The Need for Knowledge

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or wisdom is a protection even as money is a protection,

But the [excellent] advantage of knowledge is that wisdom shields and preserves the lives of its possessors. (Ecclesiastes 7:12 AMP)

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…. (Hosea 4:6a KJV)

Dear friends, I would like you to analyze the two very important verses of scriptures above. The first one says that the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom shields and preserves the life of its possessor. In other words, knowledge leads to preservation of life. Knowledge is a shield.

The second verse in Hosea says that people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge. Simply put, people die when they lack knowledge, people die with their potentials when they lack the knowledge of how to use or fulfil those potentials. This will mean that a man could have the potential of becoming a billionaire and yet die in poverty. Another man could have the potential of producing and supplying an entire nation with food products and yet die of hunger if he doesn’t know that he has that potential. You could actually have the potential to create the solution to a problem but because of lack of knowledge of your potentials, that problem will linger for many years and negatively affect you and many others.

 Therefore, man’s major problem is not that he lacks potentials, neither is it that he lacks solutions but man’s major problem is that he lacks knowledge of what he is truly capable of.

Therefore, knowledge is key. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is a life saver. That is why you must arm yourself with knowledge.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

                                                      -James Madison

A man cannot be greater than his level of knowledge, society cannot be more advanced than its degree of enlightenment because, at the end of the day, it is our knowledge that determines how far we go in life. The more you know the higher you go, the more you know the more you invent things, the more you know the more potentials you convert into greatness and success in life.

There was a time when we, humans didn’t have cars, but the ability(potential) to produce cars was hidden in man. That ability was in man but until man knew he had the ability to produce cars until man discovered that potential and went ahead to produce cars, we didn’t have cars. We suffered the lack of cars for so many years before cars were invented. So, you have a car today only because someone had the knowledge of how cars could be made and converted the inbuilt potential, that ability, into producing cars.

 Unfortunately, as important as knowledge is, most people detest it. We live in a generation full of young and old people who are not interested in knowledge. A multitude that has rejected knowledge. They would rather have TV’s than have libraries. They would prefer watching soap operas than reading books about knowledge and understanding. They would choose to play candy crush instead of attending a leadership training class. An ignorant generation that thinks they know, yet are void of understanding.

Whereas even the scriptures recognized the importance of knowledge and understanding and it says in the fourth chapter of proverbs:

Do not abandon wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will keep you safe. Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do. Whatever else you get, get insight. Love wisdom, and she will make you great. Embrace her, and she will bring you honor. She will be your crowning glory.”(Proverbs 4:6-9 GNT)

This generation is acquiring everything else except knowledge when in fact the most important thing to acquire is knowledge and understanding. We would buy phones, iPads, designer’s clothes and shoes, cosmetics, cars, etc. but never buy knowledge and wisdom. The Psalmist further broadens our understanding of the need for knowledge when he wrote in his twenty-third chapter and verse the following words.

 Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. {ESV}

Dear friends, the worst thing that can happen to you is to live a life void of knowledge. You will never discover your potentials without knowledge. You will never convert your potentials without adequate knowledge and you will not be able to maximize your potentials without knowledge. Without knowledge, you will perish alongside all your potentials. Without knowledge, you will never be successful in life. Without knowledge, you cannot be numbered among the great.

If you look at the world today, you will notice that even though all men have been given potentials for greatness, not all men are actually great. There are only very few great and successful men in our world today. What is the problem with the remaining lot? Why are they having so many potentials and yet living in poverty and mediocrity? The answer can be found in this “they have refused to buy wisdom and understanding, they have rejected knowledge”

 Those who are great have a well of knowledge and are constantly buying wisdom and understanding, whereas those who are mediocre think they already know so much yet they are void and empty knowledge-wise. Those who are great know that knowledge elevates, they know it preserves but the poor and unsuccessful are ignorant of this truth. You are where you are not because you lack the potentials to grow and progress in life but because you lack the wisdom and understanding to do so. If you must be as successful as Elon Musk, you must know as much as he knows. If you must be as rich as Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, you must acquire as much knowledge as they have. If you want to be as proficient a doctor as Ben Carson, you must accrue as much knowledge as he has. 

Therefore the only thing that separates people in life is the gap between their level of knowledge and their ignorance. Though we all have potentials for greatness, yet the majority of us are limited by our lack of knowledge. Without knowledge, potentials are useless. Without knowledge, people die with all their potentials undiscovered and unused. Without knowledge, it is impossible to discover your potentials and convert them.

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