Wisdom in the principle thing. We are encouraged by Proverbs 4:5-7, "Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. 7Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. We must have true knowledge to in turn have true wisdom. Wisdom presupposes knowledge. Not many in our day and time have this true wisdom because they do not seek it at its true source. This is what 1 Corinthians 1:24 says in regard to wisdom, "But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Christ is the wisdom of God. This is the true source of all wisdom. God’s word is what makes us wise as Psalm 119:97-100, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. 98Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. 99I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. 100I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." Being wise is a definite asset.
Application
To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.
Leviticus 20:22-26 reads, "Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. 23And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. 25Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." All the prohibitions of the law of God, the people of the land of Canaan were guilty of committing. Because of this God abhorred them. In other words, He absolutely despised them and their actions. His people were to be different by not committing such abominable acts. They were to be a holy that is separate people ethically from those around them, in the same way we are to be today.
If we are to be a wise nation, we will have to follow all of God’s precepts. This is the message of Deuteronomy 4:5-10, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; 10Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." It should be obvious that those who do not obey and follow God’s law are foolish. Those who obey and teach their children God’s law are considered to be wise.
Proverbs 6:23 says, "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 24To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman." These commandments and statutes give us light that we may avoid all the works of darkness. Law keepers are considered wise as Proverbs 28:7 says clearly, "Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father." These covenant keepers will avoid being friends with evil men. They understand that one becomes like those he associates with. Likes beget likes. Proverbs 28:9 states plainly what God thinks about those who do not love the law, "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." Their very words are detestable to God. They lack good sense.
Conclusion
Many in our day and time believe that the Old Testament law has been abrogated. This is not what the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:17-20, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." The only Scriptures available at the time the Lord was speaking would have been the Old Testament. He was not seeking to undo it but to uphold it by fully obeying its dictates and encouraging us to do the same. This is true wisdom. Man must live by law. It comes down to which law? God’s law or man’s law which he derives from his own mind. What is your wisdom and ultimate reference point? Mine is the law of God.
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