Proverbs 14:6b, The Greatest Deliverance

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August 3, Proverbs 14:6b

2 Cor. 2:13-17; Matt. 11:22-30 “They sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words” (Dt. 33:3).

The Greatest Deliverance

There is a great difference between the existence of Truth, and our perception of it. Wisdom helps us to know this difference, and modesty and humility are the true marks of it. But knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. The word understand also means the discerning one, the intelligent one. Richard Sibbes remarked, “Wisdom is easy to him that will understand.” This is the wisdom that “opens the eyes both to the glories of heaven and to the hollowness of earth” (Motyer). The scorner looks only to things down under the sun. The gaze of the understanding is Up Yonder to the Son of Righteousness.

1. Wisdom’s Disposition: The scorner’s failure and success of the other we can trace to the spirit of each. As there is pride and not a little arrogance in the one (Pr. 8:13; Isa. 13:11), so there is a reverent and lowly spirit in the other (Mt. 18:4). The one praises what he likes to call religious tolerance, while he strongly censures all dogma as bigotry. The understanding man concedes his ignorance. He knows that “Wisdom must be wooed ere it is won.” He knows, too, that “Wisdom will only flow in where there is a clear entry for it.” This, more than anything, is the doorway into the temple of Wisdom. Only those who are humble and teachable, who stand in awe before the holiness and sovereignty of God, who acknowledge their littleness, who distrust their own thoughts, who are willing to be renewed in the spirit of their mind, can receive true wisdom. The truly wise man knows his want of wisdom. We have plenty of historic proof that believing in nothing (except man) has produced as crude an intolerance as gullibly believing in all the legends of Rome. Jesus said that it is obedience to God’s will that brings understanding (Jn. 7:17).

2. Wisdom’s Devotion: The first beatitude is, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. To such minds, knowledge is easy, swift, speedy. Secularism boasts: “The highest study of mankind is man.” The understanding person knows that man’s highest study is the knowledge of God, and the right application of that knowledge. The word that is a savour of death to the scorner, is a savour of life to the humble. If man is immortal, as the Bible says, then everything here changes its perspective. The humble believer neither bows to man-made idols, nor does he make claims that are above him. His feet are placed on this earth, and he stands erect and free there. He is not God, but one who meekly seeks to find the God who has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. He tries to understand his place in the scheme of things. He knows his need of reproof and willingly accepts it. Thus, knowledge is easy to him that understands. He now has a firm grasp of the beginning of wisdom, and is eager for the day when he will reach its consummation. “Man is a worshipper,” said A. W. Tozer, “and only in the spirit of worship does he find release for all the powers of his amazing intellect.”

Thought: “He builds too low who builds below the sky.” (R. Cecil)

Prayer: Lord, keep my eyes and my heart open to Thy truth.