Knowledge is power, at least that is what we have been taught to believe, the more you know the farther you can go, and when we are speaking only in the terminology of the world, these statements are accurate. Our earning potentials increase with our abilities to retain and recall information, and when this knowledge can be applied and examined in both a linear and nonlinear way, our potential for the increase in worldly goods is expounded exponentially.
But there comes a time in the born-again believer’s life when all that worldly information is of absolutely no value, and that happens when we first come to the cross of Christ in repentance. This is not to say that our Lord cannot use what we have garnered from our study of the world, but it is the heart that He searches out, (Jer. 17:10) and many times where He decides to place us is nowhere near where we have spent the majority of our time here before Him.
“Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.” (Luke 11:52) The key of knowledge, the key to the door that opens unto the knowledge of God. This is one of the main reasons you will see Col. 1:9 scattered throughout so many of these letters to you, it has only been a few years since our Lord impressed this verse so firmly upon my heart, and at this point in my life I can see no replacement for it, “To be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Think of it my friends, not to have just a basic understanding of our Lord, not just a passing idea of what is required of us, but to be filled, completely full with what Almighty God wants for you and from you, what without question His will is in every aspect, not only for you, but for all of mankind.
The things of the world, the value of them, becomes almost laughable to the man of God who has set his face like a flint to seek the face of God, (Isaiah 50:7) to know the mind of Christ, (1 Cor.2:16) in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. We have been shown clearly in the Scriptures how to attain this knowledge, none who open the words of God have a viable excuse for not being wise, spirit filled servants of the Most High. “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” (Prov. 2:1-5)
Look at the last verse here, not only will you understand what the fear of the Lord means, but you are promised to find the knowledge of God. A weaker brother or sister in Christ, unless they are newly saved, is weaker only by their own accord, they have been promised that if they pray for wisdom, they will receive it, (James 1:5) they have been promised that it is the most valuable commodity known to man. “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.” (Prov. 3:13-14) “But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Prov. 1:33)
These and many more verses scattered throughout the Scriptures like them, are some of the “If you do this, then that will happen” promises from He who is faithful. Wisdom is something that is to be sought after with our entire being, nothing is to be compared with our pursuit of wisdom, and wisdom my friends is Christ, He is the embodiment of all wisdom. Through Him alone will we be given spiritual understanding, only by His atoning blood are we allowed into the presence of the Most Holy One who sits on high, Jesus Christ is the only way that our spirit can be in fellowship with wisdom.
The heart that can discern between good and evil is a wise heart indeed, the man who seeks first the kingdom of God, (Matt. 6:33) has been filled with wisdom by God to do so, the born-again believer who is filled with the spiritual understanding did not become so by his own volition, he asked for wisdom in earnest and was granted it. There is one reason only to seek this knowledge and wisdom that can only be imparted from God, and it is to glorify Him. Fools despise wisdom, (Prov. 1:7) they will not listen, and those who will not listen many times not only refuse to hear, but refuse to apply this wisdom that is not within us, but flows through us. “Before honor comes humility,” (Prov. 15:33) and only those who have humbled themselves as willing servants to the Lord Jesus Christ will be granted this most incredible gift of wisdom.
It is not to be trifled with; it serves no personal gain to the one to whom it has been imparted save for the ability to praise God in even greater ways. It is meant for the hearer, for the child of God whose one desire is to draw closer to the Lord each and every day, it is meant to build up and reprove, to admonish and correct, it is meant to edify and warn. The wisdom of the world will soon be shown for what it is, foolishness, (1 Cor. 3:19) and those who have refused the privilege of accepting this great gift of wisdom, to those our Lord says “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.” (Prov. 1:24-26)
Every born-again believer, every servant of our Lord Jesus Christ is to pray for wisdom, and not just once or twice, but constantly, it is not possible that our poor earthly frame can hold all the wisdom and knowledge of God, but we are to ask to be filled with all that we can bear. Think on these words today, wisdom and spiritual understanding. I do not have the vocabulary to make known their importance to you, but He does, and all you need to do is ask, asked to be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, and to do so to be able to glorify His name in ways you never thought possible before. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.” (1 John 5:14)
He is looking for willing servants, and He is prepared to bless them with an incomprehensible gift, the gift of wisdom. All you have to do is ask.
