Written by Richard P. Belcher, Jr. |
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
A wise person submits every aspect of life (thinking, willing, and feeling) to God’s Word….A foolish person rejects God’s Word, which is a rejection of God’s way of wisdom, and pays the moral consequences for not fearing God. 

No one wants to be considered a fool. A fool will act in ways that bring shame, ridicule, and condemnation to his life. But what if a large group of people define what has been deemed foolish as wisdom and what has been deemed wisdom as foolish? We see this happening in many different areas of our culture today, including how people want to express their sexuality. How are we to decide such questions? Where is wisdom really to be found?
God is the God of wisdom, which means that He is the source of wisdom. He has revealed in His Word what wisdom and foolishness look like. He defines the characteristics of a wise person and a foolish person. We become wise people as we live our lives according to the way that God defines wisdom. In so doing, we will also avoid the heartache and trouble that come with living a foolish life.
The Old Testament has a lot to say about wisdom. The main term for “wisdom” is the noun hokmah (there is also a verb and an adjective from the root hakam). “Wisdom” can refer to human wisdom, which always falls short of God’s wisdom because it comes from human strength rooted in arrogance (Isa. 10:13) and it leads people astray (47:10). True wisdom begins with God’s definition of wisdom. Wisdom can be defined in two broad ways. It refers to a skill that is learned or developed and a basic perspective on life. The first definition of a skill that is learned is also seen as a gift given by God. The skill needed to build and furnish the tabernacle is called “wisdom.” This includes the craftsmanship to devise artistic designs; to make Aaron’s garments; to work with gold, silver, and bronze; and to cut stones and carve wood (Ex. 28:3; 31:3–5; see also 35:25–26, 31, 35; 36:1–2). These skills are said to come from the Spirit of God. They are also skills that would need to be developed through training and experience. Solomon specifically asked God for wisdom to be able to govern the nation of Israel and to administer justice (1 Kings 3:7–14; 4:29). In the book of Proverbs, “wisdom” refers to the “skill” to navigate the difficulties of life. It helps us avoid the pitfalls of life to achieve the right goals in life.
The second way that wisdom is defined is as a description of a perspective on life. Two key passages are Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding,” and Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The perspective on life that comes with wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The word “fear” can have the connotation of being terrified of something or someone. When God appeared to the Israelites on Mount Sinai with thunder and lightning that caused the mountain to smoke, the people trembled (Ex. 19:16; 20:18). They were afraid that they were going to die (20:19). Moses tried to calm them with the words, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin” (v. 20). The word “fear” is used twice in this verse. Moses first commands the Israelites not to fear God. He is commanding them not to be terrified of God even though they have seen a manifestation of His majestic power. Instead, they should fear God so that they do not sin. Moses exhorts the people to have a reverence and respect for God that will affect the way that they live their lives. Such a reverence for God will lead them to want to honor God with how they think and what they do. They should be willing to submit the way they think and the way they live to the law that God has given them and to judge everything in life by the standards of righteousness that He has set forth. God becomes the center of a person’s life when he is willing to submit his life to the truth of God’s Word as the true path to wisdom. Deuteronomy 4:6 states that the keeping of the law of God is the people’s wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations.
The book of Proverbs uses these same ideas to develop further the true path to wisdom and the implications for living life. The fear of the Lord is central to obtaining the knowledge that is key to living a life of wisdom. It is called the “beginning” of knowledge, which means that it is the first or controlling principle of a person’s life. You must start with the fear of the Lord to live a life of wisdom, but the fear of the Lord must also continue to be the basic perspective by which you live. It is foundational to everything else in life. First, it leads to knowledge (Hebrew da‘at). Knowledge includes information but it emphasizes more how to use that information. The craftsman who built the tabernacle had to know how “to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft” (Ex. 31:4–5). But to properly use that knowledge in ways that would be pleasing to the Lord included not just the work done on the tabernacle but also the right perspective that such work was done for the honor and glory of God. The Spirit of God was needed to help the craftsman approach the work with the right reverence for God (v. 3).
Read More
Related Posts:

There is literally nothing more important in this life than the corporate meetings of God’s people as they prep for the heavenly places in Christ. If your local church is opening the doors for worship on the Lord’s Day morning and evening, holding Sabbath School and/or a Wednesday Night bible study/prayer meeting avail yourself of these things. You’re going to need to be strong in faith as the darkness arises. These moments will be quite important as the day approaches. Be strong in Christ and in His word for your blessing.

Growing up is not always for the faint of heart. Grunts and groans as you get up from a chair or walk up the stairs are met with chuckles, but you know we all get there at some point. A new word that has entered the popular lexicon is “adulting”. Young folks use it to describe the switch from having someone else take care of things like paying bills or getting the oil changed in your car to doing it yourself. It’s an eye-opener. Being responsible for yourself is a big step in life. Yet, at some point in time you don’t really have a choice, unfortunately however more and more folks, whether they be Gen Z, Gen X, Gen Y, or Millenial have decided to take up the old Boomer mantra of “Turn on, tune in, and drop out”. Whether they be the drugs which Timothy Leary popularized through his teaching (and which produced that statement) or just the laziness of refusing to deal our culture is one that promotes in several different ways immaturity and irresponsibility. In today’s worship and prayer help we’ll talk a little bit about how this mindset has infiltrated the Church and affects members of the body of Christ, and why that is bad.
A common complaint of the Apostle Paul is the fact that outside of perhaps Thessalonica so many of the converts to the Christian faith were satisfied to take in the milk, and not seek after meat. 1 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 6 being the most pertinent examples. The question is why does this matter? Milk is good, especially when it’s mixed with sugar and frozen. Paul gives a couple of reasons why both having to do with maintaining the present faith that one has. Babies are naturally defenseless against predators and also have issues feeding themselves. Infant Christians are no different. However, we don’t expect little ones to remain little ones forever. Eventually they get bigger, stronger, and more and more independent. Though no matter how old you are you are never in a position where you need no one else. We are all dependent on someone, yet the kinds of things we need change quite dramatically. All that is to say that when it comes to the spiritual strength required of the believer we do damage to ourselves and our walk with Christ when we refuse to eat the food God provides for us in His grace.
How do we do that?
It’s pretty simple. We live in an age of easy access to information.
Read More
Related Posts:

Men, we need you to serve Christ and his church. We need you build buildings and playgrounds. But, we also need you build yourself through Spiritual disciplines and build others through the investment of your time and energy. The church needs men who will heed David’s instructions. Be strong. Show yourself a man. Obey God’s word. Serve faithfully.

It has become chic to attack and criticize men. Even in the church, much attention is being paid in recent years to patriarchy and its supposed role in creating and sustaining both evangelicalism and purity culture. Increasingly, I fear that the attention paid to attacking and criticizing men and boys in the church and larger culture is going to have detrimental effects on boys, girls, men, women, the church, and society. I also see that the more we demonize men and boys for being men, the more we alienate them from serving faithfully within the church.
Men, the church needs you. The church needs you to serve her well–as men. The church needs you to serve her as pastors and deacons, as trustees and mission leaders. But the church also needs you to serve in the nursery, as children’s Sunday School teachers, and as role models and mentors for teenagers and young adults.
The church needs men to show young boys that being a Christian is not a female role and that serving in the church is not a job only for moms and grandmas. When men step up and serve, they show young boys what a Christian man should be, and they give young girls role models for the kinds of men they can look for in relationships in the future.
Read More