Never has our world
been more in need of wisdom, and never has
it been more foolish than now. I
say this as we have now more people inhabiting this planet than ever before in history. The night before last as I was writing this
the world clock on the internet stood at over 7.2 billion people [1].
Roughly 360 000 people were born on that day and roughly 148 000 died on that day.
The Industrial Revolution of the 1800’s brought about a
tremendous change in world
population. Whereas it had
taken all of human history until 1800 for
the world population to reach one billion, the second billion was achieved in only 130 years (1930), the third billion in less than 30 years
later (1959), the fourth billion in
15 years (1974), and the fifth billion
in only 13 years (1987). During the 20th
century alone, the population in the world has grown from 1.65 billion to 6 billion! In 1970, there were roughly half as many
people in the world as there are now.
From these statistics we see that as more and more sinners are born, the potential
for more and more foolishness
exists! Crowds are not known to be wise. We see it in the Bible. In Jesus’
day fickle crowds shout “Hallelujah” at the beginning of the week
and “crucify Him” at the end of the
week. We see it in our own day, as crowds are manipulated. We see that dictators (i.e. one man!) hold entire nations captive. We see how ungodly role models in the
film and music industry hold the
minds of many people captive. We have
eyes to see, but we do not see; we have
ears to hear, but we do not hear. We need God given wisdom in these days. We need to be careful to come to right conclusions as to what we observe. We need to be careful
as to who we uncritically listen to.
We need God’s wisdom for these days
and for such wisdom we must turn
to God’s word , and especially we must turn to
the book of Proverbs, which is
classified as ‘wisdom literature’ of the Bible .[2]
The theme of
Proverbs is found in Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.“
A proverb is a
timeless truth in the form of a simple illustration that exposes a fundamental
reality of life. The book of
Proverbs is probably the most
practical book in the Old Testament
teaching us to think and act
wisely in all sorts of situations .
This includes instruction on wisdom and folly, the nature
of righteousness and wickedness ;
it deals with the use of the tongue,
with pride and humility, with marital relations and family, with laziness and work, poverty and wealth, friends
and neighbors, anger and strife, life
and death and so on . Proverbs touches upon every facet of human relationships,
and its principles transcend the boundaries
of time and culture.
Wisdom as a Treasure
Chapter 2 speaks
about the blessings that wisdom brings
into our life. Here Solomon speaks to “his son” – perhaps Rehoboam who became his successor. Solomon was
privileged to have received a heart and
mind and understanding of knowledge and wisdom from God (2 Chronicles 1). He
was able to write down God’s thoughts for our benefit under the
supervision of the Holy Spirit , and so
when he writes to his son, by way
of application we know that
God also speaks to us here
as His children[3].
It is not Solomon’s own wisdom that
is dispensed here . No! He
speaks of a wisdom that is from
God , and as such it is absolutely true, infallible , and precious, profound, leaving us to
search and meditate and mine into its depths.
The difficulty of obtaining wisdom 2:1-5
But here is the problem. Wisdom does not
come easy or naturally. Even though
wisdom shouts at us from every street corner
(1:20), by nature (i.e our sinful nature fuelled by pride and self- centeredness) we are not inclined to listen to wisdom (1:
24). By nature we are inclined
to folly. By nature we are inclined to be
simple (see 1:22)
.
The person who wants wisdom
has to work hard to obtain it, in the
same way in which a miner searches for silver and gold (2:4). The ear has to be trained to hear and distinguish true wisdom. The heart must be
inclined to understanding (2:2). This takes discipline . We must never
assume that what we hear and see is truth . It needs to be analyzed in the light
of the wisdom from God - the Word of
God. In this regard
we note that wisdom requires
prayerfulness – “yes , if you call out
for insight and raise your voice for understanding …” – that is prayer ! Wisdom does not come through common sense or through academic pursuit. There are many
‘educated fools’ that have a
technical understanding of things, but
who are not truly wise. True wisdom begins with an
understanding of God’s revelation to us, prayerfully digested – studying that
which the Bible reveals, and then praying over that truth, seeking true
understanding.
Charles Bridges in his commentary on Proverbs says [4]
“Without this spirit of prayer,
there may be attention and earnestness, yet not one spiritual impression upon
the conscience, not one ray of Divine light in the soul. Earthly wisdom is
gained by study; heavenly wisdom by prayer. Study may form a Biblical scholar;
prayer puts the heart under a heavenly tutorage, and therefore forms the wise
and spiritual Christian. The Word first comes into the ears; then it enters
into the heart; there it is safely hid; thence rises the cry, the lifting up of
the voice…. We look for no other
inspiration than Divine grace to make His Word clear and impressive. Every
verse read and meditated on furnishes material for prayer. Every text
prayed over opens a mine of “unsearchable riches,” with a light from above,
more clear and full than the most
intelligent exposition.
But prayer must not stand in the stead of diligence.[5]
Let it rather give energy to it. The miner’s indefatigable pains; his
invincible resolution; his untiring perseverance; seeking, searching for hidden
treasures—such must be our searching into the sacred storehouse. To read instead
of “searching the Scriptures,” is only to skim the surface, and gather up a
few superficial notions. The rule of success is—Dig up and down the field; and
if the search be discouraging, dig again. The patient industry of perusal and
re-perusal will open the embosomed treasure ….Thus let us daily explore “the
length, and the breadth, and the depth” of our boundless stores, until we be
“filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:18, 19). This habit of living in the element of
Scripture is invaluable. To be filled from this Divine treasury; to have large
portions of the Word daily passing through the mind; gives us a firmer grasp
and a more suitable and diversified application of it…
The mere reader often
scarcely knows where to begin, and he performs the routine without any definite
object. His knowledge therefore must be scanty and ineffective. Nor is the
neglect of this habit less hurtful to the Church. All fundamental errors and
heresies in the Church may be traced to this source—“Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures” (Matt. 22:29). They are mostly based on partial or disjointed
statements of truth. Truth separated from truth becomes error. But the mind
prayerfully occupied in the search of Divine truth, crying and lifting up
the voice, will never fail to discern the two great principles of
godliness: the fear and the knowledge of
God. There is no … disappointment in this search.... Never has apostasy
from the faith been connected with a prayerful and diligent study of the Word
of God.
The Giver of wisdom 2:6-8
When you
search after wisdom , you need to understand that it is only God that can give you true wisdom: “For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth
come knowledge and understanding…” (2:6) Those who seek Him to them He gives sound wisdom (2:7). He protects those that seek to walk in integrity (2:7). Those that seek and
fear the LORD (i.e. the saints - Heb. hasidim, loyal sons of the
covenant) are guarded and watched over (2:8). The bottomline is this : Only through an
intimate relationship with the LORD can a person be truly wise and experience the true
blessings of wisdom.
The Fruit of Wisdom 2: 9 -22
Wisdom safeguards a person morally. When a
person submits him or herself to God, the ways of the wicked will lose some of their
attractiveness. The wise person will be
able to understand the way of evil and
where it leads to (2:12); the wise person will avoid
men that engage in perverted speech (2:12). They will learn to
avoid those that forsake the paths of uprightness and who walk in the paths of darkness (2:13). They will avoid those that
who rejoice in doing evil or
rejoice in the perverseness of evil (2:14) . They will avoid crooked and devious men. (2:15)
Verses 16-19 deal
with a frequent theme in Proverbs - that of the ‘forbidden woman’
- the adulteress (2:16) who uses
smooth or flattering words (see
also 5:3). Nowhere is caution thrown
to the wind more than in this
area. How many young people are trapped
in this moral swamp , and who have to go on living with regrets . Solomon
clearly sees that this woman is outside the circle of his proper relations. The truth about this woman
is that from God’s perspective
she has left her
“covenant companion” (2:17).
She has forsaken her own marriage
covenant (Mal. 2:14). Entering into
a relationship with such a woman has
devastating spiritual consequences. Parents do
well to instruct their young ones
in the danger of these devastating relationships (e.g. the
letter from a pastor to his daughter as she enters into courtship) and pray regularly for them that they may not
fall into temptation !
This chapter ends by contrasting the ends of the
wicked and the righteous (see 2:21-22).
This then is a call
from the Word of God to examine ourselves at the end of 2014. Which
kind of wisdom do you choose to live by ?
Do you live by your own sense of
moral right and wrong? Do you live by instinct or gut feeling? Do you listen to others
uncritically ? Do you perhaps not listen to anyone at all?
The Word of God has been given to you as a source of true
wisdom. But remember that reading the Bible
is not enough. You must meditate upon the Word and make sure that you digest those truths and that you ensure that you
live by them. Living by the truth is not easy, but it certainly ultimately pays
handsome rewards as we are assured in
the Scriptures that the upright will inhabit the land. The upright are those that fear the Lord.
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