History would tell us that one poor man could not set an entire city free. Precedent would reinforce that this would be a ridiculous endeavor. Yet while the warrior is informed by the past, they are not formed by it. The warrior is not formed by what has been done and what can’t be done; the heart of the warrior is formed by what must be done.
I have lived long enough to see things come to pass that were once considered impossible. I have also lived long enough to know that the impossible never surrenders to the possible without a fight. The poor man in this story began with nothing. He was determined to set his entire city free, knowing that he must go to war against what Solomon described as a powerful king. The warrior knows that every great endeavor comes with great opposition.
I hope you will never have to know the violence of war. I hope you will never have to experience the devastation that countless millions have already come to know. I come from a nation with a history of violence. I was born in a city that bears the burden of having one of the highest murder rates in the world. The children of El Salvador have never had the luxury of childhood. When other children were holding crayons, they were holding weapons.
My greatest hope would be that we would all come to know a day when there is no more war. That hope is why I write these words and call you to walk this path. This is the power of wisdom—to fight the battles that matter most so that we never have to fight another war again. If we study war, it is only to find our way to peace. Solomon described this poor man as having the greatest wisdom he had ever seen, not because he went to war, but because he found a way to peace.
There are some who fight meaningless battles against lesser opposition simply to confirm their own sense of greatness. Actually, one of the most common critiques of professional boxing is that even the best boxers, after having achieved the pinnacle of success, hold on to their titles not by maintaining their level of skill and strength but by being properly managed. Once you win the belt, the rest of your career is less about maintaining your level of greatness and more about avoiding the wrong fights and the wrong fighters. This is one of the reasons professional boxing careers often end so badly. Eventually the wrong opponent becomes unavoidable. Suddenly you find yourself in the ring with a hungry fighter who has no respect for your legend. He quickly proves you to be too slow, too old, and far past your prime.
The warrior never fights for themselves; they fight only for others. They never use what they do not have as an excuse, they never use the overwhelming nature of the challenge as an escape, and they are never surprised when faced with unexpected and undeserved opposition.
The enemy that we tend to expect is like the powerful king who came and seized the city. The enemies we rarely speak of are the ones within us—those that would cause us to live in fear and so paralyze us that we would rather live a life of oppression than pay the price for freedom. We would expect an enemy king and his soldiers to fight against our revolt. The stories that are rarely told are the ones of the very people we are trying to set free, people turned against us because we are endangering the status quo. I have come to know the painful truth in life: most people would rather live in the predictability of captivity than risk the uncertainty that comes in a fight for freedom.
It may seem completely counterintuitive, but in my experience, depressed people are the least likely to be willing to change any of their life patterns. In other words, people who hate their lives are the least likely to change them. When you love your life, you are more open to change. When you somehow find yourself in a life you never wanted, it has a paralyzing effect. It becomes a subtle version of Stockholm syndrome, where you develop an unhealthy relationship to your captor and disdain for anyone trying to set you free.
I’ve learned this lesson the hard way over the past forty years. I have tried one too many times to help people move out of lives they hate to lives they could love. The problem is that the change could not come without risk. I have seen this time and again. People will stay in jobs they hate for an unimaginable number of years. They will stay in destructive relationships because the fear of being alone feels overwhelming to them. If you are not living the life you long for and have the power to choose a different life, then what is keeping you from your freedom? Is there a siege work that has been built around your life that needs to be torn down? The wisdom of the warrior is your way to freedom.
The poor man’s wisdom would not only have to overcome the military prowess of this conquering king but also have to set his people free from the crippling power of oppression and the fear that must have overtaken their hearts. When a people are conquered, they do not simply lose their land, homes, and freedom; they also lose their hopes and dreams and future. The poor man would have to overcome despair with hope and convince the people that there was a future worth fighting for. The first siege work that would have to be broken is the one that held them captive in fear. Before they would fight for freedom, they would have to choose to live free.
We see it only in the aftermath of this man’s life, but the way of wisdom never seeks fame, even while living for greatness. This man was unknown before the story began and unremembered after the story was over. Clearly, if he knew how to set a city free, he also knew how to secure his own fame. It mattered to Solomon that he would be remembered throughout history. It mattered to Solomon that he would not be forgotten. For Solomon, fame was inseparable from greatness. But for this poor man who was wise, for this man who had set his entire city free, to be known seemed unimportant. And we must ask ourselves, do we seek to be known more than to be worth knowing?
My grandfather could walk in and out of a room without being heard. The poor man walked in and out of history without being remembered. The greatest warrior cannot be heard when they strike, cannot be seen when they move. When all is said and done, the warrior is not known for their weapons but for their wisdom. And while the poor man was quickly forgotten, what he did was never forgotten. Solomon could not find his name, but his fingerprints were everywhere. The warrior lives their life to leave a legacy and live their legend.
When we are young, we are drawn by the fight far more than compelled by the training. We love the sound of victory far more than the grind of discipline. When you understand that wisdom is your greatest strength, you do not neglect the work necessary to sharpen your edge. It is Solomon who also reminds us that “if the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success.”22 Too often we waste our strength by trying harder rather than becoming sharper.
There is a reason I love the story of the poor man who set his city free. The central figure of this story overcomes the very obstacles that all of us will face. Although his was an epic battle against a great empire, ours may be the ordinary battles of everyday life. Like this poor man, all of us will face our own struggle against a sense of insignificance. We must embrace the power of one person with God. At some point or another, we will feel as if we are underresourced for the challenges ahead. We must lean into the unlimited resources of the God who calls us. If not all of us, certainly most of us will wonder if we have the necessary position or power to accomplish our greatest challenges. It is then we must embrace the power of influence. In the end, most of us will wonder if what we’ve given ourselves to has been worth the fight, especially if no one remembers our names. And that’s why we must never forget that what is done for ourselves will one day be forgotten but that what we have done for others will be remembered for eternity.
Keep Your Edge
Years ago I took my turn at being a lumberjack. In my twenties, when I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I tried an endless number of jobs, but most of them were just for the simple purpose of paying the bills. So as a lumberjack, I traveled with a crew to the mountains of Virginia to cut down giant trees in a section of the woods that needed to be cleared.
It was an ideal scenario.
Because the government needed free labor to clear the land, we could sell the lumber and clear significant profits for our work. I’ve never liked being paid by the hour. I’ve always been drawn to opportunities where my income is not limited by my willingness to work harder than everyone else. When you are being paid not by the hour but by the pound, there is no time to waste.
When you are a novice, you cut away at the tree, never taking the time to pull back and sharpen the ax’s edge. Frankly, when you are inexperienced, you don’t even notice that the edge has become dull. You do notice that the tree becomes denser and every inch of progress becomes harder and harder. If you’re not paying attention, you’ll simply think that you’re losing strength or that in some strange way the tree is gaining strength. It takes a more seasoned lumberjack to make you aware that you are increasing your effort but decreasing your result.
The fool just keeps striking and striking without paying attention to the quality of the edge. The wise know that if the edge is unsharpened, more strength is needed. The warrior understands that behind one strike of their sword are ten thousand hours in which they have wielded their sword without an enemy present. It is no different in life, that we are not pulling back bows or swinging swords or carrying the weapons of conventional battle. Every life is a series of battles, of conflicts, and of wars, and of course the war we speak of is the one that rages within. You cannot win the battle for your soul if you choose to live the life of a fool, neglecting the health of your soul and not taking time to refine who you are.
The battle may look different for each of us, but the battle line is the same: it is at the intersection of our passions and desires. Solomon tells us to love wisdom. He knows that in the end we become what we love. We do not become fools because we lack the right information; we become fools because we love the wrong things. The only way you can care for your soul is to nurture your love for what is good and beautiful and true.
Solomon also tells us that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”23 Why is the fear of God the starting point on the path toward wisdom? To begin with, what you fear has mastery over your life. If you fear only God, then he becomes your only master. What you fear also establishes the boundaries of your freedom. If you are afraid of heights, you stay low. If you are afraid of crowds, you stay alone. Fear limits your freedom except when it comes to God.
Scripture tells us that “perfect love casts out fear.”24 When we fear God and God alone, our fear is consumed in his perfect love. It is only when we love him that his love casts out all our fear. So when we love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and strength and minds, fear no longer has power over our lives. We are finally and most beautifully free.
In summary, if you want to stop being a fool, stop loving the wrong things. (Have you ever noticed that fools always fall in love with the wrong people?) Second, realize that you were designed for God and that the health of your soul can come only by embracing his love for you. Third, recognize that the health of your soul is also an outgrowth of your love for God. Fourth, fuel the passion of your heart for all that is good and beautiful and true. And, finally, take the time necessary to nurture your desires and passions so that they reflect the heart of God himself.
Solomon’s imagery, an unsharpened ax, is his way of reminding us that wisdom has the advantage of setting us up for success. The warrior spends their time refining their art, their craft, and their life. While maintaining a posture of humility, there is a continuous pursuit of excellence. The warrior understands that every manifestation of greatness has hidden behind it a life of discipline, determination, and persistence. For the warrior, the beauty is in the details. As important as it is to watch the tree fall, it is important to see the edge sharpened. The ax matters to the warrior. The ax is not what you have but who you are. If wisdom is the weapon, then your character is the edge. You cannot fight the great battles that will come before you if you have not chosen to fight the battle within you.
Solomon’s father once told him that “as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”25 You cannot be made better than you are if you choose to live your life with those who would settle for less. If you are comfortable with where you are, you will never know how far you can go. If you refuse to change, then you refuse to grow.
Wisdom comes from the pain of critique and sometimes comes through the wounds of criticism. As when iron sharpens iron, wisdom comes only with friction and fire. The skills for life that Solomon speaks of come in the everyday decisions that will be mostly unnoticed—the choices we make that help us become the people we are, the choices that shape our character, the choices that create our future. Wisdom understands that choices have momentum. Wisdom understands that choices are our power.
You must never forget that there is no more spiritual act than to choose. Before you swing your ax, choose your tree. Decide what your life is about; decide what is worth living for; find your intention. And no matter what may come, no matter what battles ensue, never relinquish your intention. The fool swings mindlessly and chops once at every tree that stands in front of them. The warrior understands that not every battle is theirs, that not every tree is meant for them. When you take your ax, choose your tree and keep striking until that tree has fallen. When you move with wisdom, you know your strength. You see when certain choices make you dull and when other choices make you sharp.
There is nothing more debilitating than giving your strength to the wrong thing. When you live your life without intention, you make your edge dull. When you live a life of obligation, it steals from you your strength. Wisdom allows you to harness your strength. When you live your life with intention, you find your strength, and every time you strike the ax, you unexpectedly get stronger.
The warrior trains for the unexpected moment. They know that life is unpredictable, yet they are undaunted by this reality, for though they cannot plan what life will bring, they know they are prepared for it. They have sharpened their iron against the iron of others. They have taken the time to sharpen the edge of their ax.
There are certain markers you can look for to know you’re chopping at the right tree. Some of them are more concrete, and some of them are more intuitive. One marker is who you are as a person. Your gifts and talents are at least a starting point for which battles are yours to fight or yours to walk away from. When you lack the natural gifting to do something, even when you care about it, you will always find yourself at a deficit. You have to look in a mirror and ask yourself the hard question, Was I created to do this?
A good follow-up question to ask yourself is, Am I prepared to do this? You may have the natural talent, but you haven’t paid the price to develop the skills necessary to succeed. You may have the natural talent to be a neurosurgeon, but I don’t want you in my head unless you’ve taken on the discipline of becoming a highly skilled medical professional. This may mean that it’s the right tree but the wrong timing. There are battles you will fight later in life, but right now it’s boot camp, and you’re still in training.
Another marker to help you know if you are spending your strength in the right place is your passion and energy. If you are passionate about the process and not just the outcome, that’s a marker that you are on the right track. If you are energized by the hard work and not simply its promise of success, that’s a great marker that you are chopping at the right tree.
An external marker can be the impact that your actions have on others. You may get sick every time you are invited to be a public speaker, but the influence you have on the audience is undeniable. Oftentimes I have seen highly talented people who are terrified by the callings that are on their lives, and the only thing that keeps them swinging the ax is a sense of responsibility for the good that is being accomplished in the lives of others. This for me is one of the most altruistic and noble reasons to be motivated to create wealth. For some, their responsibility i
s not simply to have a job but to create jobs. It’s not enough to simply gain wealth; they must create wealth so that the welfare of others is affected by their work. In the end, everything we do should ultimately be measured by how much good is done for others.
Although life may not have yet brought you wealth or position or power, there is no poverty that can stop you from fulfilling God’s intention for your life when you are walking in wisdom. This is why it matters who you walk with as well. When you choose to live your life in concert with others who are willing to pay the high price of pursuing the greatest challenges and developing their full potential and capacity, it shapes who you are. Lean in to those who refuse to leave you the same. Stay close to those who see you as more than you are in this present moment. Never forget that the rebuke of a friend is of greater value than the kiss of an enemy.26
Wisdom knows that the way of the warrior cannot be walked alone. And while you may find yourself at some point to be a solitary source of hope needed to bring an entire city freedom, the wise know that wisdom was never gained alone. They also know that we were never meant to do life alone.
Solomon reminds us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”27
The Way of the Warrior Page 5