Monday, August 27, 2012

Seeking Wisdom

To seek wisdom is to seek the mind of God, for that is its Source, and that is where it resides. If that be true, there is no sense in seeking wisdom elsewhere but in God Himself.  Reading and thinking are wonderful activities for the mind, and the student who reads and thinks is strengthening the neuronal connections that lead to understanding, but without prayer, knowledge does not automatically translate into wisdom.

The Bible, when read under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, is replete with wisdom, but its truths are hidden from those who do not know God.    For wisdom is an interior light that comes with the word of God: Let light be!  Once He speaks that word in our hearts, wisdom enters and takes root there:

We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

...as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him," but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

....No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.  We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us....The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned....but we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:14 ff).

and James says (1:5):  "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....don't be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created" (1:16-17).

Once we know this, once we understand about the Source of Wisdom, all that remains is for us to seek it, to give ourselves no rest until we have received that which we seek.  In the Old Covenant, God had promised to pour out His Spirit upon all men, even upon young men and handmaidens (Joel 2:28-29).  He promised that one man would no longer have to teach his brothers to know the Lord, for He would write His law on our hearts (Jer. 31:34) and He Himself would teach us and guide us (Is. 48: 17).

We will sooner or later all find that which we are seeking.  Paul tells us to "seek that which is above, not what is below." I wonder why we  do not -- every one of us-- begin each day with a prayer for wisdom for that day.

1 comment:

  1. I only absorb wisdom coming from the mouths of those who prove their words with their actions. It is the only way that I can discern false prophets and religious politicians in contrast to those who have the words "written on their hearts".

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