6 Jan 2024
We are living in difficult and turbulent times. Besides all the disasters, calamities, and pandemics, we have to deal with fake news, scams, dishonest politicians, corrupt governance, not just in governments, but also in various institutions, even those apparently supposed to be ‘clean’ and ‘honest’.
In such times, more than ever, we need wisdom. But human wisdom is often not sufficient and not always positive, particularly when we have to deal with intelligent ‘criminals’ and ‘tricksters’ who are very equipped with IT and experience (of the negative kind). For believers, it is not just wisdom to ‘survive’ in this uncertain world, we need wisdom that would hold us ‘steady’ and ‘stable’ in this world and for the ‘world beyond’ – we need Godly wisdom.
Wisdom is about understanding; wisdom in the book of Proverbs and elsewhere, is constantly contrasted with folly (foolishness).
“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding” (Proverbs 3:13).
Understanding means specifically knowing how to live as a response to God’s revelation. Wisdom includes understanding, but wisdom is larger, for it includes prudent doing of what we understand that we should do – wisdom is practical.
Wisdom for living is gained through the labour and diligence of learning to understand; understanding is learned from the book of God (Scripture) and books about the book of God (ensure the writers are godly), as well as from live teachers who help us in this (take note that not all teachers seek God’s glory – not too few are self-centred and seek selfish ambitions).
It seems queer but wisdom in the heart starts in the mind and is thus about thinking and about learning and also about unlearning. One mark of a wise person, according to Proverbs, is that one is willing to accept instruction and correction and to learn to know things better than onel does at the moment. The life of wisdom is in fact a life of constant learning: constant evaluating. constant discerning, and constant extension of one’s understanding.
And here we encounter the problems: Many of us are not willing to be corrected; we do not wish to unlearn those areas that are not in line with God’s teachings and desires, especially if we are in positions of leadership, or if we think highly of ourselves (armed with our theological degrees, years of experience). We do not wish to be embarrassed and to admit that we have been wrong.
Underlying this is Pride: the devil, in his pride, rebelled against God and sought to establish himself as god – so we see that pride is a vicious vice that reaches even to those who are supposed to be doing God’s work and building God’s kingdom.
What is worse is that individuals in this category are often beyond reach for correction and guidance, as they consider others not qualified or not wise enough to correct them, and so they continue to ‘degenerate’ spiritually and only awake when they come before the judgment seat of Christ.
We cannot hope to be wise if we ignore the book of God (the Bible) and if we are ignorant of what God has revealed (because of indolence, indifference, and false security – “I already know the Bible” attitude).
It is unexpected – often time when we seek to know God and His revelation in the Bible, we also end up knowing ourselves (our real selves with all their ‘ugliness’, ‘warts and all’) – and that is truly the first step towards understanding ourselves and how God looks at us from His perspective – and thankfully, it is also the initial step towards Godly wisdom.
Indeed, God dwells in the high and mighty heaven but also with the contrite and humble in spirit. The humble will be exalted and will learn the wisdom of God for living this life here on earth and beyond.