God only wise…

What a great vanity for a glow-worm to boast that is as full of light as the sun — leaving its proper place only to fall into confusion and thicken its own darkness. This is God's lesson again,  another instruction in the folly of thinking I can run my own life in even the least dimension without needing the wisdom of God. Such epitome of pride.

Charnock jolts me by saying how humans, by pushing the wisdom of God aside in Eden, got a crack in the head which has continued more than five thousand years. And we can feel so secure with our heads, not realizing they do not work as our Creator intended.

You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” (Isaiah 47:10)

To be guided by my wisdom is to be led by a blind leader, even to follow a traitor and enemy to God and ourselves. My prudence often proves hurtful to me as it fails even when I thought I was okay and had no idea that my glowing was that of a mere bug in the scheme of things.

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Corinthians 1:20)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5–8)

To fear the Lord and depart from evil is inconsistent with my conceit of my own wisdom, and totally inconsistent with trusting in the Lord with all my heart. It is God-playing to trust my own wit as if it were equal with or superior to the wisdom of God. The only solution God gives:

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. (1 Corinthians 3:18)

The true way to wisdom is to be sensible of my own weakness, and it is not merely dropping the comparison but realizing there is no comparison. Since the fall, human wisdom is the wisdom of the serpent without the innocence of the dove. It flows from self-love, runs into self-interest. It is the wisdom of the flesh, and a choice — when I cannot bother with God, but do my own thing. But my ‘best’ wisdom is imperfect, a mere nothing and vanity. How even dare I compare myself in any way with God? If a holy and innocent wisdom is to be had, I must fill my empty well from His pure fountain.

The OT speaks that even if “many years teach wisdom, it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes us understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.” (Job 32:7–9) Even a child can be a vessel for the wisdom of God.

The NT affirms: “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)

PRAY: Such shame to think that I can do anything apart from seeking Your face and mind. It is through Your precepts I get understanding and how I learn to hate every false way. Whatsoever comes from You is always wise. All that You do in this world is wise, good, righteous; because You are essentially wise, good and righteous. And the gospel is evidence of our folly — for if You told me Your Son should be crucified, I would think it cruel and unjust. How can goodness and the only One who kept the law die for those who violate it? Yet as Your wisdom unravelled Your plan, You show the marvel of how You put together justice and mercy, love and wisdom, no matter how absurd it appeared to the ‘whacked in the head’ reasoning of humans, me included. Put my foolish pride where it belongs. Replace it with greater reliance on You, including the things I think I can handle without You. And to the only wise God be glory, through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.