Scripture tells us that “with him are wisdom and might; his are counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13). Wisdom, in the biblical sense, is never just information. It is not the accumulation of facts or the mastery of ideas. Wisdom is the fruit of loving God—of allowing knowledge to be shaped, purified, and directed by prayer.
Saint Thomas Aquinas understood this. He knew more than most, yet what made him wise was not the breadth of his learning but the way he offered it back to God. His study became service. His clarity became compassion. His teaching became bread for the hungry of spirit—truth given as nourishment.
Psalm 111 invites us into that same posture of grateful wonder:
“I will thank the Lord with all my heart
in the meeting of the just and their assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord;
to be pondered by all who love them.”
Wisdom begins with remembering—remembering God’s wonders, God’s compassion, God’s fidelity. The psalmist reminds us that God feeds His people, keeps His covenant, and acts with justice and truth. These are not abstract ideas; they are lived realities. They are the steady rhythms of a God who never forgets His promises.
And then comes the line that gathers it all:
“To fear the Lord is the first stage of wisdom;
all who do so prove themselves wise.”
This “fear” is not dread but reverence—a heart awake to God’s majesty, a soul ready to be taught. It is the humility that says: You are God, and I am not. Teach me to see as You see.
In a world overflowing with information yet starving for meaning, Psalm 111 calls us back to the source. True wisdom is born in gratitude, sustained by wonder, and perfected in love. It is the kind of wisdom that shaped Saint Thomas—and the kind that can shape us, too, if we let God’s truth become our daily bread.
Smitten With Goodness 