I recently read in Proverbs chapter 8 which talks a lot about Wisdom – the Spirit of Wisdom which is the Holy Spirit and Jesus, being Wisdom personified. The entire chapter holds so much deep truth, but verse 8 pulled my thoughts in a direction to make connections I had not really thought about before.
“All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.” – Proverbs 8:8-10 ESV
In this world we are bombarded with all types of declarations and it’s sometimes difficult to know which voices can be trusted. Here, we see that anything confusing or embedded in twisted logic cannot come from God. He tells us His words are clear and straightforward to those who have spiritual understanding. What wonderful news! We can separate the twisted and perverted logic from the truth through spiritual understanding. So, now the question becomes, how do we gain the spiritual understanding? As we see in this next passage, it starts with fear of the Lord (which means reverence for Him and His Word).
“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” – Proverbs 8:12-13 ESV
Most of us are familiar with the passage in James. When we need wisdom, we are told we only have to ask God and He will give it to us. He doesn’t hold our lack of wisdom against us. However, when we read verses 5-8, we see that there are conditions which determine our level of receiving the wisdom we seek.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle for many of us is the next portion – being half-hearted, wavering in our belief, constantly up and down – we cannot expect to receive truth when we are not focused on truth, but steadily looking and listening to every voice, even the twisted logic.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” – James 1:5-8 ESV
We must come to the point in our walk with God that we turn away from and hate every bit of evil in our lives – and we all have things we like to hold onto that are not in line with God. I think some of that ties into what James means when he talks about our wavering and unstable thoughts and behaviors. Our desire to cling to these will prevent us from fully receiving the promises to which we are entitled.
Do not be discouraged about this, we have the answer right here in front of us. We only need to go to the Word and seek out those truths and let God help us apply them to our lives. This is how we continue to grow in truth and knowledge and wisdom from the Lord.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. James 1:22-25 ESV
“Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.” – Proverbs 8:33-35 ESV
April 1, 2023
