Wisdom and Humility?
·God, New Christians
by Jess · Print This Article
Why is wisdom important?
- Because it’s required of us
Matthew 10:16, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
- Because it makes you delightful to God
Proverbs 8:30-31, (wisdom speaking) “Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in the world, His earth, and having my delight in the sons of men.
Proverbs 8:35, “For he who finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the LORD.”
- Because its benefits are well worth it J
a) Proverbs 10:31a, “The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom”
b) Proverbs 3:13-24 and Proverbs 8:12 indicate that wisdom brings God’s blessing. It brings understanding, riches, honor, long life, happiness, discretion, prudence, knowledge, and it can keep your foot from stumbling.
c) Proverbs 14:1 tells us that a wise woman builds her house but a foolish woman tears it down with her hands.
So the next big question is how do you get wisdom?
Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom.’
Psalms 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”
Ahhhhh, so first of all: humility brings wisdom. Secondly: the fear of the LORD is humility thus it is the beginning of wisdom. J
Is pride really all that bad? I mean come on, everybody has a little pride of their own, right? Not only is pride bad, not only is pride a sin, but in God’s eyes pride is an abomination. Proverbs 6:16-17a, “There are six things which the LORD hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes…” Wow, pride is not only an abomination but it’s the first one mentioned in Proverbs 6. “Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5
The seriousness of pride;
Sodom was destroyed because of pride, unbelief, and worldliness. Pride and egotism is a big problem; it’s not something to be taken lightly. Ezekiel 16:49-50, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.”
And of course the best example of egotism is Satan himself. Why did he turn bad in the beginning? Was it not because he thought himself wise and strong and brave enough to fight against God?
Humility is so important to God that at times He allows His people to go through trials just for the purpose to humbling them. This was the case with the children of Israel: “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” Deuteronomy 8:16, “In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.” Paul was another good example of this: “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me–to keep me from exalting myself!” 2 Corinthians 12:7
2 Chronicles 7:14, “And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Psalms 25:9, “He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.”
James 4:6, “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”
Next question: what exactly is humility and how do I get it?
The Greek word for humble means, to lower oneself to the ground, or to be lowly. James 4 tells us that God gives grace to the humble. Then it further explains how we humble ourselves. James 4:6-10, “Therefore it says, ‘GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.’ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
James tells us that the humbling process involves five basic steps:
1. Submit to God
This word submit means is “a Greek military term meaning ‘to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader’. In non-military use, it was “a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden“.” www.studylight.org
2. Resist the Devil
The Greek for resist means to set one’s self against, to withstand, resist, or to oppose.
3. Draw near to God
The Greek word for near means: to bring near, or to join one thing to another. Wow! Not only are we to come close to God, but we are to be join ourselves together with Him. J
4. Cleanse your hands and purify your hearts, you double-minded
In a moral sense this Greek word cleanse means:
Ø to free from defilement of sin and from faults
Ø to purify from wickedness
Ø to free from guilt of sin, to purify
Ø to consecrate by cleansing or purifying
Ø to consecrate, dedicate
5. Mourn and weep
This word, mourn, literally means, to toil heavily and endure hardships and labor. This life is much more than roses and sunshine; it requires work and difficulties.
“The servant whom God chooses to use is the one who has learned that, if there appears to be any human explanation for our success, it is probably bogus.” K. P. Yohannan
“Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” James 4:10 This Greek word, exalt, means to raise to dignity, honor and happiness. What a beautiful promise. J
Ok, so summarized:
Wisdom makes us delightful to God therefore it is something that we want. Humility bring wisdom so that’s what we study. 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” We are nothing without Christ. We need to understand our rightful place; that God is God and we are merely man. Once we accept that, logically, we will submit to Him. When we submit to Him it gives us the power that we need to resist the devil. J When we join ourselves with Christ we become a part of His holiness, thus we will cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. Then be willing to labor and endure hardships, because they will come.