Knowledge and Wisdom
By Jill Krueger Wagner
I’ve been studying knowledge and wisdom in the Bible lately.
Although both are highly valued, they come with a caveat – they need to be
sought God’s way.
According to Webster knowledge is acquaintance with fact;
clear perception of truth. Wisdom is the ability to judge soundly and
deal shrewdly with facts.
Eve wanted the knowledge of good and evil and wisdom, too,
but she broke God’s rule to get it. Therefore, she went from the queen of Eden to
the gardner’s wife, kicked out of paradise.
Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge when he became king.
He was said to be the wisest man who ever lived, yet he didn’t follow God’s law
regarding multiplying wives and horses. There is no Biblical record that he
followed God’s command to write out his own copy of the law and read it always
(Deuteronomy 17: 18). If he had, one wonders if he would have had to try so
many things recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes to seek fulfillment and
finally conclude what was already written to kings in Deut. 17: 19. We are to fear
God and keep his commandments (Eccl. 12:13).
I also learned that the fear of God is the beginning of
knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) and of wisdom, too (Proverbs 9:10). They are linked
together repeatedly in Prov. 2:5-6, 8:10-11,14:8,18:15,24:3-4; Eccl. 7:12; Rom.
11:33; 1 Corinthians 12:8; Col. 1:9-10, 2:2-3.
Some random things I learned about knowledge:
·
Job spoke words without knowledge when he
accused God of being unfair to him
·
One day the earth will be full of the knowledge
of the Lord
·
People are destroyed from a lack of knowledge
·
Rejection of the knowledge of God ends in
depravity
·
Knowledge puffs up but love builds up
·
Having knowledge without love makes us nothing
but the love of God surpasses knowledge
·
Knowledge of the truth leads to godliness
·
God wants all to come to the knowledge of the
truth
And what I learned about wisdom:
·
Pride breeds quarrels but wisdom is found in
those who take advice
·
A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father
·
The rod of correction imparts wisdom
·
The ideal woman speaks with wisdom and faithful
instruction in on her tongue
·
It was predicted that Jesus would have the
Spirit of wisdom & understanding, the Spirit of counsel & power, the
Spirit of knowledge & the fear of the Lord
·
To fear God’s name is wisdom
·
Christ has become for us the wisdom of God
·
Paul prayed the Ephesians would be given the
Spirit of wisdom & revelation, so they might know Christ better
·
If we lack wisdom, we are to ask God for it
& He’ll give it
·
Humility comes from wisdom
So how do we attain knowledge and wisdom? A good place to
start might be Psalm 119. Then perhaps the Gospels and the Epistles. In this
time of social distancing it would be good to “come near to God.”
