“Wisdom of God” Proverbs 1:1-7; 3:1-8, Matt 13:34-35

 If you had to describe the concept of “wisdom”, how would you start? Some may point to scripture, where Paul makes this glorious statement that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” For others, there first thought may be about how there seems to be an absence of wisdom in our world today. Common sense. Still others may point to book learning or trades that were passed down through generations one step at a time. 

In the Bible, we have a whole book of wisdom entitled Proverbs. It is here that we find sayings whose truth has carried down through the ages. Most of the writings are attributed to Solomon, the son of David who followed his father on the throne. When he did so, he was quite young. God appeared to him in a vision and asked what he desired. And Solomon didn’t ask for riches or power or prestige. Instead, he asked for wisdom. Which God gave in abundance. 

And so what does this wise King say that wisdom is? It’s the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of all knowledge. 

Well that isn’t the easiest explanation to understand is it?

Solomon starts off this book of wisdom by saying that if you want to have understanding - turn to God. If you want to know how to be wise in how you interact with other people - turn to God. If you want righteousness, justice, and equity in this world - turn to God. If you want to raise up the children in the faith - turn to God. If you want to have a discerning spirit - turn to God. 

Because wisdom isn’t something that we can manufacture on our own - no matter how hard we may try.

It may look like wisdom at first, but it isn’t the deep, rich, abundant wisdom that can only come from God alone. 

And yet, Church, how many of us live like that? How many of us truly call upon the wisdom of God, first in all things. 

There was a woman at my last church named Miss Jean. Miss Jean loved Jesus and trusted him with everything - and I do mean everything. Well into her 80s, and despite multiple illnesses, she would cook lunch for anyone in her building who needed or wanted a meal five days a week. Now, friends, Miss Jean wasn’t rich. So how did she do this work in Jesus’s name? She trusted him. She prayed that God would reveal to her what he wanted her to cook each day and that he would provide whatever she needed to do so. And provide God did. Almost every day Miss Jean would walk into her apartment to find ingredients for exactly what God had asked her to cook. She had no idea who dropped them off - but she knew that they ultimately came from God’s providing hand. 

When I think of wisdom, I think of people like Miss Jean. Not the folks who have all of the facts and figures memorized, but people who knew the wisdom that Solomon is talking about. The wisdom that called upon God’s name and trusted him for a reply - even if everyone else didn’t or couldn’t understand. 

Perhaps one of Solomon’s most known pieces of wisdom comes from Proverbs 3. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

But look at the words that surround this teaching, Church. Keep God’s commandments. Be loyal and faithful to God. Don’t try to puff yourself up by being wise in your own ways. 

Often I will be asked as a pastor about words. We have all sorts of words to describe big concepts in our faith life and we can slip into thinking that everyone is on the same page. We don’t take time to actually stop and ask what they mean. Or when we do stop and ask, folks aren’t sure why. 

Words like trust. 

How do we trust the Lord?

Solomon breaks it down for us, not with fancy words, but with actions. Be faithful to God. Live into God’s commandments. Be loyal to God above all others. 

Now does that mean Solomon’s teaching is always easy to live into? Absolutely not. The world doesn’t know what to do with this type of wisdom. The world certainly didn’t know what to do with it in Jesus’s day when he showed up speaking in stories, telling folks that he was the fulfillment of the prophesies of old, and calling them to new life and new understanding. 

Friends, one of the things that I love about being United Methodist is that we don’t look for the easiest answers, but for the answers that draw us deeper into relationship with God. Wisdom is not easy, brothers and sisters. Yet, wisdom calls us into deeper trust in our God. 

Part of what Jesus is trying to impart to the people gathered to hear him, and to use through the Word of God passed down through the ages, is that our human language is always going to fall short when it comes to talking about the wisdom and ways of the Kingdom of God. Because it refers to things that are hidden, not fully seen. 

When was the last time, friends, that you leaned not on your own understanding? When was the last time that you sought first the wisdom of the Kingdom of God? When was the last time you trusted God with something in your life?

We are people who live into the tension of the wisdom of God and the way of the world. And the world will try to misconstrue this wisdom, mischaracterizing it as foolish. But friends, if we truly want to be wise, we need to turn our eyes and hearts to the Lord. 

Let us pray….