My Thoughts on the Wisdom of God

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Currently, I'm on Proverbs 9 which has an interesting doctrinal footnote called "The Wisdom of God" from "The King James Study Bible". How is the wisdom of God defined in the footnotes? It's defines as follows:

The "wisdom of God" is used in three senses in the Scriptures. First, it refers to the higher perspective by which God understands things that man is incapable of understanding (1 Corinthians 1:25). Second, it can refer to the understanding which a Christian should have in life (4:7). Also, wisdom is seen as a type of Christ who is our wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Illustration: When David said Abner died as a fool (2 Samuel 3:33), he meant that Abner died because he followed his own intuition rather than the wisdom of God, which would have saved him. he was killed as he turned aside in the gate of Hebron. Had he entered the city of refuge, as God had instructed.

Application: A wise Christian will obey the wisdom of God. (First reference: Genesis 2:16, 17; Primary Reference., Proverbs 9:1, cf. John 3:16.

This has me thinking of how many times I deserve to be called a fool or moron (derived from the Greek word moros) for deciding trust in my own wisdom. Proverbs 9:4-6 has an invitation to the simple. I think a better translation is simpleton which means a foolish or gullible person. The invitation of the simple by wisdom is to forsake the foolish and live and go into the way of understanding. Are people born wise? Whether you like it or not but we're all born fools or moros. You're the first moron you meet when you look at the mirror. What's the use of calling another as such when you're also a moron according to the standards of the Bible? Romans 1:22 has the problem of men who profess themselves to wise but are actually fools or morons. Abner was called a fool because he struted in his own instincts rather than God. Abner's death could've been avoided and as a result of his own actions. 

Why is it foolishness to rebuke a foolish man? A foolish man thinks he's very wise. Foolish people tend to have a high view of themselves. This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. A scorner is described to be disagreeable or unpleasant. Other translation uses scoffer which means one who mocks others. This pretty much rooted in arrogance. A fool is not someone who has a low IQ or is intellectually stupid. A fool is someone who regardless of intelligence has a high view of himself. Trying to talk to a scoffer is useless because such a person is very arrogant. A scoffer tends to think that he or she is always right and everybody else is wrong. A scoffer tends to think he or she knows everything. A scoffer cares more about being right than what is right. A wise man, on the other hand, isn't necessarily a genius. To be a wise person is to be aware of one's limits and care more about what is right than being right. A wise person is aware of his or her mistakes and owns up to them. Solomon's true wisdom was not in his massive display of power but when he realized he made a fool out of himself. David's true wisdom came when he repented of his sins throughout his career. That's why a wise person accepts correction because he or she knows he or she must continuously learn. A foolish person thinks that they have nothing else to learn just because they graduated college, have prestigious honors and high grades, got a difficult to obtain a degree from a very difficult school. Some even think they're too cool for school (and mock the intellectuals) that they quit having a basic education like some out-of-school youths involved in crime. Either way, foolishness is always rooted in arrogance and wisdom in humility (Proverbs 9:10, 11:2).

The power of the wisdom of God is impossible to fully understand. It's because perfect wisdom is free from the knowledge of evil. God told Adam to never eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Humanity was meant to live with only the knowledge of good but not evil. The result of this sin has given forbidden knowledge which we still suffer for it until today. The consequence of sin is so widespread that will last until the end of the Millennium Kingdom. Sin in itself is the ultimate barrier to fully knowing God. Men can gain all the worldly wisdom they can (degrees and the like) yet still remain a moros in the eyes of God. A lot of people are worldly educated but they know zero about the things of God. Many of them even graduate from prestigious universities with difficult courses but they still are too full of themselves. The result is that they give in to foolish delusions (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12) which God allows for a reason. 

Solomon knew that he was but 20 years old. Solomon's father died at 70 and he was but 20. Bathsheba and David had a significantly huge age gap. In short, David was old enough to be Solomon's grandfather as Bathsheba was young enough to be David's daughter. Solomon was unlike the other much older half-siblings he had. Solomon knew that he needed wisdom. 1 Kings 3 tells us the story where Solomon knew he had to rely on God for wisdom. Solomon was entrusted such powerful wisdom. When Solomon started to rely on his own wisdom then backsliding happened with his affairs with multiple pagan women. Solomon, later on, wrote Ecclesiastes as a book of repentance where he discussed how his own knowledge was infinitely inferior to God. Solomon wrote how his pursue of wealth led nowhere. Solomon wrote about how he repents of his foolishness. The conclusion of Ecclesiastes was to fear God and keep his commandments - something Solomon failed to do later in life yet later returned back to God. However, the consequences of Solomon's inactions soon caused the United Kingdom to be divided into Israel and Judah for some time. Unfortunately, Rehoboam, unlike Solomon, failed to rely on God's wisdom which further caused the division of the two kingdoms and its near destruction at the hands of Shishak. Rehoboam later repented of his folly (2 Chronicles 12). It was notied in 2 Chronicles 12:14 that Rehoboam's lack of pursuance of the wisdom of God led him to do wickedly. Solomon certainly failed to raise Rehoboam well.

Later, James, a maternal half-brother of Jesus, would write in James 1:5 that if any man lacks wisdom then ask God for it. This is not instantaneous wisdom. Sometimes, wisdom is only willed that you get wisdom from adversities. James 1:12 that blessed is the man that endures temptation. Wisdom is usually not grown in the comfort zones. Knowledge can easily be acquired by reading but the same can't be said about wisdom. Wisdom is applied knowledge with common sense. It's like you know not to play with knives. The wisdom comes when not when you know not to but when you don't play with the knives. Knowledge is needed for wisdom. Wisdom is when knowledge is applied properly. True wisdom begins with the reverential fear of the LORD (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, 9:10). 

This has me thinking that why am I fretting when I'm wrong when I've got God who is right? I don't need to be right all the time because God is right all the time. I can rely on the knowledge of God and my own knoweldge is destined to crumble. It's that imperfection that I have that keeps me humble. If God suddenly made me that knowledgeable in one sitting then wouldn't that risk me to pride? Instead, God slowly gives a brook of wisdom than an entire river. God has also allowed me to make mistakes and to suffer as an answer in asking for wisdom for the day, week, month, and year.

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