Be Wise or Seek wisdom?

Proverbs 3:7-24

Do not be wise in your own eyes;

    fear the Lord and shun evil.
⁸ This will bring health to your body
    and nourishment to your bones.

⁹ Honor the Lord with your wealth,
    with the firstfruits of all your crops;
¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
    and your vats will brim over with new wine.

¹¹ My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not resent his rebuke,
¹² because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
    as a father the son he delights in.

¹³ Blessed are those who find wisdom,
    those who gain understanding,
¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver
    and yields better returns than gold.
¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies;
    nothing you desire can compare with her.
¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are riches and honor.
¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways,
    and all her paths are peace.
¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
    those who hold her fast will be blessed.

¹⁹ By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
    by understanding he set the heavens in place;
²⁰ by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
    and the clouds let drop the dew.

²¹ My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
    preserve sound judgment and discretion;
²² they will be life for you,
    an ornament to grace your neck.
²³ Then you will go on your way in safety,
    and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
    when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

This one in all about wisdom. What it is, and what is promised if we gain it.  

First, comes the warning; Vs 7 "Do not be wise in your own eyes" There are a few ways to read this.  The word eyes can mean 'of mental and spiritual faculties'. So one way to interpret this is, don't trust your own mental/spiritual faculties, you need to rely on God's wisdom.  The other way to read this is, don't be impressed with your own wisdom.  With the rest of the focus on gaining wisdom, this becomes the challenge; to constantly be seeking wisdom without regarding yourself as wise.  

The second part of vs 7 is the crux of the passage. "Fear the Lord and shun evil". Could it be that when we trust only our own intellect we lose fear (reverence/awe) of God? We'll come back to this vs at the end. 

The majority of this passage is focused on wisdom itself.  Think about the word find in vs 13.  When we find something, it usually means we were looking for it. 'I found my keys', 'Did you find that bill?', etc.  Find also means attain, so not only should we be actively seeking wisdom, we must gain it for the promises to hold true.  Interestingly, though the next phrase uses the word "gain" as in gain understanding, the Hebrew of this is actually defined as produce or furnish.  So it could be read, those who produce or bring out understanding.  In other words, this wisdom we seek must be shared as well. 

This thing, wisdom, that we should seek is described in unbelievable ways. Wisdom is more profitable, more valuable, more delightful (pleasant), more peaceful, more honorable, and long living than anything you can think of.  

And what are we promised if we keep wisdom our pursuit? First of all blessings or happiness (vs13) and vs 22-24 answer the rest with safety, lack of stumbling, lack of fear, and sweet sleep. 

Now, we know how wisdom is described, and we know what is promised if we find it, but what exactly is this wisdom we seek? Wisdom is often mentioned in the Bible along with the words knowledge and understanding, so are we seeking intellect? Vs 7 warns us against pursuit of our own intellect, so what, then? 

Job 28:28 says " And he said to the human race,“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” 

We come full circle then. These are the words of Vs. 7. Could it really be so simple?  It's a least a place to start.