(Further reflections on “Gaining God’s Wisdom”—Sunday 16-Jan-2022)
Wisdom knows. It knows someone and something. It will not be automatically available. It needs to be gained. Wisdom was personified as the ‘Lady Wisdom’ in Proverbs 8. And Jesus responded to the crowd who kept wanting to see Him performing signs/miracles that the only sign that He was going to give them is the sign of Jonah. Jesus then proceeded to say that wise and wealthy people (like the Queen of the South) sought king Solomon’s wisdom, but “Behold, something greater than Solomon is here (Luke 11:31).”
Although the wisdom of God is available to people when they first came to believe in Jesus and got to know Him, it needs to be be acquired by believers who continue to walk with God in His word and His Son and the Holy Spirit, who illuminates insights and sparks understanding. These are believers who diligently seek Jesus and joyfully invest their time into knowing His instructions and obeying His discipline/correction. They are people who value understanding and insight. They want to view life’s matters through Scriptural lens. They do not want to be wise in their own eyes (which by definition is foolishness). They receive His word willingly and not reluctantly, because they know Him intimately. In their daily dealings (in/outside of church), they tend to weigh all matters in God’s ’trio-filter’, namely, righteousness, justice, and equity (impartiality). They are people who hear God’s voice/word which doesn’t have to be audible ones through their daily disciplines of reading Scriptures, prayers, weekly corporate worship, fellowship, and serving. They are wise because they have the fear of the Lord. They are ‘God-fearers’. They do not worry or fear about what/how others might view them. They focus on what God knows and sees. These people do not have to be old or grey-haired or no hair, they can be in their youth as long as they know that they were not born wise but naturally inclined to foolishness; as long as they do not leave their option open (one foot in the worldly way and one foot in the godly one), but commit to walk in the path of the fear of the Lord and as they walk, they grow in wisdom of God through relationship with the One who is greater than Solomon—Jesus Christ. And unlike the fool who despised God’s instruction and disciplines, these people are gainers of God’s wisdom because they are God-knowers, God-receivers, God-hearers, and God-fearers.
God’s Wisdom is not meant to just make someone theoretically wise. By design, it is blossoming to those who reverently practice God’s word day-in and day-out, like people who are under God’s coaching or training. Needless to say, there will be a lot of ‘sweat’, countless tears, and ongoing struggles in aligning our life under His word. But in the end we will obtain His wise guidance, because ‘the fear of the Lord’ is present in every aspect of life under the sun. Thus, it is for your own good. Do take some time to do the ‘3Rs’ (Reflection, Reconciliation, and Reorientation) on pages 96-97 of our 2022 Study Workbook (if you did not reserve a hard copy, you can view it online here: http://tiny.cc/2022book
Enjoy Him! Love and blessing,
—
Pastor Lap
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