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Wisdom
February 16,
2013
Wisdom is something that we think of as coming with age and experience. The truth is wisdom can be seen in people of any age as much as foolishness can be seen. In the Bible, there were wise people, and the Book of Proverbs was mostly written by one of the wisest men to ever live, Solomon. From a young age Solomon had wisdom, and he had this wisdom because he specifically asked God for wisdom when he could have asked God for anything and received it.
1
Kings 3:5-15
In
Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said,
Ask what
I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant
David my
father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in
righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast
kept for
him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his
throne,
as it
is
this day. And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant
king instead of David my father: and I am but a little
child: I know not
how to go out
or come in. And thy servant is in the
midst of thy
people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered
nor
counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding
heart to
judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is
able to
judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that
Solomon
had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked
this
thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked
riches for
thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for
thyself
understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy
words:
lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there
was none
like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto
thee. And I
have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and
honour:
so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy
days. And
if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments,
as thy
father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. And Solomon
awoke; and,
behold, it was a dream.
And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the
ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and
offered
peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.
Solomon's dream shows that God respects those who ask for wisdom. Asking for wisdom is an admission that one is not totally wise and in need of God's help, and for this request of wisdom, God had respect for Solomon. God was prepared to provide a long life, great riches and the life of Solomon's enemies. Because Solomon instead asked for wisdom, not only did God grant him this request, he also fulfilled all of these other needs that would be common to the king of a nation. By giving Solomon wisdom, God gave Solomon a mind that could cultivate the resources of Israel into great wealth. And if Solomon obeyed God, God would give Solomon long life. Later in chapter 11 of the first book of Kings, the Bible records that Solomon reigned for forty years after allowing his foreign wives to turn his heart from God. Solomon began reigning as a little child, so even though we do not exactly know how old Solomon was when he died, he likely was in his forties or fifties, which would make him much younger than his father David when David died. In humility, it is normal to seek wisdom, but sometimes, we can become so wise in our own eyes, we have no need of God. We always need God, because when we see no need for God because of our wisdom, we put ourselves in dangerous territory of thinking like Satan.
Ezekiel
28:11-19
Moreover
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a
lamentation
upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou
sealest
up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in
Eden the
garden of God; every precious stone was thy
covering, the sardius,
topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the
sapphire, the
emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets
and of thy
pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art
the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou
wast
upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the
midst of the
stones of fire. Thou wast perfect
in thy ways from the day that thou
wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy
merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou
hast
sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of
God: and I
will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of
fire.
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted
thy wisdom
by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay
thee
before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy
sanctuaries by
the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick;
therefore
will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee,
and I
will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that
behold
thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at
thee:
thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
It was beauty that corrupted Lucifer's wisdom and turned him into Satan. Somehow, he began to see himself as bigger than God and having no need for God. He lost all that God had given him. If we are wise, we know that we will always need God and that without him, we are nothing. The Bible gives us a test we can use to evaluate ourselves.
James
3:13
Who
is a wise
man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a
good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
If we are wise the way God needs us to be wise, we will be able to talk about what we did with meekness, meaning we will have no need to brag about accomplishments because we know that it is through God we are able to do a great work, and when we do a great work, we are able to celebrate what is good, embrace what is good, and do what is good.
All verses are from the King James Version.
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