- All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. -
What does Solomon mean when he says tested by wisdom? Did he start performing scientific experiments to see which of his adages proved true?
Probably not exactly like that. After discovering a lesson of wisdom, he probably acted it out and then noticed the results.
Was his life better? Did he have access to new information previously withheld from him? Was he able to protect himself and others from uncertain futures?
The answer to some of that has to be yes, at least to the sayings he has relayed to us in chapter 7. He went to a party and a funeral and guess what? The funeral was more edifying.
Imagine you had started to gather these insights. What would you do? Perhaps you would make a demand of yourself like this.
“I’m going to do these no matter what. I am determined to live a wise life despite the cost!”
While having a goal towards that ideal is noble, is it realistic? I mean, how many new year resolutions have you not completed?
What am I saying? You can’t bully yourself! You cannot act as a tyrant to your body and expect it to do what you want.
Why? Why can’t we be the best versions of ourselves?
The answer is an obvious yet frustrating one to the new creature sitting within the breast of the Christian.
You are a fallen man. You have an inclination and desire to sin. The old man is hanging on by fingertips, but that’s enough of a stronghold to make you (the redeemed half) do what you hate.
If it’s true for Paul and Solomon, it’s true for you.
That voice that speaks, demanding that you be wise, is not doing so in a negotiated manner with your other desires.
I’m not saying that you should listen to your desire for sin. What I am saying is the redeemed voice forgets its fallen half.
It demands to be a saint now. It doesn’t want to do the hard work of removing minor imperfections. It wishes to be an apostle upon this instant, never to falter again.
If you struggle waking up on time, how can you ever learn the greater lessons of wisdom? Can you keep your house clean? Can you balance your check book?
Solomon gets this, because he begins to understand the infinity of wisdom, that it is a part of God’s character, present with Him before the foundation of the world.
The wisest man could never hope to fully obtain it. It was to far from him. The mountain he wished to ascend, was beyond the end of the ocean.
So, what can we do. If we wish to be wise, where must we begin?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What does that mean?
Perhaps the humiliation of ourselves, the first step to salvation, is where we can begin. It is to say we are not good, and if not good how much further are we then from wisdom?
Once confessed, then we may be able to start the impossible journey to being wise. We may begin carving away at our imperfections, reasonably as God reveals them to us.
Finally, we can live these ideas out. They must not be a moment, but an experience.
To admit is salvation; to walk – sanctification.
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