24.04.08
Shorter Catechism on God (6) - God is Wisdom
Read: Psalm 94:1-15
I wonder what characteristic or attribute you would love to have most. Power – to be ultra-strong; goodness – to be ultra-benevolent ; what? Perhaps its just me, but the attribute I would love to have more of is wisdom – I would love to be wiser – to know what to do, when to do it, what to say and when to say it. The good news for me, and all who lack wisdom, is that God gives it freely for the asking. Wisdom is the greatest of prizes. But Wisdom is, in the final analysis, just knowing and acting a little bit like God – because after all, He is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His wisdom – as our text in Psalm 94 hints at.
Tonight’s study is the 6th of our studies into Q&A 4 of the Shorter Catechism “What is God? God is a Spirit – infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” I want to see three things tonight about God being wisdom: first, an explanation of God’s wisdom; secondly, an example of God’s wisdom and thirdly, an encouragement from God’s wisdom:
[A] An Explanation of God’s Wisdom
It should be clear that the wisdom of God is closely linked to the knowledge of God. Knowledge is simply when you know things; wisdom is when you use what you know for the best purpose. People may know much fact and truth – but if they do not use it for the best purpose – for loving God and loving neighbour – then they are not wise. God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His knowledge – in that He knows everything – 1 Corinthians 2:11 tells us that God knows everything about Himself; and a multitude of texts, for example Psalm 139:4, teach us that God knows everything about His creation. He knows our thoughts and our actions; He has the hairs on our heads counted. He knows everything. But here, I want to say that God doesn’t just know those things which are real, but He also knows every possibility and potential. Let’s say tonight, after the prayer meeting, you have a number of things you could do – but you will only do one of them. God is like that – with every human being, with every atom in the Universe, God lists the possibilities for its next movement and action.
God’s wisdom is shown in that He selects the possibility which most tends towards our good and His glory. So He may send an atom one way and not another because that is what will tend most towards our good, as Christians, and His glory. And that wisdom is infinite, eternal and unchangeable.
[B] An Example of God’s Wisdom
Each time we look at one of God’s attributes, I want to take an example, however brief, of where we see this particular attribute in action. The best example of God’s wisdom is that of Joseph. God had purposed Joseph for great things – that through him, the entire nation of Israel would be saved from starvation. God could have achieved that a number of ways, but the way He chose involved Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers; being jailed and through his gift for interpreting dreams and his moral trustworthiness, being promoted to the role of head prisoner; being miraculously appointed as Pharoah’s second in command and having responsibility for the distribution of grain during a seven year famine. It was a slightly circuitous, and very painful route which God took with Joseph; there were other possibilities God could have explored – but in His infinite wisdom, this is the one He chose. And through God’s wisdom, Israel was saved from famine and became strong and numerous.
The nation of Israel was saved – God’s salvation purposes prospered. But also, Joseph matured and grew in his faith in God, through all the things which he suffered – so much so that he says in Genesis 50:20, when his brothers, having realised their mistake, bowed before him. Joseph says, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” God’s wisdom took Joseph on a rough path, just like you might have a rough path ahead of you also; but God’s wisdom was working unimaginable good for the people, just like God’s wisdom, even though it may not seem like it at the moment, is working unimaginably good things for you.
[C] An Encouragement from God’s Wisdom
God is wisdom in everything He does. I want to close by applying the wisdom of God in three directions:
1. God’s Promises are Wise – God is a God of Promise – the God who always keeps His Word. But there are two aspects, at least, of God’s wisdom which impinge upon His making and keeping of what Peter calls, “his very great and precious promises”:
(i) God knows what we need – my father, good Aberdonian that he was, used to say to me, “Something’s only a bargain if you need it”. It’s easy for us to get taken in with offers, sales and bargains for things we don’t need. God doesn’t make promises for things we don’t really need. He never promises that we will be rich, because He, in His wisdom, knows that we don’t really need that much money. He never promises that we will be healthy, because He, in His wisdom, knows that He can use our times of ill-health to bring us closer to Himself. But He does know what we absolutely need and He makes promises about those things. God’s bargains are always what we need. We need security in life, and God promises us a secure Father-Son relationship with Himself. We need identity in life and so God promises us adoption as His Sons and Daughters. We need forgiveness in life and so God applies the blood of Christ to us. We need hope in life and so God promises us eternal life. Our way is not hidden from the Lord and our cause is not disregarded by our God – He will empower us and renew our strength.
(ii) God knows Everything – one of the problems which you can encounter when you make a promise, is that you don’t realise your own weakness – either your inability to keep the promise or your forgetfulness of the promise and you don’t know all the circumstances which might crop up which will keep you from keeping your promise. There is just so much you don’t know – so much so, that soon after you have made a promise you wonder if you were wise to have made it in the first place. But God is not hindered by any of these things – His knowledge is perfect and His wisdom is infinite. When you became a Christian, He promised to forgive your sins and to give you the strength to persevere. Nothing you can do or tell Him can change His mind because He made the first promise knowing everything anyway. He knew you would fail and He knew your weakness, and yet He still made the promise. And that is so reassuring to us, to know that God knows us so perfectly that, on the basis of evidence He didn’t know anything about before, He will stop loving us and revoke His salvation of us.
2. God’s Judgements are Wise – our God is a just and righteous God. But towards us, that righteousness and justice must include His knowledge and wisdom – and that in two ways:
(i) God knows our sin – we are told in Hebrews 4:13 that “everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” and Ecclesiastes 12:14 tells us that “God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” God doesn’t just know everything we do, but He knows why we do the things we do. Many’s a good thing is done out of wrong motives. And His final judgment is based upon His complete knowledge of what we have thought, said and done. And nothing is hidden from Him. His justice is wise and righteous, because there is no hidden evidence He hasn’t seen.
(ii) God knows our Forgiveness – we are told in 2 Timothy 2:19 that “the Lord knows those who are His.” He knows whether we have trusted in Christ or not – even if sometimes we struggle to believe it – that’s not a problem with God. One of the most comforting verses in the New Testament for doubting Christians is 1 John 3:20 where we read, “whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” Do you struggle with questions of assurance – of knowing whether you are a Christian? God doesn’t suffer from the same doubt and He is greater than us and our doubting hearts.
3. God’s Purpose is Wise – when I talk here of God’s purpose, I’m not just talking about the future. It is clear from everything we have said that God knows our futures – He knows what is going to happen to you the next day and next year – and so now, even if you aren’t aware of it, He’s strengthening you to be able to deal with it. He knows the future. But not only does He know our future, He guides our future. Remember, God is wise, and that means that from an infinite list of possibilities, God chooses the future for us that is both for our good and for His glory. Whatever lies in the future for us is the product of His loving wisdom. And we need to remember that when we are feeling down because of the circumstances we are facing – God has hand-picked these circumstances for us to face because they are most for our good and for His glory. Let’s stop then wishing that our circumstances were different, but make the most of them both in terms of our good and His glory – both of which coalesce and cohere around us getting to know Jesus Christ better. God is glorified when we want to get to know Jesus better, and there can be no better thing in life for us than to get to know Jesus better.
In conclusion, we often wonder why God allowed suffering and death; we may even wonder why God had to put His own Son to death on a cross for our sins – we question the way of salvation and wonder if God could have done it another way. The answer is, He could have – but He chose not to – the way He chose to save us was the wisest – it tended most to His glory and most to our good – it was the best of all possible options. And when you come to know Jesus Christ as Lord, you never stop praising God for His wisdom in sending Him to us. Make then, the most of God’s ultimate wisdom in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. AMEN