Want to be Wise?

Nobody wants to be a fool. It’s always an insult to call someone a fool, but a fool in OT lit. is worse. In the Bible’s wisdom books: Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, a fool is not just unintelligent. "Fool” in the OT sense of the word refers to moral failings as well. A fool in the OT sense does things that are both dumb and rebellious against God.

So we read the first 7 vs. in a book chock-full of wisdom. If you read through Proverbs, you’ll be instructed in all kinds of topics. My reading plan had readings on:

wisdom, anger, contentment, generosity, greed, honesty, humility, justice, laziness, patience, pride, sexual immorality, wealth, and work.

According to the introduction of Proverbs, fools despise this kind of instruction. Wise people lap it up. Discerning people add to their wisdom.

These sayings were collected by Solomon so his wisdom gets passed to the next generation. It’s gathered so following kings and leaders can be prudent; so they can do what is right and just and fair.

Who is Solomon?

He’s the son of King David and Bathsheba. He became king after his father. At the beginning of his reign, God offers King Solomon a choice:

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” I Kings 3:5 NIV

What would you choose? Long life? Wealth? Death of your enemies? Here’s what Solomon requested:

Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” I Kings 3:9 NIV

Solomon became famous for wisdom. Kings & Queens visit Solomon to learn from him. Here in Proverbs, his sayings are collected with the wisdom gleaned from others.

It’s tough reading. I find it tough. A friend said it was his favorite book of the Bible; it’s not mine. Maybe that says something about my wisdom compared to his, but I find Proverbs difficult to read, esp. ch. after ch.

Yet I don’t want to be a fool; do you? Does anyone want to remain foolish or simple or immoral?

Not really! So where do you learn wisdom? Start at the beginning:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”

It’s another confusing idea. If God is our loving heavenly Father, why should we be frightened of him? If Jesus is good and loving, gentle and kind, what reason do we have to be scared?

I don’t want to take diminish your ideas of God’s goodness and love for you. But we can’t pretend that God is simply a jolly ol’ fellow who lets you sit on his lap and promises everything you want.

Whenever someone encounters God in the Bible, their first reaction is fear – with a notable exception. In the beginning, Adam & Eve did not find God frightening. They walked and talked with him daily in the Garden of Eden. It wasn’t until after they disobeyed that fear and shame spoiled the relationship. The day they rebelled, our first parents hid themselves in the bushes and covered their shame with fig leaves.

When Moses and the Israelites met with God at Mt. Sinai, they were terrified. This was after being rescued from Egypt. They crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and saw their enemies crushed when the walls of water came together. Now they’ve camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai, about meet God. It’s not for the faint of heart:

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Exodus 19:16 (NIV)

God called his people to live holy lives. They were challenged to live according to different rules than their neighbours because they were God’s people. The LORD proposed to live among them. But the presence of God in all his glory and holiness is frightening, even when you’ve experienced his goodness and love.

The OT prophet and priest, Isaiah had a similar experience. When he had a vision of God enthroned in the temple, in all his righteousness and glory, Isaiah was filled with guilt and shame.

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 6:5 NIV

Even God’s angels bring that sense of goodness and holiness with them. I know it feels too early to talk about the Christmas stories, but whether you talk about the angel Gabriel’s visit with Zechariah in the temple or his conversation with Mary in Nazareth, whether it’s Joseph’s vision of an angel at night or the sleepy shepherds confronted by an army of angels in the sky: all were afraid when they encountered the glorious angels. Why?

God’s angels reflect something of God’s goodness, his majesty, and his glory. Reverence & respect are appropriate. Fear & awe involuntary.

Perhaps you’ve experienced similar awe. A time when you were aware of God’s closeness or when you’re struck by how deep and wide and high and long God’s love and goodness runs. It might stand your hair on end. It might create a thrill or perhaps a glow that sticks with you for days, even weeks.

That’s the sense of awe, reverence, and thrill of fear that Solomon describes as the beginning of knowledge. You have to appreciate how big, powerful, and good God is. You have to have a sense that there’s room for you to grow, to mature, to improve or you’ll never get wiser.

That’s reasonable, isn’t it?

If you already know everything, you’re never going to learn anything. If you’re already the best, you’re not going to strive for better, strive for excellence.

That’s where the fear of the LORD comes in. That thrill of fear, the shiver you get from God’s goodness and power, the jolt of realization and even the awkward feeling of shame can spur you out of complacency. Once you recognize how good and wise God is, you see how foolish and simple you are. Who wants to stay foolish? Who doesn’t want to grow mature?

That’s why the OT book of Proverbs was compiled: to help people grow in knowledge and wisdom; to equip people for service to the king. Not just to serve King Solomon and his heirs, but, more importantly, to serve Solomon’s overlord: the LORD God Almighty, ruler of the heavens and earth.

The fear of the LORD comes up repeatedly in the OT. 3/4 of the time “fear” appears in the OT, it refers to the “fear of the LORD.”

We use this language sometimes, don’t we? When we speak sternly to our children or the neighbour’s kids, we threaten to “put the fear of God into them.”

In my experience the fear of the LORD has 2 sources. See if you agree

❶ God’s goodness and righteousness, especially in contrast to our struggles to do what is right. Don’t you have that sense of awe mixed with inadequacy compared to God in all his holiness?

It’s a feeling that haunted the Apostle Paul. He’s a recovering Pharisee, conscious of God’s standard for righteousness. He wrestled with it

I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Romans 7:21–24 NIV

❷ God’s compassion, mercy, and readiness to forgive. Think about the lengths God has done to rescue you from this body of death!

The whole plan of salvation, beginning with the hope God gave Adam & Eve when they first rebelled: the promise that Eve’s offspring would crush the serpent’s head.

That promise is fulfilled when God entered his creation as a little baby. The whole story of the angels and shepherds and Mary & Joseph – it’s all part of God’s rescue plan, culminating in Jesus being condemned to hang on a cross. He endured death and hell so that you & others are spared death and damnation.

I remember teaching someone to explain the gospel and every time we got to this part, every time she described how Jesus rescued her from sin and death, it brought tears to her eyes. It’s such good news! Who else would be so loving, so compassionate, so full of grace?

Jesus sacrificed himself to make you clean and pure and holy!

Doesn’t it give you a thrill?

This thrill is a spur to push you to go higher, to do better. It’s the spark that ignites your efforts to do better, to live up to God’s standards, to live up to your Heavenly Father’s expectations. After God has done so much, how can you settle for foolish, immoral behaviour?

Like humility – compared to God’s glory and majesty, what do you have to boast about?

Or wealth . . . your possessions don’t stack up that high against the richest people in the world. You can’t keep any of your possessions much longer than 100 yrs . . . and doesn’t it ultimately belong to God anyhow?

God invites you; challenges you to grow wiser – more like him, more reliant on his Word & Spirit. How do you start?

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.”