The book of Proverbs stresses wisdom that we receive from God through contacting God; in certain portions, the wisdom of God is personified, referring to Christ as the wisdom of God. Wow!
This week in our Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes we come to the first great crystal in the book of Proverbs, which is, The Multifarious Wisdom of God. We had seven weeks that we crystallized the book of Job, and now we are getting into the book of Proverbs.
We want to not only emphasize certain points from the life-study of Proverbs or from the ministry but identify crystals, crucial points that are the intrinsic significance of Proverbs, and then develop them throughout the Bible.
When we speak of the multifarious wisdom of God, this word multifarious simply means, many ways, several aspects. God’s wisdom is not necessarily complicated, but it is broad and deep, and it has many aspects to it.
It is good to know, first of all, what is wisdom; we can consider it from two angles – from the human side and from the side of God.
On the human side, wisdom is difficult to define for it encompasses many things; it includes deep human understanding, keen discernment, insight, the capacity for sound judgment, experiential understanding, and the capacity to have discernment and judgement.
Wisdom refers to the way we do things, the way we plan initiate, and carry things out. It involves understanding, insight, and judgment coming out of ourselves in an unbiased way, having an experiential understanding so that we confront a difficult situation or problem or need.
In the book of Proverbs, the basic thought is, as seen in the first few verses, that this book is like a father speaking to his son what is in his heart so that he would take the way that leads to life and not to death.
At least twice in the book of Proverbs, it says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of that way is death.
It seems that the one writing this book tries to educate his son about this or about that kind of situation, telling him that if he lacks wisdom, he may enter into something that he thinks is pleasant, but it will destroy him.
We need to have the wisdom of God so that we may be kept on the way of life, even on the way of the tree of life.
Wisdom is also seen in the initiation of something.
If we look at the political situation in our country, for example, we may see a change in the way the things are done, for every governor, president or prime minister had his own way, but we may not see wisdom being expressed.
What we see many times in society the expression of the self lacking wisdom in almost all cases, just some kind of human view and concept and feeling, or a desire to be approved by others.
No wonder that the Bible exposes certain kinds of wisdom, such as the wisdom of the world (1 Cor. 1:20), the fleshly wisdom (2 Cor. 1:12), and the earthy wisdom (James 3:15).
The wisdom of the world is what we see in the generation today, especially in those highly educated, with their mind governed by the wisdom in this world.
The fleshly wisdom is the wisdom that comes out of the fleshy, fallen human beings.
When we live in the flesh we live in the old man, and when the old man lives, whether it is apparently good or purely evil, there is fleshly wisdom with it.
How sad would it be if the saints in the church life would live according to or handle things in the church or their life by worldly wisdom or fleshly wisdom!
Furthermore, in James 3:15 we see the wisdom that doesn’t descend from above, which is earthy, soulish, demonic.
If we are to initiate something, the way it is initiated indicates whether there is wisdom or not; there may be cleverness, fleshy wisdom, or soulish and demonic wisdom, but the only wisdom of God is really with the people of God in the church of God.
Wisdom comes from God: we can Receive Wisdom from God through Contacting God to Live a Godly Life
The book of Proverbs stresses wisdom that we receive from God through contacting God (Prov. 1:2; 2:10; 4:5; 9:10; 11:2b; 14:33a).
The subject of this book, the book of Proverbs, is living a godly life by the wisdom of God (Prov. 3:13-18; 8:11).
The central thought of the book of Proverbs is that we should seek after wisdom so that we may live a godly life on earth, a life that is acceptable to God (Prov. 2:1-9).
In an active way, we need to pursue and seek the wisdom that comes from God; we can receive wisdom from God through contacting God.
This is our desperate need today, that in all things we would seek the wisdom that comes from God so that we may live a godly life by the wisdom from God.
Wisdom is not of men; merely by growing in the human life and accumulating knowledge and skills doesn’t mean we are wise.
Wisdom comes from God, for Jehovah gives wisdom, and from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding (Prov. 2:6).
Wisdom is more valuable and better than gold, silver, and corals, and it is more desirable than anything else (3:14-15; 8:11, 19).
Wisdom is the Spirit of God (cf. Exo. 28:3; Deut. 34:9), which is also Christ; wisdom can be poured out upon man (Prov. 1:23).
For us to receive wisdom, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3, 10).
A word of wisdom is given to man through the Spirit (see 1 Cor. 12:8); we cannot receive the words in the book of Proverbs merely by our human concept, but rather, we need to exercise our spirit and pray over these words so that we may receive the wisdom of God, the wisdom that comes from God.
We need to let the Spirit of God be poured out upon us so that we may receive wisdom; when we contact God, we receive wisdom from God.
Blessed is the man who finds wisdom; man may have gold, silver, and precious things physically, but nothing we desire compares to being wise.
One day will come when we all can say, Lord, wisdom is more valuable to me than money, than any stocks in the market that I can invest, for nothing can compare to the wisdom that comes from God.
We need the Lord to develop this change of value in us.
When we speak of wisdom, we speak of God, the only wise god. We need the wisdom that comes from God for everything that we do in our daily life.
We need God as our wisdom for us to be believers, to live the life of a God-man, and to build up the church.
It is a great mistake for us to think that we can build up the church by our own ability, our knowledge, our intelligence, or our capacity; we need the wisdom that comes from God.
In Exo. 31, when the Lord through Moses directs certain ones to actually build the tabernacle, some particular ones of them were filled with wisdom to do the work of the building.
We cannot build up the church by our own wisdom or intelligence; we need wisdom from God.
What is it that we desire? May the Lord put in us a desire for God in Christ as our wisdom.
Lord Jesus, we seek after wisdom so that we may live a godly life on earth, a life that is acceptable to God. We come to You, Lord, to contact You and receive the wisdom that comes from God. Save us from living our Christian life or the church life with and by our fleshly wisdom, the wisdom of the world, or the wisdom that is earthy. Only You can give us wisdom, for from Your mouth come knowledge and understanding. Change our concept of value, Lord, that we may consider wisdom as being more valuable and better than gold, silver, and corals. Lord Jesus, we need You as our wisdom! We cannot live our Christian life and we cannot build up the church unless we have God in Christ as our wisdom! Amen, Lord, put in us a desire to seek the wisdom that comes from God, Christ as our wisdom!
God created all things through Christ, for Christ is the Wisdom of God and His Delight
If we read the book of Proverbs carefully, wisdom is not only something that we seek from God but many times the wisdom of God is personified (see Prov. 1:20; 3:19; 4:5-9; 8:1-36).
This personification of God’s wisdom is a reference to Christ, the second of the Divine Trinity, who became wisdom from God to all the New Testament believers (Matt. 11:19; Col. 2:3; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30).
In Prov. 3:19 we see that Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth; the universe itself and the way God created the earth, everything was by wisdom.
This One by whom Jehovah founded the earth and established the heavens is Christ, who is the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24).
Everything was created by God through Christ and unto Christ, and everything is held together in Christ; Christ is the wisdom of God.
Wisdom, as the master workman of God’s creation of all things, is God’s delight (Prov. 8:30).
Christ as the wisdom of God is His delight.
Deep within there’s the longing for God to be happy with us, that we would bring joy to Him, and that we would be a delight to Him – but we can’t do this in ourselves, we can’t be God’s delight in ourselves.
We need to stop trying to please God, for only Christ as the wisdom of God and He is the delight of God.
For us to take care of things in our family life or the church life, for us to serve in the church or in the ministry, we need to have the wisdom which comes from God, Christ as the wisdom of God, and we will be God’s delight.
Of all the over seven billion people on earth today, how many are living right now by the wisdom of God? The majority do the best they can to survive another day by relying on their own capacity.
May the Lord open our eyes and heart and spirit so that we may have God in Christ as our wisdom!
God’s creation of all things is through Christ, who is the wisdom and delight of God (Prov. 3:19; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:2); He established the heavens by understanding.
Wisdom dwells with prudence and finds knowledge and discretion; counsel and sound wisdom are hers.
Wisdom is understanding and has might; by wisdom kings reign and rulers decree justice, and by wisdom princes rule and nobles judge righteously.
Wisdom loves those who love her, and those who seek wisdom diligently will find her. Riches and honour are with wisdom, enduring wealth and righteousness (Prov. 8:12-21).
Wisdom walks in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice, that wisdom may cause those who love her to inherit substance and that she may fill their treasuries.
This personified wisdom of which the book of Proverbs speaks signifies Christ; if we have Christ as wisdom, we have everything, including spiritual things and material things.
If we take Christ as our wisdom, the wisdom of God for us, we will be the delight of God.
And when we come together, we will express, declare, and praise the wisdom of God in Christ, and we will enjoy Christ as the wisdom of God and the delight of God so that God would delight in us. Christ becomes wisdom from God to us, the believers in Christ.
We do not rely on our own capacity but rather, we take Christ as our wisdom, and in Him, we become the delight of God.
Hallelujah, Jehovah by wisdom has founded the earth! We praise You, Lord Jesus, for You are the wisdom of God, and by You, unto You, through You, and for You, God created all things! Amen, Lord, we receive You as the wisdom of God toward us, the believers in Christ. We seek You, Lord Jesus, to be our wisdom, even the wisdom of God, so that we may do all things in Christ and by Christ, the wisdom of God. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy and experience You as the wisdom of God so that we may become God’s delight in Christ. In the midst of all the things happening on earth, we want to be a manifestation of God’s wisdom in the church, the house of God, to be the delight of God. We allow You, Lord, to deal by the cross with our worldly wisdom, the fleshly wisdom, the earthy wisdom, and the soulish and demonic wisdom, so that Christ would be wisdom to us from God. Amen, Lord Jesus, You are wisdom to us from God, and in Him we become the delight of God for His wise corporate manifestation!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Proverbs, pp. 9-11, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes (2020 winter training), week 8, The Multifarious Wisdom of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Knowledge as needed, skill in all the doing, / Mine, when kept closely for my Lord above; / Beauty and wisdom, living streams e’er flowing / Fresh from the springs of God, the God of love. (Hymns #596)
– He has made the earth by His power; / He has established the world by His wisdom; / And has stretched out the heaven by His understanding. (Song on, He Has Made the Earth by His Power)
– O God, in Christ all focused is / Thy wisdom with Thy grace; / As wisdom Thou mad’st Him to us, / In Him Thy way we trace. (Hymns #24)
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