Knowledge and Wisdom

By Lynette Schaefer

In these days of rampant ignorance and indifference to the things of God, the Christian who seeks to acquire deep knowledge and wisdom concerning spiritual matters is of great worth to God. It also brings the Christian real joy, peace and contentment because he is grounded in the great doctrinal truths of the Bible and in his ever-growing relationship with the Almighty.

Spiritual knowledge and wisdom is not simply knowing facts about God, or head knowledge. It is heart knowledge, a deep knowing and respecting of Who God is as this Person we worship, as well as how He relates to us concerning our lives and our future.

Psalm 119:97-104 and Proverbs 2:1-5 are of great importance if we are to grow in our walk with God. You would be wise to study them for yourself, but I've listed the important concepts of these passages below:

  1. Meditation. It is of tremendous value to spend time alone with God every day, communing with Him through prayer and studying His Word. In order to have an effective Christian life, we need to depend on His sovereign resources instead of our own bankrupt resources (2 Cor. 3:5). We cannot live the Christian life on our own and without the illumination of the Spirit. So any time we need to commune with our Heavenly Father about an important decision, a crisis, wisdom in handling a situation or how to correctly interpret something, we surrender ourselves before Him and listen to what He has to say. It is sometimes hard to do in this busy world we live in, but it is worth every minute. If we do these things consistently, we find ourselves growing in Him in many ways. We learn so many things about God we didn't know previously. The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:97 that God's law was his meditation all the day". That is, where your heart is, there your treasure is also (Matt. 6:21).

  2. Know His Precepts. When we know God intimately and know His precepts, they are a delight to us. The more we know God the more we want to know about Him, just like in a relationship. When you love someone, you want to know all about them, what they like and don't like, what they have to say to you, and how you can please them. When we follow God's precepts, we are obeying Him. When we obey Him, we learn His ways. Learning His "law" as referenced in the Psalms passage (119:97), doesn't mean the legal codes as in the Mosaic Law, but rather God's instruction to His children. To the Psalmist, God's Words were sweeter to him than the honeycomb (vs. 103). We know also from scripture that the honeycomb has nutritional value (Luke 24:42). It is through knowing Him and His ways that we have the discernment to keep from evil. It is also how we become like Jesus!

  3. More understanding than our teachers. Psalm 119:99 is essentially Messianic. When Jesus was 12 years old and stayed behind in Jerusalem to talk to all the teachers of the Law in the Temple, He confounded and amazed them (Luke 2: 46,47). The reason is because the Lord's precepts were His constant meditation. Now, none of us can hold a candle to Jesus in our spiritual level of understanding; however, the more we seek to understand God's ways over time, the more we understand life and our place in this world, as well as what God has in store for us in eternity. So if we have the opportunity to surrender ourselves to God at a young age through the help of the Holy Spirit, we can surpass even our own teachers in understanding.

  4. Apply our hearts to wisdom. Prov. 2: 1-5 indicates that we need to seek to live our lives in God's wisdom above all else. God's precepts are precious and to be sought after. Living our lives after the pattern of His commandments illuminated by the Holy Spirit should be our desire. A good secular education avails little in comparison to a good spiritual grounding. Does that mean we neglect our earthly responsibilities? Heaven forbid! Any man who doesn't take care of his family is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5:8). We need to function in the earthly capacities that we are put here for, but ultimately we are to live for eternity, not for the things of the earth.

God desires that His children be grounded in Him so they can delight in Him and be the Salt of the earth (Matt 5:13). We cannot possibly be the Salt and Light of the earth to those around us if we have little or no desire to learn of His ways, to obey Him, or honor Him by spending daily time with Him in His Word.

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