Afterwords -- the limits of wisdom
"Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed...
Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. For there is a time and a way for everything, although man's trouble lies heavy on him. For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?" (Ecclesiastes 8:1, 5-7)
April 19, 2024
Dear friends,
I'm currently reading Ecclesiastes, a book of the Bible I love to return to. It's the first book I read during my conversion, and I think it's very valuable for Christians today. It's about what we can expect, and not expect, from "life under the sun." It's about limitations -- limitations in our understanding, limitations on our best efforts, limitations upon every facet of life.
SEASONS. There are seasons in life and history (Eccles 3). Things change, for better or worse. Often, things don't make sense at all, they are just beyond our grasp. Things are not resolved in this life. Sometimes people are better than what you would expect; sometimes they're far worse. Sometimes there is reward, sometimes great injustice. Righteous people also suffer unjustly and die. Even as we apply wisdom and right living, we face uncertain outcomes under heaven. That is, this side of eternity.
THE LIMITS OF WISDOM. The fleeting nature of life -- its vanity (הֶבֶל, hevel), the mysteries, injustices, and things that don't make sense -- these should cause us to seek God and to obey what we know that he has clearly revealed. Even though we are children of God through Jesus Christ, this closeness and intimacy with our Father does not mean that we know everything, nor are we privy to God's planning and doing. Due to our very finite and limited brains we don't understand as much as we'd like.
MYSTERY. And so, due to God's infinitely wise nature, much is shrouded in mystery. “For the truth is that God in his wisdom, to make and keep us humble and to teach us to walk by faith, has hidden from us almost everything that we should like to know about the providential purposes which he is working out in the churches and in our own lives.” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God) We know God truly and intimately as Father and Savior, but we do not know him completely and exhaustively, for he alone is the eternal, self-existent God. This is called "the inscrutability" of God...
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?' 'Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:33-36)
THE BLESSING OF WISDOM. But still, Solomon says, there are many advantages to pursuing wisdom. In the text above Solomon tells us that wisdom brings us a transformative meaning to life. Our countenance softens because of wisdom. In verse 1, the noun for "interpretation" is פֵּשֶׁר (pesher) denotes a “solution; explanation; interpretation; meaning” (NET notes). In other words, God has a plan, and whether we see it or not, life has a purpose (and a final judgment), and the wise person believes that. He or she knows there is more to life than amoral randomness and material causes. Further, the wise person will seek to obey God's revealed will even when things seem dark and confused. We may not know what God is up to, be we can know how he wants us to respond:
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deut 29:29)
HOW AND WHEN. Further, wisdom enables us to know how to respond to things (in what way and manner), and when a certain response is called for -- "the proper time and the just way." The term עֵת (ʿet, “time”) denotes “a suitable time for an event; the right moment” (NET). We will not always know why God ordains certain things to happen, but we will know -- if we are seeking wisdom -- we will know how and when to respond in a wise and godly manner.
There are limits to our wisdom and understanding, but there are no limits to God's knowledge, power, and goodness toward us. We may not know everything, but we know enough to trust and to obey him.
LISTENING AND WATCHING.
-- In remembering the 32 students and faculty who lost their lives on April 16, 2007, at Virginia Tech, I come back to this song -- "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" -- which still affects me deeply. Here it is performed by Sovereign Grace Music.
-- What did Jesus mean by, “...whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12)? Here's an outstanding sermon by Alistair Begg on this passage.
-- We recently watched "Mr. Bates vs The Post Office" (PBS Masterpiece, 2024), a brilliant and riveting account of a true story of corruption and computers in the UK postal system.
ARTICLES AND BOOKS.
-- Here's the Bible Reading Guide for Ecclesiastes (PDF) that I wrote for friends during the pandemic. There’s more info on what Solomon was saying about “vanity”. Other reading guides are here also.
-- "The Christian can be neither fully involved in his society nor fully withdrawn from it. Instead, he must keep his sights on the pilgrim’s path.” Read "Cultural Sanctification: Engaging the World like the Early Church".
-- "And so, while I know that living a handful at a time can be helpful, it also matters a great deal what my handfuls contain." Read Dan Fischer on "Living a Handful at a Time".
-- I'm currently reading: Wounded Tiger: The Transformational True Story of the Japanese Pilot Who Led the Pearl Harbor Attack (Dynamis Books, 2023) [Just finished it; and I highly recommend]; The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems (Holt, 1969, 1975) [for reading group]; and The Fatherhood of God, by Robert S. Candlish (1806 --1873).
FINAL QUOTE.
“His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.”
-- William Cowper (1731 --1800)
That's it for this week! We had a wonderful visit from children and grandchildren, and it was a great blessing! I marvel at the energy level of grandchildren, and the stamina needed by their parents!
Sandy
Image above, detail from "Philosopher with an Open Book" by Salomon Koninck (1609 – 1656), courtesy the Netherlands Institute for Art History. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.