Godly knowledge leads to wisdom
Published 7:56 am Friday, August 15, 2014
The book of Daniel is among the greatest of the prophetic books in the Bible. Daniel, one of the Hebrew children taken captive to Babylon, by King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel chapter 1), was allowed by God to author this book. As he grew into manhood he grew in the favor of our Lord because of his faithfulness. As Daniel closes out his book in chapter 12, he gives us a picture of what I believe is how things are today. He wrote in verse 4: “But you Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.”
All would certainly agree that knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds. As knowledge increases it moves man farther and farther away from God. Putting it simply, the word knowledge means “to know.” But man today seeks to have knowledge of everything but God. Peter closes his second epistle with these words: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”
Having knowledge does not necessarily mean one has wisdom. A wise man uses knowledge to glorify God. A fool is one who has knowledge and does not glorify God. True wisdom only comes from God and can only be obtained by seeking it the right way. It seems as though we have lost the true meaning of wisdom. So to find what is true wisdom from above we must turn to the book from above, the Bible. The book of Proverbs tells us how to have wisdom from above. I challenge you to prayerfully meditate on Proverbs, especially the first nine chapters. By only reading scriptures we often miss the true meaning.
First of all – what is wisdom? Wisdom is the power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action. The Greek word means “a right use of the mind.” We quickly see in Proverbs 1 and 2 the emphasis is on Godly wisdom. Now what is the first step to receive wisdom? Chapter 1:7a, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Fear here means to have a deep reverence or trust in God. So we see that to begin to have knowledge is to put our trust in God. Notice it says the “beginning of knowledge.” We must put all our trust in Him for there is no true knowledge except that which comes from God. Notice the last part of verse 7 says “but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” We clearly see to reject our Lord is to be a fool. Again the first step of gaining wisdom is to trust in the Lord.
To have wisdom, we have to work for it. In Proverbs chapter 2:1, 3 and 4 we find three “ifs.” Until we heed the message of these three “ifs” we will never have true wisdom. Verse 1: “My son IF you receive My words and treasure My commands within you.” Verse 2: “So that you incline your ear to wisdom (incline your ear means to keep it open to hear all) and apply your heart to understanding.” The word heart here means your whole being. Verse 3: “Yes, IF you cry for discernment (knowledge) and lift up your voice for understanding.” Verse 4 and 5: “IF you seek her as silver and search for her as hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God.”
Hugh G. Sherrill
Pastor Philippi Baptist Church
1444 SE County Rd 18 Lake City
ems-hugh43@comcast.net
