Proverbs 2:6 - Homiletics

Wisdom a gift of God

I. TRUE WISDOM ORIGINATES IN DIVINE INSPIRATION . Prophets and apostles—teachers of the highest truths—claim to be delivering a message from heaven. The greater the thoughts declared to us in Scripture, the more emphatic is the ascription of them to a superhuman source. Surely this very fact—this conjunction of unique value in the thoughts with the confident assertion that they are from God—should go far in leading us to believe in the inspiration of them. But it is also urged by the men who bring these truths to us that we can only receive them when we are inspired by the Spirit of God; and experience shows that they who have most spirituality of life are able to drink most deeply of the fountains of revelation. Further, when once we admit this much, it follows that, if we recognize the constancy of God in all his methods of action, it is reasonable for us to feel that all truth must depend on a Divine illumination for its manifestation, and that all wisdom must be the outcome of some degree of inspiration. Nevertheless, it is not to be inferred that inspiration dispenses with natural channels of knowledge; on the contrary, it opens the eyes of men, who must then use their eyes to be seers of spiritual truth.

II. THE INSPIRATION OF WISDOM DEPENDS ON SPIRITUAL RELATIONS WITH GOD . If inspiration is the source, the questions arise—Who are privileged to drink of this fountain? and how do they gain access to it? Now, it is much to be assured that this is not reserved to any select class of men. Prophets have a special revelation to convey a special message, and apostles have a distinctive endowment for the accomplishment of a particular mission; but the inspiration of wisdom generally is not thus limited. On the contrary, it comes freely to all who rightly avail themselves of it. What, then, are the conditions for receiving it?

1 . Prayer. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gareth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" ( James 1:5 ). Whosoever seeks shall find.

2 . Purity. "The pure in heart shall see God," and the highest wisdom is in the beatific vision of him who dwells in the light of eternal truth.

3 . Obedience. As we submit our wills to God's wilt, we open the channel through which his Spirit enters into us, and by fellowship illumines.

III. TRUE WISDOM , BEING INSPIRED BY GOD , WILL BEAR THE STAMP OF DIVINE CHARACTERISTICS . It will differ from mere human speculation; sometimes it will be so much in conflict with that speculation as to pass for foolishness (see 1 Corinthians 1:18 ). It will be distinctly opposed to the wisdom that is purely carnal, i.e. to that which takes account only of earthly facts and ignores spiritual principles, the wisdom of expediency, the cleverness of men of the world. Such wisdom is not only earthly; its low maxims and immoral devices proclaim it to be "sensual devilish" ( James 3:15 ). Divinely inspired wisdom, on the contrary, is spiritual—taking account of the facts and laws of the higher order; pure—not ministering to selfish greed and degraded pleasure; wholesome—strengthening and elevating the soul; "peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy" ( James 3:17 ).