DO WE NEED WISDOM OR SHOULD WE SET OUR MINDS ON AUTO-PILOT?

The benefits of Godly wisdom are heralded throughout the Bible. However, in this post-Christian and postmodern age, these benefits are often overlooked. It is just difficult for postmoderns to get their minds around the fact that we are being transformed through Godly wisdom, which comes through the Word by the Spirit:

·       Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2 ESV)

However, postmoderns can site several verses that seem to denigrate wisdom, like:

·       Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” (1 Corinthians 3:18-20)

Paul did not denigrate Godly wisdom but the “wisdom of this world.” These are often diametrically opposed, as James had written:

·       Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:13-18)

The Book of Proverbs makes the same distinction. Although it writes very highly of wisdom, it warns us against our “own understanding:

·       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 straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7)

When you are “wise in your own eyes,” you do not “turn away from evil” and seek God’s wisdom. When you “lean on your own understanding,” you are not leaning on God’s understanding. Consequently, there is nothing wrong with true Biblical wisdom but our rejection of it in favor of our own understanding.

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Doesn’t wisdom make us proud, according to Paul:

·       Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. (1 Corinthians 8:1-2)

The problem here is not with Godly wisdom, but with a “wisdom” which is neglectful of love. Here, Paul refers to believers who correctly understand that they have the freedom to eat foods that have even been “offered to idols.” However, they neglect to think about how their knowledge will adversely impact their brethren if they eat such food.

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Our postmodern society has a low view of true wisdom and knowledge. Instead, they tend to understand transformation in terms of experiences and encounters with God through mystical practices. For this reason, they tend to like Solomon’s Ecclesiastes, because he presents a mixed portrait of wisdom:

·       I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. (Ecclesiastes 1:16-18)

Why did King Solomon have a disdain for wisdom? Because his quest for wisdom would not yield the answers he so passionately sought:

·       As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. (Eccles. 11:5)

However, this was the very thing that he had wanted to understand. Having an answer to God’s purposes, he would also have been able to determine the purpose of his own life. Even though Solomon possessed more wisdom than all others, he found that his wisdom was unable to determine that there was life after death. Instead, he required further divine revelation, which was only made clear in the New Testament. Consequently, he was tormented, because he found that he was unable to answer the basic questions of life:

·       Why work if I will just leave its fruits to another?

·       Why live a pious life if it ends with the grave?

·       Why seek wisdom of there are no ultimate answers to be found?

However, without NT revelation, we would also be experiencing Solomon’s torment. Therefore, Paul wrote about our riches in revelation and understanding and the difference it makes:

• If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied…If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. (1 Cor. 15:19, 32)

We require the wisdom that comes from above, which Solomon had lacked and which informs us about our eternal blessedness in our Savior.

Wisdom gives us accurate feedback so essential to successfully navigate this life. Having Godly wisdom is like having a pair of eyes, which give us accurate knowledge of the landscape as we navigate through busy streets. If our eyes feed us faulty data, we will crash. So too with ungodly wisdom!