Why It’s Essential To Operate In God’s Stunning Wisdom

In order to maintain our connection with God’s wisdom, it is crucial for us to also recognize and understand the wisdom of the world, which opposes it. Solomon’s life serves as a powerful example of how even the wisest person can become a fool if they do not continue to walk with God. Despite being blessed with immense wisdom and understanding beyond measure, Solomon eventually strayed from the path of the Lord and committed evil acts. This foolishness, or folly, as described in the Scriptures, is something we should strive to avoid. That is why, in this week’s episode of Light on Life, our main focus will be Why It’s Essential To Operate In God’s Stunning Wisdom all on this week’s Light on Life.

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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

Here’s a piece of God’s wisdom to build your life on: find a verse of scripture that covers the area where you are endeavoring to make a decision. Knowing God’s Word on any matter helps us to operate in His wisdom and not the wisdom of the world.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
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Question: Share a story from your walk with God where you functioned in God’s wisdom. Please share your story and the outcome in the comments section below.

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If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 47 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 42 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Prayer

Well, again welcome.
Let’s pray.

Father God in the precious Name of Jesus, help us to flow in your wisdom. Grant unto us revelation and insight into your Word and your ways in Jesus Name, Amen.

God’s Wisdom: Two Kinds

1 Corinthians 2:6–10 (ESV) — 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

So in a previous podcast, we saw that there were two kinds of believers, mature, and immature that consist of course, of so many levels in between.
Additionally, you have two kinds of wisdom and no levels in between.
There are only two — that makes it easy to choose because there are only two.
There is a spiritual wisdom that can be imparted to mature believers and there is a wisdom that is of this age — that is of this world system.
There is a stark difference between the two.
Paul lists out some of the differences for us.
Let’s take a look at them.

God’s Wisdom Compared to the Worlds

God’s wisdom produces a glory in men that elevates man to new heights.
The world’s wisdom produces a pride in men that pulls men down to new lows.
God’s wisdom is up — men’s wisdom is down.

Proverbs 29:23 (ESV) — 23 One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.

Proverbs 16:18 (ESV) — 18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

That’s the first difference.
Here’s a second.
God’s wisdom is not understood by rulers, demonic or earthly.
They don’t get God’s wisdom — they’re in a fog concerning it — it’s seems foolish and silly to them.
That’s why they went ahead a crucified Jesus — they had no clue what God was up to.
On the opposite end, the righteous understand God’s wisdom because he that comes to God must believe that He is — and since they do, the Holy Spirit of God comes alongside Jesus followers to reveal what’s been concealed.
Listen to Paul again ‘we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God.’
The Greek word ‘secret’ means that which is concealed to keep from being made known.
The Greek word ‘hidden’ is the word ‘mysterion’ — among men it is a secret rite or teaching — with God it is the unmanifested or private counsel of God.
This wisdom was concealed to be revealed to you.
Mark this down — as a Jesus follower, you have inside information.
The Spirit explains and retrains man to think as He does.
So, God’s wisdom to unbeliever’s — they have no clue.
God’s wisdom to believers — is a precious treasure because we have the mind of Christ.
Here’s a third difference:
God’s wisdom is eternal.
But the wisdom of the world is doomed to pass away.
All this stuff that we get annoyed about where godly values are being devalued, all of that is on a count-down timer.
The clock will strike and men’s wisdom will be flushed away to the pit.

A Historical Look at Wisdom

Now, let’s take a historical look at wisdom from this standpoint: how do you define the wisdom of the world?
If you look at some of the discoveries from some of the major civilizations that have existed on Planet Earth, in many of these groups of people they found what’s called wisdom literature among their documents.
Wisdom literature is a particular kind of writing that focuses on the pursuit of wisdom, understanding, and virtue.
This kind of wisdom document contains proverbs, general truth, sayings, riddles, sometimes songs, all of which offer teachings on how to live a good life.
How to navigate the complex behavior of humans.
Some were written to help understand the nature of God, or their little g-god.

Egyptian and Babylonian Wisdom

Looking at the Egyptian civilization, they had their version of wisdom that they put down in writings.
Babylon, had their version of wisdom as well.
In both of these civilizations, documents have been found that show father’s instructing their sons just like you have in the book of Proverbs.
In Proverbs three, a father is talking to his son about God.

Proverbs 3:1–4 (ESV) — 1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, 2 for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. 3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

You find this kind of stuff in ancient writings from these civilizations.

Canaanite-Phoenician Wisdom

Then you come to Canaanites and the Phoenician people’s and their wisdom writings.
You know who the Canaanite’s are?

Deuteronomy 7:1 (ESV) — 1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.

Now these verses in mind, here is the Historical Background of the Day.
Canaanite meant both a nation and a designation for a region.
You see them listed as one of the seven nations that Israel was to defeat in Deuteronomy seven.
But Cannaite was kind of like a slang term that included the other six nations as well in one region — ‘the land of Canaan was seven nations.’
So, it can be a little confusing when you are reading these documents — was the reference to a the nation of Canaan or the region of Canaan.
Then there were the Phoenician’s.
You know the Phoenicians from the cities of Tyre and Sidon.
They are in the Old Testament — Jesus even mentions them.

Matthew 11:21 (ESV) — 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

In these two regions of Canaan and Phoenicia, they have yet to uncover any major instructional wisdom writings as of yet.
You know — whole documents.
What they have found is pieces of documents.
“A significant number of distinctive words, pairs of words, and formulaic language in Proverbs can be found in this regions writings… Scholars have repeatedly pointed to the similarities of ideas and expressions between biblical wisdom and these existing materials.¹
In this region, they found some of the same lingo that’s in Proverbs — similarities of ideas — similarities of expressions — same wording.
So, put all of this together — discovered wisdom writings in Babylon and Egypt, pieces of it like proverbs in the Canaanite Phoenician culture — what does all of that tell you?
It gives you a trail of the wisdom of the world.
Think about that for a moment.
How could stuff that sounds like the Bible end up discovered in these cultures?
So, which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Let’s rephrase that question: which came first the wisdom of God or the wisdom of the world?
Well, that’s easy — the wisdom of God came first.
We know that because there was God before there was a world.

Proverbs 8:22 (ESV) — 22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.”

Who is me that ‘the Lord possessed?’
To know who ‘me’ is to back to verse one.

Proverbs 8:1 (ESV) — 1 Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?…

Proverbs 8:23–31 (ESV) — 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. 25 Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, 26 before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. 27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.

It’s clear that the wisdom of God came first.
God’s wisdom was front and center in creation.
His ‘smarts’ created the world and the man that He loved.
That’s how the wisdom of God got into the Planet.
You see it’s a known fact that God taught Adam.
Look at the wisdom instruction that God gave man.
Man, meaning male and female because…

Genesis 1:28 (ESV) — 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God blessed them and, God said to them.
The blessing is in the saying.
The wisdom is in the saying.
‘God said’ means words coming from His lips.
Nothing dumb ever comes out of God’s mouth.
He is total wisdom.
Breakdown God’s wisdom to Adam and Eve.
What did God tell them?
God gave man his mission — God gave man his purpose.
God gave man a vision for his life.
Vision is essential.

Proverbs 29:18 (ESV) — 18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

The English words ‘cast off restraint” is one word in the Hebrew and with that thought, here is the Definition of the Day.
The Hebrew word for ‘cast off restraint” means to make someone go out of control. To allow to run wild.
If a person doesn’t have a clear vision for the future, they spin out of control — they tee total nuts.
Look at the words ‘prophetic vision’ — without a prophetic vision people cast off restraint — ‘prophetic vision’ is again one word in the Hebrew.
The word means open revelation.
Open revelation is God’s wisdom uncovered.
Putting this altogether, here is what the Word says: ‘where there is no open wisdom of God at work, people are out of control and go wild.’
That’s how you translate Proverbs 29:18.
When you have a clear vision, that becomes a guiding, ‘boundary-setting purpose’ that will keep you from being distracted by unnecessary things.
So, God don’t want Adam flopping all over the place so He gave man vision, direction, and purpose.
Listen to what the Lord said.
Wisdom said to Adam and Eve — be fruitful.
Wisdom said — multiply.
Wisdom said — fill the earth.
Wisdom said — subdue the earth.
Wisdom said — have dominion.
Each of these five things, fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, dominate are each separated by the word AND.
‘And’ means in addition to.
Be fruitful AND multiply AND fill AND subdue AND dominion.
This means God wasn’t talking one thing — He was talking about five things.
The vision is five separate pieces.
We lumped them altogether because we thought God was talking only about populating the planet.
Fruitful is different than multiply.
Multiply is a different function than fill.
Fill is different than subdue.
And subdue is different than the function of dominion.
All five functions, fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and dominate are verbs — they are all action words.
let’s just look at one of these — we don’t have time to look at all five.

God’s Wisdom and Being Fruitful

Let’s talk about being ‘fruitful.’
The scripture says that…

Genesis 2:7 (ESV) — 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

The ‘very first thing God ever said to man, mind you, He just created him.
There God is looking at Adam right in his face — face-to-face.
The Lord just got through breathing into Adam’s nose CPR style.
The ‘very first thing God ever said to His created man was ‘BE FRUITFUL.’
He’s looking at him nose to nose — you be ‘fruitful!’
Be fruitful is not just about reproductive sex.
Fruitfulness IS about bring forth something.
A fruit tree should produce fruit.
It should produce what it is — that is, an apple tree should produce apples.
If it’s a fruitful apple tree, that means lots of apples.
The same is true for any other tree.
A fruitful tree should produces lots of whatever it is — nuts, seeds, fruit.
It should produce tons because of the life that’s in the roots.
A tree that is barren is against the divine order.
Jesus cursed such a tree in Mark eleven, a fig tree.
Now, there were two trees in the Garden that were special trees.
God named both of them.

Genesis 2:9 (ESV) — 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a fruitful tree — it produced knowledge — a Planet altering amount of knowledge.
The Tree of Life was a fruitful tree as well — it produced life — lot’s of life — an eternal amount of life.

Revelation 22:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The Tree of Life produced a different kind of fruit every month.
Even the leaves of the tree produced benefit — it producing healing for the nations.
Fruitfulness is the evidence of life.
Dead things don’t produce fruit.
What else is fruitfulness about?
Fruitfulness is about abundance.
If you remember, the children of Israel got excited about the size of the fruit in the Promised Land.
Of course, bring children into the world is a sign of fruitfulness.

Psalm 129:3 (ESV) — 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Here is fruitfulness in a nut shell.

Deuteronomy 30:9 (ESV) — 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers,

So, how does knowing this piece about fruitfulness help us as Jesus followers?
Well, first the book of Genesis is God’s plan — God’s wisdom for your life.
Genesis is the book of beginnings — in it you find out how God intended things to be.
God intended for things to be fruitful.
Jesus, the Son of God, came to Planet Earth to show us what God was like.
What came out of Jesus mouth?

John 15:1–2 (ESV) — 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Bear more fruit is fruitfulness.
The wisdom of God has not changed — it’s the same plan for you today as a new creation man it was for Adam, the original creation man.
Jesus went on to say.

John 15:3–5 (ESV) — 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Here you were lost in sin.
You were dead in trespasses and sins.
God by his Holy Spirit breathe into your dead lifeless spirit the breath of life and you became alive — a new creation in Christ, Adam style.
You’re born again.
No longer dead on the inside.
You are alive to God, your spirit has been regenerated.
And, what does the Lord say right to your face – ‘BE FRUITFUL.’
This is all the wisdom of God.
So you see, the same commandments are to the new creation man just like they are to the original creation man.
Now as I said, we don’t have time to go through the other four in detail.
Additionally, there were two additional commandments in the early chapters of Genesis.
One was to work the ground.
The next one was to ‘keep the Garden.’
I will put some references up in the podcast notes at emeryhorvath.com so if you want to study this out further you can.² – Mark 13:33–37, Matthew 24:43, Colossians 4:2, 1 Peter 4:7, Revelation 3:3]

God’s Wisdom: Where Did the Wisdom of the World Come From?

Genesis 3:1–5 (ESV) — 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

You find the beginnings of the wisdom in verse one and verse four — ‘Did God actually say’ and ‘You will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’
The wisdom of the world is an addition to or a subtraction from what God said.
God told Adam don’t eat the fruit of this tree.
That was His wisdom.
The enemy put in Eve’s ear an adjustment to God’s wisdom.
The adjustment of God’s wisdom, adding to it, changing it, ignoring a piece of it, dropping off a part of it is the wisdom of the world.
God said ‘so and so’ — men motivated by demons said, ‘I don’t like that — I don’t believe that — I don’t see how that could be — why would God want us to do that — why He is making life hard — it seems like we should be able to go about this or work this out in this other way.
Any of that kind of stuff is the wisdom of the world.
Reduced to simplest terms: the wisdom of the world is God’s wisdom altered.
That’s how come they are pieces of it in other civilizations.
Wars came because they added to God’s Word.
God said subdue the earth.
Men said ‘let’s subdue one another.
And this where the wisdom of the world comes in.

The Wisdom of God Eternal

The wisdom of the world is doomed to pass away.
So, it’s lacking eternal substance unlike God’s wisdom.
The truth won’t hold up throughout the generations of men and eternity.
Whatever the world thinks is true today won’t be true tomorrow.
The wisdom of the world is changeable and unsteady.
Just think about some of the stuff you were taught years ago as fact that today they found out is no longer the case.
Here’s one big lie we’ve been told.
Men only use 10% of their brains.
Nobody’s sure where the idea came from that 90 percent of our brain tissue is going unused, but any neurologist will tell you that’s definitely wrong.

The Wisdom of God and the Border

Believers get in trouble when they mesh the wisdom together with the wisdom of men.
Here’s how it happens — here’s how the wisdom of the world bleeds over into the wisdom of God.
Humans are people of two realms, spiritual and natural.
My spiritual dad said the following to us as young ministers and with that thought, here is the Quote of the Day.
I am paraphrasing this.

The very best that you will operate in spiritual things if used all of your available time, that is it subtracted the time you spend having to deal with the natural — you know sleeping take off so many hours, cleaning your house, going to work, waiting in a line at a grocery store, driving to do errands etc. — you get the idea — if you deducted all the time you have to deal in the natural realm and you maximized all the remaining time you had left — that is you didn’t watch TV, you prayed you read your Bible, you sought God with every available minute, the best you could spend in spiritual things would be 20% of your life.

An 80 / 20 split is the best we can do.
I’m not at 80/20 — you’re probably are not either so that emphasizes the point I’m getting ready to make.
That we spend way more time dealing with the natural world and its wisdom.
So, it takes a disciplined conscientious effort to be more precise about how we access God’s wisdom and know where the border is between the two.
It’s best summed up with this closing scripture.

Hebrews 4:12 (ESV) — 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Just as there is a division between soul and spirit — there’s a division between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man.

Now Father God, thank you for helping us to operate in your wisdom alone — help us to know the difference — to see the difference so that we can bring glory to your Name. We thank you for that in Jesus precious Name, Amen.

Why It’s Essential To Operate In God’s Stunning Wisdom
You guys have a great God week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light on Life.

What Are Fruitful and Unfruitful Places with God?

__________
References:

G. T. Sheppard, “Wisdom,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 1075. ↩
Be fruitful – John 15:1–5, Multiply – Matthew 28:19, Fill the earth – Acts 17:6, Subdue – Luke 10:19, Have dominion, – Matthew 28:18, Mark 16:17, Work the ground – 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Acts 13:2, John 17:4, Acts 14:26 — Keep the Garden means to watch, preserve, guard ↩

emeryhorvath.com

Equipping people to pursue God's glory

Why It’s Essential To Operate In God’s Stunning Wisdom

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Fifty-Three

by Emery Horvath

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Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

God’s Wisdom: Two Kinds

God’s Wisdom Compared to the Worlds

A Historical Look at Wisdom

Egyptian and Babylonian Wisdom

Canaanite-Phoenician Wisdom

God’s Wisdom and Being Fruitful

God’s Wisdom: Where Did the Wisdom of the World Come From?

The Wisdom of God Eternal

The Wisdom of God and the Border

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PlayerFM

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

God’s Wisdom: Two Kinds

God’s Wisdom Compared to the Worlds

A Historical Look at Wisdom

Egyptian and Babylonian Wisdom

Canaanite-Phoenician Wisdom

God’s Wisdom and Being Fruitful

God’s Wisdom: Where Did the Wisdom of the World Come From?

The Wisdom of God Eternal

The Wisdom of God and the Border

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