True Wisdom

Recently I have been reading Proverbs and have been reminded about the wisdom that God gives as compared to the foolishness of man. Proverbs 9:10-12 tells us "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 3:6 says " Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil." Proverbs 28:26, "He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe." Now I could list dozens more, but let me jump to an application. Last Friday there was a letter to the editor of the local newspaper in which the author shared "his wisdom" about religion. Now I don't know why I keep reading these letters to the editor, but I do. And as I read this one, verses from Proverbs just kept popping into my mind. Well here is some of the intellectual babble which was shared by the letter's writer.

"True religion is what comes out of us. The evolutionary development of the ability to self-reflect is what has led to free will. Along with this is the responsibility to let out the good and to suppress the evil which are parts of our natures. Man created God in his own image. That is why the Christian deity is loving, merciful and sometimes permits evil. This is no different from the pagan gods or elemental forces which blessed and threatened the cavemen. Christ is an addition to strengthen the false hope of the hereafter, which the princes and priests use for the purpose of mind control. Everybody has a God, whether it is Jesus, Allah, sex, money and power, the benevolent state, logic and reason for the atheists, or the self-organizing tendency of the universe (which is my choice). That is, we all recognize a power higher than ourselves. That is fine, but we must all accept that we are the source of good and evil, not some external being to whom we transfer credit or blame."

Wow! Unfortunately that is the viewpoint of so many in our present age. Proverbs 26:12, "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." Now I do need some help with that - what real difference is there between a man wise in his own eyes and a fool? I would think they are the same. Proverbs 14:12 shares "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." We live in an age where man believes that whatever he thinks is right and whatever is convenient for him is truth. And so we believers need to pray for wisdom and discernment for ourselves so that we can stand firm in the midst of this new age philosophy which explodes around us. For we have a genuine hope, not a false one, and the promises and instruction of the God of the universe on which to base our lives. Proverbs 23:12, "Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge." Proverbs 23:3,4, "By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."