As believers in Christ Jesus we do need wisdom from God, for us to be able to live “peaceably with all men” (Romans 12:18). God is not just the source of all wisdom. God is wisdom in itself.
King Solomon said:
“Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
Proverbs 4:7 NKJV
Wisdom from God as Christians is very important for us to live in good relationship with all men. We get wisdom from God by asking Him for it by faith. If we do not ask, and believe that we received after asking Him for it, we will not receive from Him.
But in order to be able to apply wisdom appropriately, an understanding of the will of God is very important. And there is practically no way we can have an understanding, based on what God has already declared in His word to apply it in wisdom, if we do not have a working knowledge of the word of God in our lives.
It is not wise to believe something just because other people say it. We must be pragmatic in our approach to the application of the promises of God to our lives. We can’t act in wisdom based on associated factors from the unsaved world, in our decision making process as believers in Christ.
The world one day will be gone away and their opinions on things are constantly changing. The only thing that never changes is the word of God. And because God’s word never changes, it is able to change a constantly changing world. But wisdom itself comes from the depth of God’s knowledge in us, based on our relationship with Him.
ASK WISDOM
In getting wisdom so as to be able to apply it and to walk in it Jesus said:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Matthew 7:7-11 NKJV
As we ask and seek for wisdom, the activation of our faith is very crucial in receiving it from God, just as much as it is important for us to be able to walk in it also. The same faith with which we received salvation, is the same faith that we need to activate in order to receive wisdom and walk in it.
Wisdom is a good thing to ask from God; and He is very liberal about giving it to us. He will never look at our past mistakes before giving it to us. He gives without finding fault in anyone.
A MOCKER OF WISDOM IS A FOOL
As we activate our faith to receive and walk in wisdom, being able to recognize mockery is what empowers us in separating foolishness from the wisdom of God.
King Solomon gave us some understanding of this in his writings. One of them says:
“Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.”
Proverbs 9:7-9 NIV
We live in a world today where bullying or mockery on the internet is on the rise. For us as believers in Christ Jesus, these words of King Solomon gives us an insight and understanding of what goes on in the heart of a bully or a mocker. The scripture says clearly here that mockers are haters. And because of the foolishness in their hearts, they will reject righteous living. A wise man will always pursue righteous living, but a fool will make mockery of it so as to follow the desire of his heart – foolishness. By following advices from scriptures, we will be acting in the wisdom of God.
The way we react to the word of God (for example) when God corrects or reproofs us, says a lot about who we really are. When people get angry while being instructed or corrected with the word of God, they are signaling that they are mockers of everything that is of God.
A mocker will ignore every correction based on the word of God. He will even go to the extent of smearing faith in Christ Jesus, in the pursuit of the folly in his heart.
These are the character traits of a fool, according to the scripture text above. And the scripture text above describes such a person as being wicked or evil. He is wicked because he is rejecting through mockery the wisdom of God and His righteousness. Our unsaved world is full of people like that.
Solomon said again that:
“Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.”
Proverbs 14:9 NIV
A man who walks righteously or uprightly before God, never gets angry when being corrected or instructed. In fact he loves it and takes it graciously by asking for more of it, because he wants to be wiser. Such a man will love you more, unlike the mocker or the fool who will hate you for enlightening him.
A fool will make mockery of the word of God, because it points directly to the root cause of sin in his life. His folly is exposed by the entrance of God’s word into his heart.
The world today is full of people who just like to mock Christians, because they love sin and hate righteousness. As Christians we do need God’s wisdom in handling them always.
King David once wrote about fools mocking God before him.
He said:
“Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long.”
Psalm 74:22 NIV
God is the defender of a wise man. He knows the way of the wise and He will fight for them.
Wisdom is therefore far from the lips of a mocker, but he will definitely get the reward of his mockery from God.
As Christians we do not answer a fool back with his own folly. It is better to always let the Holy Spirit lead us in responding to a fool. We must always listen inwardly first before responding to them. God may be leading us in His wisdom to help the mocker in his own foolishness.
JESUS’ HANDLING OF MOCKERS
Jesus gave us an example of this. One day they brought a woman who was caught in the very act of foolishness (adultery) to Him. The Bible showed us the reaction of Jesus. He never rushed to say a word of in response to the accusers or mockers (Proverbs 29:11).
The scriptures says:
“They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.”
John 8:6-8 NIV
The mockers and the fools in the time of Jesus, were looking for ways to find fault in Him and mock Him, but Jesus knew this.
There are people who do love to speak from their mind, before they listen to their heart. Jesus never lived His life on earth successfully, by just saying what comes to His mind. In this incidence Jesus was listening for the voice of God before giving an answer. Eventually the answer that He gave shocked them all and saved the life of that woman.
There is an English proverb that says: “Those who live in a glass house do not throw stones”. There is great wisdom in this proverbial saying. A fool will make mockery of others, without regards to his own situation. He will do this because he can not see anything else but the foolishness of his heart.
The wisdom of God worked in the life of Jesus, and wisdom will work for any believer in Christ also.
As the righteous ones of God in Christ Jesus, we do not live or act like the mockers and the wicked of this world when we are mocked. We always react in the wisdom of God.
We need to always remember that our reaction to correction and to reproof will clearly indicate our character traits to the world around us. If we get angry when being corrected with the word of God. Or if we reject correction into righteous living, this will show us as fools.
INSIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE HOLY ONE IS WISDOM
King Solomon continued in Proverbs chapter 9 by saying:
“The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning (the chief and choice part) of Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight and understanding.”
Proverbs 9:10 AMPC
Solomon mentions something here that is so important to our ability in getting wisdom, especially in a world that is so full of foolishness. He said that “the knowledge of the Holy One is insight and understanding” (verse 10).
He did not say that the knowledge of the Holy One brings “insight and understanding”; but that it is in itself insight and understanding.
Insight and understanding of the Holy One, are both pivotal in our ability to get wisdom, so as to live successfully in an evil world. It is the insight and understanding of God that makes a man wise.
The wisdom of God does not come through seeking counsel with friends, neither does it come from the advice of mere men. It comes from our insight, knowledge and understanding of the Holy One. It comes out of the deposit of the knowledge, insight and understanding of the Holy One inside us. If we have no deposit of the Holy One then we have no wisdom.
If you are not in a personal relationship with God, you probably do not have any spiritual insight and understanding of the issues of life that you face daily. Your approaches to those issues will be the approach of the men and women around you.
THE FOOLISHNESS OF REHOBOAM
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon had wisdom available to him, but he chose to act foolishly and lost most of his kingdom for this. He acted in the wisdom of the friends and the world that he surrounded himself with. He failed to lead his people with the insight and understanding from the Holy One that characterized his father’s reign as king.
When he needed wisdom, the Bible says:
“But he forsook the counsel the old men gave him and consulted the young men who grew up with him and stood before him.”
1 Kings 12:8 AMPC
His nation became divided because he ignored the wisdom of the Holy One, for the wisdom of his friends and the world. Whenever we ignore the insight and understanding of God in what we face in life – we will fail.
GETTING INSIGHT AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE HOLY ONE
King David again wrote:
“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.”
Psalm 14:1 NIV
A fool knows nothing about holiness and does not ever want to be associated with it at all, because he thinks it is like living a very difficult lifestyle.
A fool will ignore the insight and understanding of God in his life, and he will often wonder: “Why are things so difficult for me?” He will reject everything that stands against his own way of thinking, because he hates the insight and understanding of God which brings wisdom.
He will deny God (the source of wisdom), because of the lack of desire in his heart to know God as the Holy One.
We cannot live a lifestyle of constant victory over the enemy if we are denying God as the Holy One.
Getting insight and understanding of the Holy One is very important in our ability to take hold of the wisdom of God.
It basically means that wisdom comes to us through fellowshipping and building a relationship with God, where we begin to know Him as He really is. When we discover God by building a personal relationship with Him, we will begin to recognize Him as the Holy One. This is the beginning of wisdom.
I had often listened to preachers and Bible teachers talking about holiness. I have discovered that many do not really understand holiness. Anyone may try to no avail in explaining it. But the HOLINESS OF GOD is something that can never be explained or understood. It is spiritual and spiritual things can’t be explained or just taught.
The Holiness of God is a concept that has to be spiritually caught. If you cannot catch it, you will never be able to experience it; because HOLINESS IS GOD. It is that attribute of God, that we will never be able to grasp in its fullest measure until when we see God face to face.
But in getting to know God more intimately we get wiser by walking with Him, as we listen to obey His voice in whispers to our hearts (Job 26:14). And by walking with God in faith, you are walking in the power of His holiness (Hebrews 11:6). Out of the insight, understanding and knowledge of God, His life and holiness flows through us. Life flows through us in abundance, life for today and life for eternity.
As I conclude this week, I will like to ask if you had ever missed anything in life to make you wiser. You may have acknowledged, that you need the insight and understanding of the Holy One in your life. You can start today by following this link to our website, and reading this prayer out loud, asking Jesus to begin that spiritual journey with you.
Thank you and God bless you! We love you and are praying for you.
