Never Ever Do This

Pop quiz: If you could have anything you want right now, what would it be?  Don’t think about it. Answer immediately with whatever is your most responsive desire.  Do you have it mind? Now let’s test how worldly you are.  

I want to try to lay out some categories of possible answers.  First, the materialistic answer. If you are wanting things and stuff then you are shot through with worldly thinking.  You have some form of the love of money which is the root of all kinds of evil. Second, the relational answer. If you are wanting some kind of relationship like a marriage or a family or reconciliation with someone then you are not wanting a bad thing, you are just naive about your ability to maintain those relationships.  Third, the philanthropist answer. If you are wanting peace on earth or a strong economy or liberty for all or something like that, you are blind to the wickedness of the human heart. Peace is always temporary and liberty will always be used to do bad things. Fourth the spiritual answer. If you are wanting a closer walk with Christ or to see the gospel spread, well, how can that be criticized.  I would say that the desire is wonderful, but the simplicity of it is limiting even upon the gospel spreading that it desires.  

There is a biblically correct answer to the pop quiz.  And the answer is one that actually envelopes all the other categories mentioned above.  The answer to the pop quiz is found in the place where God himself gave this pop quiz. It happened with Solomon in 2 Chronicles 1:7-13.  Solomon requested wisdom, and because of this request God not only gave him wisdom, but also riches and peace and more.  

Think about how wisdom causes all the above categories to be approached rightly.  When you have wisdom your finances are brought under the rule of God and used for every needful thing that God tells us is right.  God will normally grant even more resources to those who use them for such purposes. Your wisdom will allow you to navigate the complexities of relationships so that peace is pursued, sin is confronted, and the gospel is applied and advanced.  With wisdom you will know how to interact in society, and both why and how liberty should be protected and used for gospel purposes. You will understand that Christ himself is the wisdom of God and you will cling to God’s word. As you keep his commands and grow deep in the gospel, you will know the beauty of Christ which will drive you to spread it in effectual ways.  What a glorious thing it is to have a true wisdom that flows from the fear of the Lord! 

As amazing as wisdom is, it is almost as amazing to me what the truly wise person will never ever do.  There is something that the wise person abhors. If you are someone wanting to grow in wisdom, this should cause you to perk up and pay attention.  In the book of Proverbs there are 5 statements about the foolishness and disaster of this one thing: being wise in your own eyes.  

Proverbs 3:7 

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 

Proverbs 12:15 

15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel. 

Proverbs 26:5 

5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, That he not be wise in his own eyes. 

Proverbs 26:12 

12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. 

Proverbs 28:11 

11 The rich man is wise in his own eyes, But the poor who has understanding sees through him. 

The one that is particularly impactful to me is 26:12.  Let me set-up the reason for this. The fool is someone that the reader of Proverbs gets very familiar with.  You constantly read about the reckless, sinful, hardened, destructive, blind, contradictory, and hopeless nature of the fool.  It is really, really, really bad to be a fool.  

What make 26:12 so shocking is the 11 verses that set it up.  Even though we know by now from the book of Proverbs just how bad it is to be a fool, every verse in 1-11, except verse 2, is about the fool.  Verses 1-11 incessantly driving home the point from every different angle that the fool is someone you don’t even want to be around, let alone be.  After reading verse 1-11, you are convinced that the worst possible thing that could ever happen to you is to be a fool.  

And then the explosion of verse 12 happens.  There is something worse than being a fool. There is something to which the fool can say, “At least I don’t do that.”  What is this horrible and shocking wickedness that sucks away the last hint of hope that even the fool still has ahold of?  It is to be wise in your own eyes.  

Isn’t that amazing?  You would think the person who has taken the book of Proverbs and internalized it is going to be a person who can say about himself, “I am wise.”  Apparently not. And I think this is due to the nature of wisdom at its core. If the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, a truly wise person is going to know that he is always severely ignorant of the plans and purposes of God.   The biggest part of wisdom is not in knowing lots of right things; it is in trusting the one right person. We certainly do want to know and apply what God has revealed. But the most important fact God has revealed is that we always need a redeemer who will never stop saving us.  We are not, and cannot be, our own savior. If we begin to think of ourselves as wise, we are moving away from the Savior, not toward him. That is the worst possible move anyone can make. We must run hard toward the wisdom that never thinks itself wise, but clings to the One who is the fullness of wisdom on our behalf.