Cutting Wisdom

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:1-5

Here is a defining mark of a genuine Christian. A desire for true wisdom is one great hallmark of our faith. Not a desire for knowledge and stopping there, but a desire to gain practical knowledge to improve in those things that please God and benefit us most.

The most important thing we have to war against is not some outside conqueror, but rather our inward sin. Our flesh is the problem. If you are not converted it is more than just a problem, but if you are a genuine convert then it is that thing that holds you back from acting as your spirit would have you do. Boiled down to its barest part it is known as pride in self (as opposed to being proud of knowing God). And its opposite and our great friend is known as humility.

Therefore, when we desire true wisdom, it often expresses itself in a humble inquiry as to our pride. “In what ways am I arrogant?” is a good question if you are striving for real wisdom. Simply displaying how much of the Bible you have read or have memorized is not. And, despite its current unpopularity, helping others identify their pride is a good (and if done for their good is a good work for you). Yes, it helps if it is done nicely, but it is a good nonetheless. It would be better to hear the words of an enemy than to hear the words of a flattering “friend.”

I have good hope that many of you are looking for this kind of wisdom, as you are reading the words of God.

“Wisdom lifts up her voice in the street,” the proverb says. And she wishes to be heard. One way this wisdom of God is heard is through a very ordinary means. Genuine reading of the Bible. I say genuine to distinguish it from the works-oriented way of reading it. I know that many of us, myself included, can have a tendency to read our chapters for the day because we are “supposed to.” I hope that is not how you feel all the time. And I think most of you are on guard for that tendency. I am glad you genuinely want to get wisdom. God holds it forth.

Do you also see the conditional type with which the promise for understanding God comes? We must strive for it, as if we were a 49er digging for gold. Then it is a promise. Otherwise we have no promise. Half of that fervency is found in looking in the right spot. The words of God are a good place to look. Now only be fervent.

While the promise does not apply if you are not searching fervently, I do think that reading the word of God is like playing with a sharp knife. You may be trying very hard just to read it because you think it is good and not be trying to genuinely get in into you, but His word is sharp and if you keep reading you are going to cut yourself.

I am very glad you all wanted to read in the first place, and am even more encouraged of the times I have heard of you all cutting yourself.

Bless the Knife-Sharpener.