Wisdom from God
Proverbs 2:6-15
An angel appears at a meeting of religious leaders and tells their leader that in return for his unselfish and excellent behavior, God will reward him with his choice of infinite wealth, wisdom, or beauty. Without hesitating, the leader selects infinite wisdom. 'Done!' says the angel and disappears in a cloud of smoke and lightning.
Now, all heads turn toward the leader, who sits surrounded by them. One of the others whispers, 'Say something.' The leader sighs and says, 'I should have taken the money.”
Which would you choose: wisdom or money? Most people would choose money over wisdom any day. But here is the wisdom of God speaking.
I Timothy 6:9-10 “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Money can’t buy everything. Money can’t buy eternal salvation. Jesus said in Matthew 16:26, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” All the money in the world isn’t enough to get a person into heaven.
Money can buy a person a lot of trouble. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation. Money seekers often find something they don’t want.
42-year-old Abraham Shakespeare who won $30 million in the Florida lottery in 2006. By all accounts, Abraham was a generous guy helping family and friends with his money. In 2010, a woman named Doris Moore was convicted of murdering Mr. Shakespeare, part of a plan to get his money.
Last Wednesday, very latest news, a wealthy businessman, Bruce McConville, from the Canadian capital city of Ottawa, was so desperate for revenge against his ex-wife he went to burn $1.1 million in a bonfire to avoid paying his ex-wife. As a result, he is now sentenced to be behind bars.
Do you still want money more than wisdom?
Characteristics of true wisdom; where it comes from and what it does.
A. wisdom comes from God
B. wisdom gives discernment
C. wisdom saves from wickedness
A. WISDOM COMES FROM GOD
6 For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk uprightly. 8 He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints. – Proverbs 2:6-8
The Lord gives wisdom and he is the author of wisdom. Wisdom was with God even before creation of the world. Wisdom is not easy to find. It remains a divine mystery in spite of its presence in all parts of the universe. The book of Job says 28:12-15, ‘Where shall wisdom be? and Where is the place of understanding? Man does not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep says: Not in me and the sea says, not in me. It is hidden from the eyes all living creatures. The abyss and death say: ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ This means that wisdom is not a human possibility. The God of wisdom stores up sound wisdom for the upright, and he shields to those who walk uprightly. The true wisdom comes from God and means we should believe two important things; wisdom was with God, and he gives wisdom to everyone.
Wisdom was with God before the creation of the Universe:
An atheist was spending a long day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy flip, the monster threw him and his boat into the air. Then it opened its mouth to swallow both. As a man who did not believe in God, cried out, "Oh, my God! Help me!" At once, a loud voice came down from the clouds, "I thought you didn’t believe in Me?" "Come on God, give me a break!" the man pleaded. "Two minutes ago, I didn’t believe in the Loch Ness monster either!"
Some people claim they don’t believe in the Creator, at least, not until they get between a rock and a hard place. I would think that when any person gets to the end of the road in this life and if they still have some sense left, they would most certainly have some belief and want someone to pray that God would have mercy on them.
We have so many evidences in this world, when we look at the starry universe, plant and animal life, the human body and the human baby, etc. all speak clearly and loudly there is a supreme Creator who has revealed Himself as God!
In Proverbs 30:24 -28 says, There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: 25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer; 26 The rock badgers are a feeble folk, yet they make their homes in the crags; 27 The locusts have no king, yet they all advance in ranks; 28 The spider skillfully grasps with its hands, and it is in kings’ palaces. This small, animal knows exactly where to go when danger comes.
True wisdom comes from God the creator of heaven and earth! He created all things very wise because all wisdom belongs to him.
God stores up wisdom for his upright:
The scripture tells that God stores up wisdom for his upright, he shields those who walk uprightly. Dear brothers, and sisters in Christ! God possesses wisdom for you, the believer. But now we ask – how can we possess such wisdom? In the book of proverbs, wisdom says – listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not disregard it. 34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. -Pro. 8:32-35
Whoever finds me finds life, that means all who hate him loves death. To aspire to wisdom, is a matter of life and death. This could never be said of knowledge in the ordinary sense of the word. Wisdom is a matter of life and death because it is more than knowledge. It can be united with knowledge, but it can also stand alone. Always, we should remember that wisdom is well beyond or more than the knowledge of the world. It belongs to a dimension which cannot be reached by scholarly endeavor. It is insight into the meaning of one’s life. The first step to get wisdom is the fear of God and the awareness of God’s holiness. Without the experience of the mystery of life, there is no wisdom. He who has encountered the mystery of life has reached the source of wisdom. True wisdom comes from God, and all wisdom belongs to him.
B. WISDOM GIVES DISCERNMENT
10 When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul. 11 Discretion will preserve you, and understanding will keep you. – Proverbs 2:10-11.
The wisdom of God gives us pleasant to our soul:
The wisdom of God is contained in His Word and it will give us discernment in life if we listen to it and obey this wisdom. There is a fantastic story in the Bible, how can a godly people get wisdom from the Lord. Please turn with me;
1 Kings 3:16-28 16 Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. 19 “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”
The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.” But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so, they argued before the king. 23 The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive, and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’” 24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So, they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!” 27 Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.” 28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.
God’s Word/wisdom is always correct about everything in life. If there is anything the Bible teaches us about God, it is that He is all-wise.
Job 12:13 “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.”
The wisdom of God gives us discernment in Life:
Isaiah 40:28 “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”
Roman 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”
An ill-prepared college student taking an economics exam just before Christmas vacation wrote on his paper. “Only God knows the answers to these questions. Merry Christmas!” The professor graded the papers and wrote this note: “God gets 100, you get 0. Happy New Year!”
Because God knows everything, we must seek His wisdom in order to be discerning in this world of sin and evil.
C. WISDOM SAVES FROM WICKEDNESS
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, 14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perversity of the wicked, 15 whose ways are crooked and who are devious in their paths. - Proverbs 2:12-16
Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse. Wisdom will save you from those who leave the paths of uprightness and walk in the ways of darkness. Wisdom saves you from those whose ways are crooked and are devious in their paths. Wicked people are everywhere; in school, at work, everywhere in the world.
Romans 1:18-20 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
I Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." Bad company, bad friendships, bad associations can corrupt good people. Some people change their life style because of who they run with or associate with!
Fighters cause others to fight. Drinkers often cause others to start drinking. And so, with all kinds of evil things in this world. Monkey see, monkey do. We often imitate others. And we sometimes imitate evil more than the good we see in others.
Because we live in a world of temptation and evil people tempt others to involve us in their evil, what must we do? How can we avoid this evil?
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse.
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what shall I give you?”. In 1 Kings 3:9 says, “give to your servant an understanding of heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil.
The wisdom of God can save us from the evil that people do! But only if we listen to God’s Word and live by His wisdom.
Psalms 119:9-11 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Psalms 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law, he meditates day and night.”
To avoid evil in this world, to not do the evil that others do we must guard our thoughts and our lives with God’s wise Word and make a commitment to live by His Word. God’s Word is powerful and can keep us from evil but only if we surrender to that wisdom. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus and no other way to avoid evil in this world.
The wisdom of this speaks to us every day. But the wisdom of this world is a lie. The wisdom of this world says there is no God, no hell, no afterlife. The wisdom of this world says that “everything goes" so do whatever you want. The wisdom of this world says that gay is ok. The wisdom of this world says it’s ok to lie about anything because everybody does, including the president.
But the wisdom of God says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." Isaiah 55:8
The wisdom of God says, “Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18
The wisdom of God says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
The wisdom of God says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
What do you choose? Whom will you serve this day and the rest of your life? There are two birds that fly over deserts: One is the hummingbird and the other is the vulture. The vultures find the rotting meat of the desert, because that is what they look for. They succeed on that diet. But hummingbirds ignore the smelly flesh of dead animals. Instead, they look for the colorful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They fill themselves with what is dead and gone. But hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new life. They fill themselves with freshness and life. Each bird finds what it is looking for. We all do.
That is the essence of Paul’s teaching: In life, there are two birds. The one bird looks for foolishness and folly, the other looks for wisdom. The vultures seek to fill themselves with the rotting flesh of drunkenness and debauchery, the hummingbird sobriety, freshness, and the Spirit.
In the fifth chapter of Ephesians Paul outlines proper behavior for good living. Three things we must do: Be wise, be sober, and be thankful. If we can adapt our daily lives around these three—be wise, be sober, be thankful—we will transform not only our lives but also the lives of our family, friends, church, and neighbors.
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise. Ephesians 5:15.
