Are there any wise among you?
Is anyone else already fed up with the US political candidates? Please join me in a groan of despair. Some of the candidates seem to be intelligent within their particular areas of expertise, but overall are still lacking in wisdom. Perhaps their knowledge would be better used in some other field than as the leader of the nation.
C.S. Lewis states the following, “Holy
wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.”
So what is this holy wisdom? The book of James says that we can ask for it.
James 1: 5, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Later James gives a description of what this sort of wisdom does, and does not, look like.
James 3:13, “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
So no matter how smart you may think you are, if you are full of bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, boastful and are “false to the truth”; you are not wise. These negative characteristics are practically the calling card for some of the current political candidates…
Holy Wisdom has pure motives
Is peaceable
Gentle
Reasonable
Full of mercy and good fruits
Impartial
Sincere
Results in a harvest of righteousness
So, to the current field of candidates, “Are there any wise among you?”
Perhaps we shouldn’t expect “holy” wisdom from them. I could agree with that statement, if so many of them were not claiming to be Bible believing Christians! That means that even if wisdom doesn’t come naturally to them, they should at least know that they can ASK God for it, RIGHT?
I know, it is not my job to cast condemnation on anyone, so now that I am at risk of being judged by the same measure that I have used, let me take a step back.
I know that personally I need to be asking God for wisdom every day that I live. So when I pray and ask God for wisdom how does He go about giving it liberally and without scolding (reproach)?
What I find fascinating in scripture is the personification even anthropomorphic (often feminine) way that wisdom is represented. Such as, the father speaking to his son in Proverbs 4:7-9.
“The
beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”
But I find Proverbs 8:27-31, the most fascinating of all. Wisdom is speaking,
When
he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
In all my very limited understanding, the only being involved in creation was God. The Triune fellowship that is God seems to have had wisdom as the master workman. We know that Christ is represented as responsible for creation. Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
Whether the “Wisdom” represented in Proverbs 8 is Christ or merely a personification of a facet of His nature, I think it is safe to assume they are closely related.
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 says, “… you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
The only way for any of us to become wise is through a deeper and more profound connection to Jesus Christ who came to represent to us the wisdom of God. The result of that will be, not boasting in ourselves but boasting in the Lord.