Most people that you will meet in this life are not very smart, they are perhaps cognizant of their surroundings at most times, they can perform the day-to-day tasks necessary for their own survival, but beyond that, the scope of their capabilities are quite limited.
I compare today what the world calls wisdom, being smart, and the wisdom that the Lord sees fit to bless certain of those He has chosen as His own. Smart in the world’s eyes generally pays more money in any employment field, a nuclear physicist earns more than a grocery clerk, but that does not necessarily infer that the physicist would be proficient at stocking shelves in the local market, and even the check-out girl, with enough time and training, can be taught to operate a nuclear power plant. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5)
You will not receive true wisdom unless you ask for it, and you must desire it above all other gifts, it must be more priceless to you than gold, silver and rubies, (Prov. 8:11) you must wait constantly and patiently every day at the gates for her, (Prov. 8:34) for it is not an “ask and ye shall receive,” one time presentation, it is a continual “keep knocking and it will be answered” gift from the Lord.
I know that Solomon did not just wake up the next morning and realize that he was wiser than the day before, by reading the Proverbs and the Book of Ecclesiastes, one can see that over the course of his life this wisdom grew continuously. “And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.” (Eccl. 1:17) “Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.” (Prov. 24:32)
In the world’s eyes, this wisdom is foolishness, nothing more than quaint sayings that do not usually put food on the table or pay the bills, in the lives of those that the Lord is blessing with this wonderful gift, it is beyond compare, and to be without it would be as the end of life itself, for as promised in Proverbs 2:5, it gives us the knowledge of God.
The world’s wisdom becomes foolishness to those who are so blessed, yet that does not mean they do not understand it, for if they did not, they could not see it for what it is, a complete and total waste of time, that which avails man nothing but the things of the world, the items that will be dissolved in fervent heat. (2 Peter 3:10) Wisdom requires submission to the will and Word of God, it requires great desire to be profitable for the kingdom of God, it requires a life lived for the glory of the Most High, and it is not to be squandered. “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matt. 7:6)
It is offered freely to all who would ask for it, but it must be treated with the utmost respect, it must be precious to you, for it is not yours, it is Gods, and He does not entrust it to those who would for vain glory seek to honor themselves with it.
Wise men are men of great frustration, for they understand that everything under the sun is vanity, and vexation of Spirit, they understand sorrow and grief, for they see the world as it is, lying in sin. (1 John 5:19) They see the grocery clerk and the physicist as they are, lost souls, wandering day-to-day in the futility of life, always searching and never truly finding that which will satisfy completely and eternally the longing of their souls, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many if not most who call Jesus Lord have forgotten or never known the sorrow and grief that our Lord carried every day. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:3) They have instead determined that love is the defining attribute, that continuous joy is the place they desire to remain in, but they have traded the world’s idea of happiness for true joy, and the love they hold is not balanced perfectly with the sorrow and grief that only true love can understand.
Men of wisdom walk that razor edge every moment of their life, waiting for the day when wisdom is given in full without the travails of man binding it to this world, without the sorrow and grief that accompanies it, waiting to be in the presence of the Lamb, where there is fullness of joy. (Psalm 16:11)
