Data centers are springing up all around us it seems. It’s happening in my state and in other states as well. This is a concern because these data centers use up a lot of land, need a lot of power (electricity) and they need lots of water for cooling their servers in order to operate. These things are finite resources and we humans also need land, power and water (especially water) in order to survive and to maintain our standard of living.

Jesus asked this rather pointed question – “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.” (Mark 8:36)

I have to agree. Water sustains life – all life. What good is data to me if I’m dead? I need water and I prefer the power grid to work so that my lights are on and I can charge my phone and my computer and I can heat and cool my home etc. I need food to live and land on which to grow said food, but do I really need data in order to survive? Just what makes up this elusive, all inclusive data anyway?

Isn’t data a compilation of facts and figures and information? If so, facts, figures and information about what? Is data the information I need in order to survive in this world or is it information that would help me win at Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit? Just the name, Trivial Pursuit, should be a clue as to its importance in the hierarchy of things. Hint – it’s trivial pursuit – trivial being the opposite of important or essential or necessary or meaningful. What do I spend my time pursuing anyway? Trivia? Data – facts and figures? information? Is data considered knowledge? And if so, is it essential knowledge?

Is knowing things an end in itself? And what about wisdom? Is simply knowing about things considered wisdom? I don’t think so. Wisdom is something gained from real life experience, not something that can be contained within a data center. Wisdom is knowing what to do with or how to use facts, figures and information. Wisdom is knowing how to apply knowledge to my real life situations. Isn’t it wisdom that I really need in order for me to live my life fully and productively? Can the data stored in all these data centers provide me with the wisdom I need to live my life successfully? I don’t think so.

And yet we continue to build more and more data centers when what we really need is wisdom and understanding.

“How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!” (Proverbs 16:16)

Too bad we can’t build “wisdom centers.” But wisdom can’t be stored within four walls or bought and sold like a commodity. Wisdom is a gift from God and is acquired over time. Data, however, is traded like a commodity. Our personal information is bought and sold to various companies who want to know more about us because they want us as customers, I guess. As more and more information is collected, more and more storage area is needed to house all this data.

Remember phone books? They used to contain a certain set of data about us – namely our names, our addresses and our phone numbers. We don’t need phone books anymore. Now other people’s phone numbers can be stored in our own phones. This is probably for the best because we are saving lots of paper used in the printing of all those phone books and as a result, we are saving lots of trees. So this is good.

But now so much more information is collected about each one of us that something bigger than a phone book is needed to house it all. We have so much more than addresses and phone numbers now. We have Social Security numbers and credit card numbers and bank account numbers and account numbers for our utility providers and our internet providers etc. and we have passwords for all kinds of accounts and we have employment records and records of our education and records of our health histories and of our shopping and spending habits and records of our online activities and who knows what other data is being collected about each one of us? No wonder they say we need more data centers in which to store all this info.

I seem to remember that a lot of this information is stored in “the cloud.” This seems ideal to me because a cloud doesn’t take up our land space, our energy or our water. Right? Or am I thinking too literally? I am thinking the “cloud” is cyberspace – somewhere out “there” but not physically here in a brick and mortar facility that takes up land and uses up our energy and our water. I guess I’m ok with the “cloud” having all my info with it in cyberspace as long as it doesn’t share my info with other “clouds” and as long as it doesn’t get so large that it blocks out the sun. Then we’ve got a whole other problem. Namely no sun to light our world, warm our world, grow our food plants or even power our solar panels. The sun sustains our life here on earth. So we can’t have cyber storage clouds blocking out the sun’s rays, now can we? That would be the death of us, literally. (although this analogy is figurative)

So I’m thinking maybe more data and therefore more data centers are not what is needed at this time in history. We may be living in the information age but what we need is wisdom, not more information. In Proverbs I read –

“Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.” (Proverbs 3:13-18)

That’s high praise for wisdom. I surely wouldn’t say that data is “more precious than rubies” or “a tree of life” to anyone. Wisdom is valuable BUT wisdom can’t be bought or stored up in some data center. Having information does not mean I have wisdom. Wisdom comes from knowing God and His Living Word. Wisdom is one of God’s many good gifts to us. And I know I am in desperate need of wisdom every day as I faithwalk through this world. Proverbs tells me this –

“For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair – every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.” (Proverbs 2:6-15)

Yes, it is clear to me that my most essential need is for wisdom, not for more information or more data. And God’s word says that His wisdom is much more valuable than all of man’s data. I could certainly never afford such a valuable commodity as God’s wisdom. Fortunately, my Heavenly Father offers it to me free of charge. He gifts it to me when I ask. James tells us –

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5)

I think our current culture confuses an abundance of information with wisdom. But they are not the same. Job knew this way back in his day when there were no data centers, no internet, no phones no radios, no TVs – nothing. But Job knew even then what wisdom was. He said –

“The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28)

What you and I need to survive and to thrive in this world is not more data – we need wisdom! And not what the world calls wisdom. You and I have free access to God’s wisdom every day in God’s Word – the Bible. All I have to do is to open up His book and read it for myself. There I find what is life giving, more valuable than gold, more essential and much more profitable than what is contained in all the data centers in all the world. It is the wisdom of the Creator of the universe. That’s all I need!

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17)

sincerely, Grace Day