The desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom. Sounds a bit like 1 Kings 3 when the Lord
gave Solomon a chance to ask for anything in the world and his request was for
wisdom, "an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern
between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” Do you see those words, that little phrase,
"discern between good and evil," right in the middle? Wisdom is the ability to discern between good
and evil in all things and also to choose the good and eschew the evil. The writer says that all those who seek
wisdom will find it, she will not hide from the earnest and honest seeker, but
will make herself available to them, she will be found sitting at the
gate. What a wonderful image that
is! What a wonderful way to start the
day.
The elders of the Jews say to Jesus that this centurion is
worthy for Jesus to heal his child and yet the centurion says he is not worthy
for Jesus even to come under his roof.
He had sent the elders to ask Jesus to come and heal the child not
because he wanted them to sing his praises to Jesus but because he wasn't
worthy to come to Jesus, he wouldn't presume to ask, he counted the elders
worthy to approach Jesus, thinking perhaps Jesus would act at their
behest. His humility is admirable, but
he didn't know Jesus' relationship with the elders of the Jews very well did
he? No one even approached Jesus to ask
Him to do something about the widow's son, He took the initiative and raised
him from the dead. Sounds a bit like
Elijah (1 Kings 17) and Elisha (2 Kings 4), so they come to the only reasonable
conclusion, a great prophet has arisen among us.
Wisdom begins with setting our minds on things above, where
wisdom resides, in eternal things rather than earthly things. Knowing where to seek wisdom is the first
step in finding it. Eve sought wisdom in
earthly things, Solomon sought it from the Lord. What a strange thing for Paul to say that you
have died. Do we recognize that as the
transaction? We died to self when we
came alive in Jesus but often we think only of adding something to what we
already had. We are new creations in Christ.
We have the Spirit of God, access to the fount of wisdom, within
us. If we don't live by the Spirit of
God and seek wisdom from Him, we will continue to make the same old
mistakes. Wisdom begins with
acknowledging that we are not worthy but He has made us worthy.
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