that teaches wisdom. A man without the fear of God would be reckless, greedy, wasteful, and wicked. In our churches, people no longer fear God; we come to church and do all kinds of evil. Our pastors are afraid to preach the truth for fear of man.
Today, the government of some nations and pressure groups like LGBT want the church to fear them. In fact, politicians fear to speak against such evils. America that was founded on the fear of God and value for the providential care of God now wants God to be replaced with recklessness.
The fear of God leads to attitudinal righteousness and righteousness exalts. Righteousness adds value to a person or nation. People are afraid of coming for business opportunities in Nigeria because of corruption and crime. We usually say we are a blessed nation and we are a very warm people with great intelligence, but a few ungodly people drag us to the ground and it makes it difficult for outsiders to trust us.
- DISCRETION
You must distinguish between the holy and the common, and the clean and the unclean,
Leviticus 10:10
Discretion is the ability to make the right choices. It is also the ability to know what to do and how to act on different occasions. Discretion is the source of appropriateness—knowing what is appropriate for a particular situation.
Discretion teaches flexibility and elasticity without loss of identity and purpose. Paul said he became all things to all men.
Discretion will teach a woman that clothes and patterns of dressing that are appropriate in America might be offensive in Iran or Nigeria. And if she is to make the maximum impact and get the best extractable value from her relationship or dealings there, she needs to dress appropriately. The way you dress to a factory or workplace might not need to be the way you dress to church. What works in one setting might not work in another setting.
Even as a preacher, I try to find an appropriate way to pass my message across in different circumstances. I also found from my journeys that a behaviour that is appropriate in one denomination might not be appropriate in another. In most Pentecostal churches, the guest speaker would come later to speak after the service has started. However, in the Anglican Church, 7 a.m. is 7 a.m., and everybody including the guest preacher must be ready to march in and step in unison. They, most times, insist that I wear a gown over my dressing and I do; the priority in that situation is speaking to the people, not arguing about my clothes.
What will pass off as smartness in Nigeria would be seen as primitive behaviour elsewhere. I travelled with somebody and he would behave as if he was in Nigeria; I insisted that we were now in another country and the rules have changed. Even in neighbouring countries like Togo and Republic of Benin, I noticed that they don’t hurry as we do in Nigeria. When I go there, everybody seems to be sluggish. So, I have to deliberately slow down my pace to act civilized, if not I will lose value in the sight of my hosts.
One reason we have a bad image outside Nigeria is that we want to export Nigeria when we travel to other lands.
Adaptation is a product of discretion.
- HUMILITY
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2
Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.
Proverbs 22:4
The fear of the Lord is what wisdom teaches, and humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 15:33
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
Romans 12:3.
Pride is the first half of the opposite of humility; the other half is arrogance. Arrogance is to arrogate to oneself a value far beyond what one is. Arrogance is a byproduct of ignorance. Pride is an overblown value of who and what one is. It is an overpriced perception of the value of what you have and what you know. Wisdom should dictate that what you have is from God and not from you. You are a product of the provisions, providence, and the promises of God to humanity.
A proud person pushes God out of his life and replaces God with himself.
- TRUTH
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. John 18:37-38
Truth and faithfulness are from the same Greek root. Truth is rightness, exactness, reliability, and actuality. Without dependability, there is no truth. What you cannot depend on has no truth in it.
The value people place on you is how reliable you are. Faith has truth as its foundation. We believe the Word of God because it is true. We believe it because Jesus, the Word of God incarnate, is truth. It is not what you believe that matters; it is whether it is the truth.
Any marriage founded on deception will not last. Any business founded on deception will not flourish. Any ministry founded on deception will not last. The problem with the blackman is that probity is alien to most of our leaders. If our leaders are truthful in the electioneering promises, truthful in the management of funds, then we will not need debt forgiveness from the industrialized nations. Probity is a product of truthfulness. It is telling the people, ‘Trust me, what I tell you is what I am’, ‘Trust me with your future and your destiny, I will be reliable’.
Today, in many African countries, the certificates that most of us carry are not factual. Even if they bear our names, they do not reflect our real grades because cheating in examinations has become like a tradition in many African nations.
The judiciary in many African nations is fraudulent. Magistrates have been known to pervert justice to favour the rich and those in authority. The judiciary has become an accomplice in criminality in Africa. The police are another case. The Inspector General of Police in Nigeria, a lawyer, and a national award winner was found with billions stashed away in his bank account. Meanwhile he was the chief security officer of the nation; he was a big fat lie in uniform.
In developing societies, value is placed on truth to the extent they invented a lie detector. A president can be removed from office for just a lie.
- SOUND SPEECH
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
Proverbs 18:21
Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.
Proverbs 13:3
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29
The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
Proverbs 14:1
Your speech displays who you are. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. You can kill and cause death with the tongue. No matter how talented and gifted you are, your tongue can reduce you to ruins. What you speak into the lives of your children will, to a great extent, determine what will come out of their lives. People assess you from your speech. The content of your speech is a reflection of your personality and your values.
Many people have great visions but their tongues put landmines in front of them and they get ruined. You can drive all your customers away with foul and unpleasant language.
Many pastors’ wives in Nigeria do not know how to talk. A great percentage of them have street mentality of speech. The greatest problem most pastors have is their wives. Many were not prepared for the sudden elevation in status. Their mindset is still ghetto-oriented; even though they live in affluence, they still speak like slum dwellers.
If you interview a set of men, you will find out that the average man has no value for an argumentative wife. An argumentative wife is worse than a snake at home. You can kill a snake but you can’t kill your wife. If you kill a snake, you will be congratulated but if you kill your wife, you will be incarcerated.
A talkative person is of little value. A talkative person spends little time to reason and whatever comes out of his mouth is folly. Like parrots, talkative can’t fly high.
Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing.
Proverbs 9:13
- COUNSEL
Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power.
Proverbs 8:14
One of the titles of Jesus is counsellor, which means a spring of wisdom to direct lives in the right direction. It is also the reason why He is the way, the truth, and the light. These titles of Him all show direction.
When you are under divine direction, you don’t get lost; you travel faster and farther than your contemporaries. If you are under divine instruction, destruction is far from you. There might be difficulties and challenges, but God never leads you to where He has not arrived before you. He arrives before you and takes charge of the situation.
One great asset I have is the ability to learn from adversity. I learn from difficult situations; life is too short to repeat mistakes. I add value to my life by learning with my eyes and ears. If you don’t have somebody to advise you, learn fast from people even without asking questions. I learn every day; I learn from people below, above, in front, behind, and beside me.
I try to listen when somebody is speaking. An individual that will take counsel has understanding. Understanding is the ability to arrive at a deduction from data, events, people, and circumstances. Understanding means grasping principles and knowing how to apply them. Understanding is deducing meaning out of information.
Understanding builds character; tolerance, prudence, discretion, humility, sound speech, the fear of God, and truth are the conclusions of understanding.
A politician who steals the money of a road contract and does a shoddy job does not understand that he (or his relatives) will pass that road with the expensive car he used the stolen money to buy. Good management is as a result of what it takes to bring more value out of the raw materials, the machines, and the person.
Understanding precedes appropriate behaviour. Understanding enables one to see beyond difficulties. The man that gets understanding gets what he wants out of life. Understanding is the password to the depths of wisdom; it is seeing beyond ordinariness. Extraordinary people are those who have an extra insight beyond ordinariness.
I remain your friend, Dr. Charles Apoki.
