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“Let There Be Light: Wisdom Over Folly”
Categories: M. W. Bassford, Sermons
One of the most unusual accounts of the creation in the whole Bible appears in Proverbs 8:22-31. The speaker claims to have been with God since before the beginning, but it isn’t Jesus, and it isn’t the Holy Spirit. Instead, as is true throughout Proverbs 8, the speaker is the personification of wisdom.
As Clay pointed out last week, when God said “Let there be light,” it was an orderly act. However, we see here that it was a wise one too. Ultimately, it is God’s wisdom that underlies God’s order. Any foolish toddler can destroy, but only the wisdom of God can give structure to the creation.
Even today, God’s light operates in our world to enlighten us. This is true in a physical sense. It’s much easier to walk through the woods at noon than in the middle of a pitch-dark night!
However, it’s also true spiritually. As Psalm 119:130 says, “The revelation of Your words brings light.” Our physical eyes can’t see the light radiating from the Bible, but the eyes of our heart can! This morning, then, let’s consider how the light of God brings us the wisdom to overcome folly.
If we want God to illuminate us, the first thing that we must do is to CHOOSE THE RIGHT SOURCE. Consider the contrast that Paul draws in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7. Here, he distinguishes between two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom of this age and its rulers on the one hand and the hidden wisdom of God on the other.
This is vital for us to recognize. It warns us that not everything we encounter that claims to be wise truly is wise. There’s the wisdom of God, which is genuine, but there’s also the wisdom of earth, which is a demonic counterfeit.
I guarantee you, brethren—the devil is constantly trying to get every one of us to buy into counterfeit wisdom. We hear this counterfeit wisdom on the lips of worldly people. We see it on the screens of our TV’s and computers. The more we pay attention to those things, the more we set our hearts on the concerns of this life, the more the devil will be able to reduce our wisdom to foolishness.
The only way to counteract this constant erosion of wisdom in our lives is to replenish it from its divine source. We need to pray for wisdom, constantly, and we need to seek out wisdom in God’s word.
Speaking of God’s word, I want to challenge you to find some wisdom in our daily Bible reading this week. For the first time this year, it will take us away from Acts—into James, in fact. When first I noticed that, I was a little perplexed. “Why did Clay put that there?” I asked. Then, after I finished the reading, I understood.
I’m not going to tell you why he did that. Instead, this week, as you’re going through the reading, try to figure out what James has to do with the early part of Acts 8. I think you’ll find that it puts some familiar passages in a whole new light!
Second, if we want to benefit from God’s wisdom, we must LET THE EYES OF OUR HEART BE ENLIGHTENED. Look at Ephesians 1:17-19. First of all, notice the connection between light and wisdom here? Receiving a spirit of wisdom is the same thing as having our hearts be enlightened.
In order to understand this passage, though, I think we also need to unpack the Greek concept of the heart. This isn’t about the blood pump in our chests, nor is it even about our emotions, the way that we use “heart” metaphorically in English today. Instead, the Greek “heart” is a concept that our language really doesn’t have. It refers to the times when our feelings and our thoughts come together. In English, we might call it our mind-and-heart.
Thus, when Paul says that he is praying for them to know the hope of their calling, the wealth of their inheritance, and the greatness of God’s power, he’s not praying for them to develop some disembodied intellectual understanding. He’s praying for them to get those things, so that those concepts are not only intellectually interesting but also emotionally powerful.
Our second assignment for the week, then, is to spend 15 minutes meditating on a passage, trying to get it. Meditation, of course, is a perfectly Scriptural concept. There’s nothing New-Agey about Bible meditation. It’s just taking a text and dwelling on it, turning it over and over in our minds, savoring it. We can do this in the shower, when we’re out for a walk, or even when we’re sitting on the couch right before bed, thinking about the day’s events. Anytime can work, really. It’s a no-big-deal process, but it can help us to enlighten the eyes of our hearts.
Finally, we can choose the light of wisdom in our lives by WALKING THE BRIGHT PATH. This comes from Proverbs 4:18-19. By the way, if you want to pick a passage to meditate on but don’t know which one to choose, this one would be an amazing choice!
Notice the contrast here between two walks: a bright walk and a dark walk, a wise walk and a foolish walk. The path of the righteous gets brighter all the time, so that constantly you can see more clearly. However, the path of the wicked stays completely dark. As a result, you remain ignorant of what’s in front of you and trip over all kinds of stuff.
This idea should be familiar to us. We all know the layout of our own homes, and when the lights are on, we walk around without any problems. However, turn those lights off, and suddenly home becomes a minefield. In my own house, I will generally still know where all the major items of furniture are, but if the kids left out a stool or a pair of shoes or, heaven forbid, a pile of Legos, I might end up crippled for life!
That’s what it means to be a Christian. We walk in the light instead of the darkness. We see. We know. People in the world don’t know because they don’t have their pathway lit by God.
This week, then, when you encounter some difficulty or problem, pause to let God illuminate the solution. Pray about it. Ask yourself if the Bible offers any guidance. If we will only look for God’s wisdom in this way, I think we will be amazed at how problems that seem insoluble and complex suddenly become very simple. The devil loves darkness and confusion, but God brings clarity and light.
