Pastor's Corner: How do we get wisdom and understanding?

We’re a few weeks into the school year now, and no doubt all of you students are poring over your textbooks, conducting research, and studying hard! I hope you are also enjoying some extracurricular activities. Whatever you are studying and whatever goals you have, may you be inspired by these words from Proverbs 4:5, penned by King Solomon: “Get wisdom! Get understanding!”

That sounds like good advice but how do we go about it? King Solomon had some thoughts on that too: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10).

We find similar verses in Job 28:28, Psalm 111:10, and Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the Lord, that is, reverence and respect for the Holy One, is our starting place. And knowledge of the Holy One. Not just knowledge about Him, but knowledge of Him. The Hebrew word for knowledge in this verse is da`at and in this context it refers to “knowing by experience, relationship, or encounter” (From "The Complete Word Study Dictionary Old Testament," © 2003 by AMG Publishers, by Warren Baker, D.R.E., and Eugene Carpenter, Ph.D.).

The prophet Isaiah described the Messiah as someone who would delight in the fear of the Lord. Let’s look at that section of scripture:

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth (Isaiah 11:1-4).

Indeed, Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon Him, which is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of knowledge, etc. In Mark 6:2 we discover that Jesus astonished people with His wisdom:

And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!

Note also that His wisdom is associated with the “mighty works performed by His hands.” As we gain the same sort of wisdom Jesus had, we too can expect to do mighty works, such as feeding the poor, visiting people in the nursing home or those who are in jail, praying for miracles and seeing answers to our prayers, etc.

Jesus is our ultimate standard, but the Bible contains some other great stories of those who walked in wisdom. Joseph was one such man.

"And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house (Acts 7:9-10).

King Solomon, of course, is the one we frequently associate with wisdom, and we quoted him above. When Solomon became King of Israel, God told him to ask for anything. Solomon asked for wisdom, and God was so honored by Solomon’s request that He gave him wisdom and many other blessings! When you think of Solomon’s wisdom, do you think of him as being “brainy”? Solomon himself said that “wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding” (Proverbs 14:33, emphasis mine). Perhaps that is one reason the Apostle Paul prayed the following prayer:

For this reason, I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come (Ephesians 1:15-21, New American Standard; emphasis mine).

Furthermore, the Bible is clear that being brainy or, if you will, wise in the world’s eyes, is not the same as having the wisdom of God. Many people look upon the death of Jesus on the cross as foolishness but God does not view things the way we do.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

In addition, there is usually a distinct, recognizable difference between the wisdom of this world and the wisdom of God. For example, the wisdom of this world may show up as competition to climb the corporate ladder or making derogatory remarks about a co-worker in order to gain favor with someone else, or cheating on a test, or in a myriad of other ways. By contrast, God’s wisdom is described as follows in the book of James:

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace (James 3:17-18).

So, we come full circle back to the exhortation of the beginning paragraph: Get wisdom! And may you be greatly blessed as Solomon was, in many other ways, as well.