"O
house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord,"
(Isa. 2:5).
"But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,"
(I John 1:7).
Last week we talked about various names of
Jehovah Elohim that were revealed throughout the Old Testament and how each
name can bring new light into our lives. We determined that we will use
Isaiah 11:2 as a basis for our topic: "And the spirit of
the Lord
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord."
After laying our initial foundation, we were only
able to get as far as discussing the first of these: the spirit of the Lord. Let’s begin where we left off.
The
Spirit of Wisdom
“If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him,” (James
1:5).
How does one gain true, godly wisdom? “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom” (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 9:10).
Interestingly, the “fear of the
Lord” is the last spirit that is mentioned in Isaiah 11:2. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge…” (Prov. 1:7). True knowledge is also a spirit listed in
Isa. 11:2. See how intertwined these
spirits truly are. “The knowledge of the holy is understanding”
(Prov. 9:10b). What is understanding? Right!
It’s another of the spirits listed in Isaiah 11:2.
We learn in math that if “A” equals “B” and “B” equals “C”, then “A”
equals “C”. If wisdom is knowledge and knowledge is
understanding, then wisdom is understanding.
They are inseparable, yet distinct.
You really can’t have one without the others.
When I met my husband, he already was in the habit
of reading a Proverb for each corresponding day of the month. Wisdom would pour from his speech and it was
obvious that the source of such knowledge and understanding came from the Lord.
Want to increase in your wisdom? Walk with the wise.
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise:
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed,” (Prov. 13:20).
Listen to the counsel of your elders. Hear the instruction of your fathers and mothers. They have wisdom for your life. It has been said that God gave us two ears
and one mouth so that we can do twice as much listening as talking. If you listen and take heed, you will avoid
much darkness, pain and sorrow. Read
through the book of Proverbs over and over again… one proverb a day to keep the
darkness away and to increase in the light of God’s wisdom. You will become a tremendous asset to others
who lack wisdom. They will seek you out and
glean from your words. And God will be
glorified.
The
Spirit of Understanding
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get
wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding,” (Prov. 4:7).
When the spirit of understanding illumines one’s
mind, his or her entire countenance lightens up. What was once difficult becomes easy. I watched it happen over and over again when
homeschooling my children. When they
didn’t understand a particular concept, the homework was hard and the grades
reflected negatively. However, once a
concept was grasped, the homework was a “piece of cake”.
To understand means to separate mentally; to attend
to; to consider; to deal wisely; intelligence, discernment, regard, perception;
the ability to think skillfully. The
question is asked in Job 28:20, “Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?”
“With
the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding,” (Job 12:12).
“But there is
a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding,” (Job 32:8).
When men attempt to gain wisdom, knowledge and
understanding outside of God, they can only derive it from the kingdom of darkness
which has the power of deception.
“Because
that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;
but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” (Ro.
1:21-22).
Want to access the true spirit of understanding
from the Lord? There are numerous
scriptures connecting that understanding with the heart. [e.g,
Prov. 3:5, 8:5, 14:33, 51:14, 18:2].
When you lack understanding, you walk in darkness.
“Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart,” (Eph. 4:18).
How
many times have you misjudged a person or a situation simply because you didn’t
have all the facts and you drew the wrong conclusions? How many times did your heart soften after
your gained an understanding?
Understanding affects the heart.
It’s so important to us to hear someone say, “I love you”, but I often
find it’s even more meaningful when I’m going through something, to hear a
loved one say, “I understand”. How many
times have you been frustrated by someone not understanding what you were
trying to convey?
“Trust in the Lord
with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding…”
(Prov. 3:5).
The Spirit of Counsel
“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding
will draw it out,” (Prov. 20:5)
.“The
way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise,” (Prov. 12:15).
“Where
no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors
there is safety,” (Prov. 11:14).
It
takes a certain level of humility to seek out counsel. The proud do not want to acknowledge a need
for help. The fool doesn’t even know he
needs help! He is in so much darkness,
he’s convinced his own way is right. I
have seen God’s spirit of counsel rejected and the consequences have never been
good. People will hear, but not
hearken. There were occasions in
ministry when God actually restrained my husband and I from giving counsel to
individuals who were contemplating some major moves in their lives and who were
obviously bent on making the wrong choices.
But because they weren’t seeking our input, we had to remain silent [“you
have not because you ask not”]. We
understand by God’s Spirit that if we had said anything, we would have been
releasing light into the situation after which, should they reject it, the
negative consequences would have been even more severe. Wisdom will tell you when to speak and when to
have “shut mouth” grace.
Don’t
be so grown up that you won’t receive counsel…from a multitude of counselors if
necessary.
