I love the
Proverbs of Solomon because they give you a glimpse into the mind of the Lord and how He thinks.
The Lord calls
Himself wisdom which is descriptive of His nature, He is all-knowing (omniscient)
and has in His grasp the awareness of all things that He has created.
Solomon calls for us to have a deep feeling
of awe and respect for the Lord for this (he says) is where wisdom begins, and
everything that we perceive from this point forward will only add to our
understanding.
What Solomon is saying is
when we pursue the Lord with a desire for Him out of deep respect and
appreciation for who He is and what He has done we are on the path of wisdom.
However, wisdom alone is not the purpose of our
pursuit, our pursuit is to “know the Holy One”, wisdom only takes us to the
gateway of knowledge, it is knowing Jesus that transforms us and brings us into close union with
His presence that we can taste of His goodness and grace expressed toward
us. It is from this point He causes us to
pass through the gateway (or portal) of knowledge and begin
to grow in understanding.
Understanding
is crucial in the application of
wisdom, understanding is taking wisdom at face value and seeing it for what it is,
wisdom is the Lord Himself, as we behold Him and His presence we begin the
process of actualizing wisdom, it becomes a functional understanding of God’s
mind. It is the power of Christ in you.
The word
understanding is a word that has legal connotations which means one's "standing", it is where we “stand under”
a thing for its protection over us, much like standing under the legal bar for its
protection, or standing under an umbrella when it rains, we have the protection
of the umbrella.
As we stand under the
Lord’s protection (or presence) our gain is the comprehension of what wisdom the Lord has imparted to us.
Here is the difference, wisdom is imparted by the Lord for us to know Him, while understanding actually takes us deeper in relationship with Him to fully put our minds around what has
been imparted to us that we may fully grasp what is the knowledge of His creation and our role in it.
The benefit
of having wisdom and understanding is to have “long life”, which at its core
means we have divine health to keep us from sickness and disease. We stand in the Lord’s presence and can literally
command this blessing for our lives.
Solomon tells
us that “You are the one who will profit if you have wisdom,” wisdom is
an invitation to greater things in life, not just knowing a lot of things but
actually having the mind of God. Paul
took this thought much deeper in the book of Romans when he said:
“Do not conform yourselves to the
standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete
change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good
and is pleasing to him and is perfect.” Romans 12:2 (GNT)
Paul uses
the word "change" which in Greek is “metanoia”, which means a complete
change of character, a transformation from one thing into a completely
different type of thing, a transformative change of heart.
We are
presented with a challenge, do we allow ourselves to be conformed to this world
and its ways which want us to be under its control and bondage, or do we let God transform
our thinking to know the will and desire of God?
Jesus takes
this point even further when He speaks with His disciples:
At that time the disciples came to
ask Jesus, “Who is considered to be the greatest in heaven’s kingdom realm?” Jesus
called a little one to his side and said to them, “Learn this well: Unless you
dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable, and learn about
heaven’s kingdom realm with the wide-eyed wonder of a child, you will never be
able to enter in. Whoever continually humbles himself to become like this
gentle child is the greatest one in heaven’s kingdom realm. And if you tenderly
care for this little one on my behalf, you are tenderly caring for me. Matthew
18:1-5 (TPT)
Solomon
finishes this thought by saying “and if you reject it (wisdom), you are the
one who will suffer”.
Some
translations say that “Fear is the beginning of wisdom”, it is not
speaking of fear in the classical sense, but the fear of the Lord which means
to have a deep desire for Him.
If we
fail to walk this path we will deny ourselves of the blessings of God that He
has planned for our lives which in turn makes us truly rich with treasures unimaginable,
treasures which are peace, joy, and love which comes from the heart of God for us. As well as understanding the mysteries from the wisdom of God which have been hidden to us in times past but are now revealed to us in Christ Jesus.
Be Blessed;
Stephen
Barnett
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