(1 Corinthians 3:19a For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.”) In a more biblically illiterate age that we as Americans now live in one consequence that we are finding is that many of the challenges we face are often due to not knowing what it is that God has said. We experience trial, hardship, or confusion and then try to answer what we face using the wisdom of the world instead of God’s. This takes many forms, both in the life of the believer and in the life of the church, from seeking happiness through financial gain towards drawing a crowd through pragmatic means. The question however that we must always be asking ourselves is not what works, or what do I prefer, but what hath God said.
Jesus, as he was being tempted by Satan could have answered with a very fleshly answer but instead responded to Satan with the very words and wisdom of scripture. Consider the answer Jesus gives to Satan’s temptation in Mathew 4 as he cites Deuteronomy 8:3:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1-4 ESV)
We face challenges and trials every day and those challenges and trials can either serve our Christian growth or stifle it depending on how we respond. When we face those challenges we are called to put away the wisdom of the world and to put on Christ. As we put on Christ we are to deal with each challenge and trail that comes our way the way Christ dealt with them, by asking “what hath God said?” However, Before we can ask that question and come to the right conclusion there are few things we need to consider first.
Number one, how are we approaching God? Are we approaching Him like a good buddy or with fear and trembling? If its not reverently we have to ask why we lack any fear and reverence of the one who created us? Consider the words of the Psalmist:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. Psalm 111:10 ESV”
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7 ESV)”
Second, we have to ask if the Bible can be trusted and even if it can be understood? We have an answer to that from the second letter to Timothy:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)”
Third, we have to ask ourselves in light of the first two questions are we then going to stand in judgment over the very words of God in comparison to our own perceived wisdom or will we allow the Word of God to judge and guide us?
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.(1 Corinthians 1:18-25 ESV)
How will you face the next challenges and trials that come your way? How you answer that will either help or hinder you in your spiritual growth of Christ likeness. Might your answer always be like that of Christ, that we do not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
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