Proverb 3:7

“Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.”

What does it mean to be wise in your own eyes?

I suppose, it’s thinking highly of oneself. After looking up the Hebrew text for the word, “wise”, and finding words like “intelligent, skillful or artful, cunning” in the definition, I am bent toward the belief that to be wise in my own eyes is to elevate my qualifications. 

We are bred to do this very thing in our culture. We’re trained to update our resume before we’re ever even in need of a new job (in preparation, of course. It would have nothing to do with feeding our ego). We have to obtain new and fresh letters of recommendation highlighting all of the wonderful things about us, as if the great things we did some time ago are outdated and we must outdo ourselves, even. It’s not only about beating the other person out of the position anymore. We have to one-up ourselves. We have a slew of social media profiles that we spend time updating and perfecting, to showcase our credentials. 

But our reverence should be reserved for the Lord as it states in the next line. “Fear the Lord” (emphasis my own). Not one’s self. The text suggests not that we cower in His presence but acknowledge the dignity and respect deserved by this being. He should be honored by our stance in his presence, the titles we give him. Not those we create for ourselves, and plug into a profile. 

Sure, we give him an occasional shoutout, and we may even throw a couple religious-sounding words up in a prayer. 

But are we honoring him? Do we honor him as we honor ourselves?  Do we spend half as much time lifting Him up as we do ourselves? That’s really an easy question to answer. But it’s tough to admit, isn’t it? 

The next line seems to be dependent upon the former and is clear about one thing: we are to depart from evil. 

One definition of the Hebrew word for depart here, is the word eschew: “deliberately avoid using, abstain from” (New Oxford American Dictionary).

Departing evil will not happen by chance. Without a deliberate attempt at avoiding it’s traps, we will, with certainty, fall into the traps evil has laid out for our entrapment. And to do so, we must first fear God.

The two go hand in hand: fear God; depart from evil.