A Few Thoughts on Wisdom by a Very Foolish Man
A Spoken Message
If I were to give this talk a title, it would be “A Few Thoughts on Wisdom by a Very Foolish Man.” Since I have said that, I suppose I have given it that title. It may seem contradictory for a foolish man to speak on wisdom, but one of the aspects of wisdom is learning from one’s mistakes, and I have made plenty of mistakes to learn from. I know a bit about wisdom because I can see that it is the opposite of my foolishness.
I will begin at the beginning: What is wisdom? Wisdom is knowing how to live. Many people have a great deal of knowledge, but have no idea how a person should live. How, then, should a person live? The Bible’s book of Proverbs says in chapter 9, verse 10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom….” What does it mean, the fear of the LORD?” Are we to live our lives in terror of what God might do to us? No, that is pagan religion that is always offering some sacrifice to a god to assuage his anger. Some have even offered their own children to their gods. The fear of God in the Hebrew-Christian faith does include real fear, but it is the fear that comes in the presence of an awesome person – awe – and of what God is able to do to us if we do not obey him, and fear of hurting the one we love most and missing the wonderful blessings that come from obedience to him. The negative is there: God can send a person to hell, and he can make life miserable for a Christian, too. I know. I have been there, miserable, not hell! And one of the earliest memories of my life is learning that God sees and knows everything I do, whether anyone else sees it or not, and I am accountable to him for it. That put a healthy fear of God in me that I have never gotten over, and it has kept me out of a lot of trouble. But that is the negative side. When you come to know the Lord and understand his word, you see that the positive far outweighs the negative. You fear hurting him and missing the blessings God has for you.
The verse says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A question that occurred to me some time ago, perhaps a year or two ago, is this: If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, what it the continuation of wisdom? And what is the end of wisdom? It is that aspect of the growth to maturity of wisdom in our lives that I want to address this morning. What I have to say will be simple. The things of God usually are simple. It is man who likes to complicate things, probably for an excuse not to obey God. It is too complex. No it isn’t. A child can grasp much of it.
What is the continuation of wisdom? I am sure there are many matters I could mention, and most of you here could do a better job of this than I will, but I will mention a few. The first thing I want to point out we find in Prov. 1.8-9: “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching; indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head and necklaces about your neck.” [NASB] Perhaps you have been blessed to have parents who know and fear the Lord and have some measure of wisdom in them. There are no perfect parents, but they have endeavored to train their children in the way they should go, the way of the Lord. Do not take that lightly. There are many children, young people, and adults who are in deep trouble today because they did not have such parents. Those verses of Proverbs could not be spoken to them. They should avoid everything their parents have told them. But you are blessed. You have been told the way and shown the way to the extent possible. Listen to what they have said and do not forsake it. It is treasure far more valuable than wreaths or necklaces made of gold.
Ps. 1.1-2 says, “Blessed is the man whose delight is in the torah of I AM, and who meditates in his torah day and night.” “Torah” is the Hebrew word usually translated “law,” but it means much more than what we understand by “law.” Perhaps the best way to grasp it is to say that it is the whole counsel of God, as Paul puts it in Acts 20.27. Ps. 119.11 says, “In my heart I have hidden your word that I might not sin against you.” The 105th verse of the same psalm says, “A lamp to my feet is your word, and a light to my path.” All of these verses in the psalms declare the importance of the word of God. Make it your business to become intimate with the word, and with its divine Author. It is his manual of operation for the human being. You cannot go through life successfully, no matter what you may accomplish in the world, without living by God’s word. Meditate on it day and night.
In 1 Kings 3 we are told the story of Solomon being asked by God what he would like for God to give him. What would you ask for? Too many would ask for wealth and pleasure and a comfortable, exciting life. Solomon answered, “… give your servant a hearing heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil.” What is a hearing heart? Do you remember a few years ago we had a children’s lesson in which we talked about this passage, and Linda made paper cutout hearts with ears on them? Solomon wanted to be able to hear from God, not with his outward ears, but in his heart. Because he made such a wise request, God gave him the hearing heart and he added to it all the things he did not ask for, long life and riches and the lives of his enemies. I cannot promise you that God will give you long life and riches and the lives of your enemies, but I can tell you that if you seek a hearing heart above these things, that in itself is wisdom and God will add to it abundant blessing of a kind he knows is best for you. Ask God for a hearing heart.
Ps. 40 has something interesting to say about this matter of hearing from God. In vs. 6-8 we read, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears you have dug; burnt offering and sin offering you did not require. Then I said, ‘Look, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, my God; your torah is within my heart.’” What does it mean, “My ears you have dug?” Sometimes we get wax in our physical ears and it affects our hearing. We get a bit stopped up and cannot hear quite so well. We get our ears cleaned out and the hearing is restored. I believe the psalmist is saying that God will clean out our spiritual ears of all the distractions that would keep us from hearing him in our hearts. As you ask God for a hearing heart, ask him to keep the ears of your heart clean.
Prov. 11.14 tells us, “Where there is no counsel the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is safety.” I am sure you have learned over the years that Christianity is a corporate faith. We are not meant to be individual Christians. We are all parts of a body, the spiritual body of Christ. We are not meant to make all our decisions by ourselves without the wise counsel of fellow believers who have walked with God and learned something of his ways. It is so easy for us, especially when we are young, to run off in some direction we get excited about. How much better to wait a bit, to seek the prayer and counsel of those you are close to in the Lord. You can be saved a lot of heartache by such an approach. God has given you a spiritual body of people who know him and love you. Let them pray with you about your decisions and offer any counsel they may feel is from the Lord.
Finally on this matter of the continuation of wisdom, let me read Matt. 25.1-13:
“Then the kingdom of the heavens will be likened to ten virgins who, taking their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were foolish and five thoughtful. The five foolish, taking their lamps, did not take oil with them, but the five thoughtful took oil in containers with their lamps. Now when the bridegroom delayed they all became drowsy and slept. In the middle of the night there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. Now the foolish said to the thoughtful, ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out,’ but the thoughtful answered saying, ‘No, there may not be enough for you and us. Go rather to the sellers and buy from them.’ Now while they were going away to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready entered with him into the marriage feast and the door was shut. But later the rest of the virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But answering he said, ‘Amen I say to you, I do not know you.’ Be alert, therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour.”
There were five thoughtful and five foolish virgins. It is interesting to me that the opposite of foolish in this passage is not wise, but thoughtful. I know some versions translate the word as “wise,” but it is a different word in Greek. “Prudent” is a good translation. The fundamental meaning of the word is “thoughtful.” Those who were foolish did not think ahead and prepare. Those who were thoughtful did. This tells us that thoughtfulness is an aspect of wisdom. Think ahead before you act. It is amazing how many people, especially young people, do not, and how much trouble it gets them into. And do that thinking before the Lord, guided by his word, and in fellowship with his people.
Now, after these thoughts about the beginning of wisdom and the continuation of wisdom, just a few words about the maturity of wisdom. I do not think any of us here, no matter how long we have walked with the Lord, would say that we are mature in wisdom or anything else having to do with God. We are all beginners. Yet there is a maturing process and some of us are more mature than we were when we started out. I think there are two aspects of the maturing of wisdom. We find the first in Prov. 3.5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” [NASB] The first aspect of maturing wisdom is trust in God in all things. You can trust him, for he is the most trustworthy being there is. His love never fails. His wisdom never fails. His power never fails. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He will see you through the brightest day and the darkest night if you will trust him. Never doubt him. Always trust him.
Heb. 3.18-19 says, “But to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest except those who did not obey? And we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.” Why does the author say they would not enter because of disobedience, then say they could not enter because of unbelief? Which is it, disobedience or unbelief? It is both. The word translated “obey” comes from the basic idea of being convinced. Paul wrote that he was convinced that God was able to keep what he had entrusted to him until the day of God (2 Tim. 1.12). Because Paul was convinced, he acted on that basis. Here in Hebrews, we see that the Israelites were not convinced of the truth of what God said and so did not act in accordance with what God said. We could translate the verse, “But to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest except those who were not convinced.” Both unbelief and disobedience are wrapped up in that one little word. They did not obey God because they were not convinced, they did not believe God. They could not enter because of unbelief, and that unbelief is revealed in the disobedience.
That leads me to the second aspect of maturing wisdom, obedience. We read in 1 Sam. 15.22, “Does I AM have great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of I AM? Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, to heed, than the fat of rams.” As we grow in wisdom, at some point it starts dawning on us that it is best to obey God at once. I must confess that I have deliberately disobeyed the Lord a few times. If there is one thing in my life I would do differently, it would be to obey in those times. We cannot live our lives in regret. We must go on from where we are now. But I would dearly love to be able to change that disobedience into obedience. I believe it has hurt me to have disobeyed. I am very impressed with Abraham when it says of him that when God told him to sacrifice his only son Isaac, without a word he rose early in the morning to obey. Wouldn’t you have a bit of a discussion with God about such a command? God, are you sure? Maybe you had better think this over. No, Abraham obeyed at once. I would encourage you to trust God totally and to obey him instantly. I said this would be simple. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.
In the words of Prov. 4.7, “Get wisdom; and with all your getting, get understanding.” Knowledge without wisdom is empty and in itself foolish. You can be wise, or you can be an educated fool. With all your getting of knowledge and of the things of this world, get wisdom.
Copyright © 2021 by Tom Adcox. All rights reserved. You may share this work with others, provided you do not alter it and do not sell it or use it for any commercial purpose. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10.8). Also you must include this notice if you share it or any part of it.
Scripture quotations from the Old Testament are the author’s updates of the American Standard Version, except for those marked NASB. Quotations from the New Testament are the author’s translations.
