WHAT IS WISDOM?

What exactly is wisdom? We in the modern age tend to equate wisdom with doing something or applying right principles in the right situations. Wisdom is the master problem solver. But in biblical times wisdom was no more connected to solving problems than anniversary flowers are connected to love. Rather wisdom was that overall paradigm of God’s work in the universe. Wisdom is described this way in Proverbs 3:19, “The Lord, by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens.” One quick read of this verse makes it abundantly clear that wisdom is more than God’s acumen or skill. Wisdom, rather, is the mind of God that holds the universe together. Or to say it another way, wisdom is the framework that governs the way things are; wisdom is God’s creative mind in action. Where there is anything cohesive or true, wisdom is behind it. Wisdom is not God thinking what is the best way to do something for God intrinsically knows the best way to do anything. God simply acts and His acts are wisdom. What He does is always right and good. Such is wisdom. When we get to Proverbs 8 we find that wisdom is intricately bound to the beginnings of the universe. Wisdom was there to prepare the heavens (vs 27), and was there to set the clouds in their arrangement (vs 28), and was there to mark the limits of the sea (vs 29). Wisdom, to summarize, was right there with God at the creation acting as a Master Craftsman. Wisdom is God’s mind in action. This makes wisdom much more than a technique or a skill. These texts solidify wisdom as something intrinsically personal. No more important statement could be made to establish one’s view of reality. Seeing wisdom as personality, frames one’s cosmology. It means that one sees the universe as something ruled by a person rather than a schematic of controlling laws. The latter is a very impoverished and truncated view of the universe. After all, laws themselves are really nothing. They produce nothing; they change nothing; they implement nothing. Laws are the visual projections of a mind that knows all things. Laws are simply a display of the workings of an invisible and eternal mind. The proof of this is the workings of our own minds. When we are faced with problems we immediately organize data that accords with reality so that the threat of dissonance can be eliminated. The mind forces a logical framework upon the problem until there is resolution. This is wisdom. It is extremely personal and an extension of a rational mind functioning well. Thus, wisdom and the mind are nearly synonymous. For the first 1700 years of its existence, humanity looked at wisdom in this way. Wisdom was the personal and creative power of a divine mind. The universe was run by the ultimate mind, which was God, which was wisdom. In the past 300 years mankind has taken a turn in a whole new direction, declaring its independence from God in what we call the Enlightenment. The big loser in that exchange was wisdom herself. So far from being the handmaiden of personality, wisdom now became an impersonal set of rules and laws marching at the behest of sinful man. The universe was no longer governed by God but by the creature who was intoxicated with himself and his endless supply of lifeless equations. One could see little difference between this new religion and the religion of ancient Israel where they bowed down to lifeless images (Isaiah 44:15). By removing God from the universe wisdom was relegated to an unfamiliar (and unwanted) role. No longer given the right to be connected to God, wisdom was forced to dress as a jester in the courtroom of King Science. Against her will, wisdom was asked to prove the ultimate importance of natural laws which became the keys to understanding the universe. Thus, the atheistic king hijacked wisdom and forced her to advocate an agenda which was contrary to her very design. Science sent wisdom out on a mission to prove to the horrified universe that all creation was impersonal. “Shut up and just tell us how to fix things,” science told told wisdom as she departed on that long journey. “And leave all that personal God nonsense out on the back porch of mythology.” Today, in many a museum, wisdom can be seen openly weeping for what she has become, an unwanted prisoner of that cruel taskmaster called secularism. And this has gone on for three long centuries. Having removed wisdom from her rightful place of honor at the right hand of God, all that is now left for man to do is to use wisdom to study and apply laws that seem to have no purpose in themselves. Wisdom has now become man’s lackey, commissioned to bring meaning to a meaningless system. But what has it all produced? A humankind in far more control of his own environment than ever before yet far more desperate and fearful as he stares blankly into an uncertain and meaningless future. One response to this despair has been to descend into a Postmodern pit, denying all truth and all laws and all principles all the while babbling in the corner, “Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” But this only leads to further despair. The right response is to return to the God who is the essence of wisdom, and to once again see the universe as that which is run by wisdom, a wisdom that is both personal and meaningful. And how are we to get there? In its inimitable way the Bible makes the answer both simple and accessible. It calls for humanity to turn back to God Himself. Proverbs 1:7 says plainly, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” At the end of all his arguing and anguishing about reality, the patriarch Job finally lays down his arms and yields to the wisdom of the divine. He concludes the 28th chapter in wonder, love and praise, saying, “Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom” (Job 28:28). At the end of the day this is what we must do. But how do we return to God? God can be hard to find. But as we return to Proverbs 8 we learn a vital truth. Wisdom is the connective link between God and man. To know wisdom is to know God. “Whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord,” says the voice of wisdom (8:35). But who is it we must find? It will take a little work to discover who this personage is. The answer is clear. It is Jesus Christ, the One who came into the world as the very essence of the wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:30) for He came to show us God (John 1:18). As Wisdom, Christ was there at the creation. As Wisdom, Christ is the One who holds all the universe together (Col 1:17). And as Wisdom, Christ was completely misunderstood and rejected as a fool. Mankind saw Wisdom come to his world and rejected Him. “We will not have this man rule over us,” we cried. Yes, mankind rejected Wisdom incarnate…. and still does. Thus mankind remains a vagabond race, trying to understand all things through his own human lens, and by his own paltry human wisdom governed by the weak and beggarly elements of scientific principle. But off to the side, unobtrusive and patient, that man named Wisdom continues to call aloud in the open square of human inquiry for those to follow Wisdom (Prov 1:20). Wisdom holds forth His hand ready to give life ...and wisdom… to all who will seek Him and Him alone. Something He eagerly longs to give.