Proverbs 30:3
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I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
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"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding" (4:7). The loftiest goal for life is wisdom. The highest development of our race is realized in the few men and women to whom God gives wisdom.
Not convinced? "She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her" (3:15-18). Very great value, long life, riches, honor, pleasure, peace, life, and happiness should convince you! What else could you possible desire!
Not convinced? "How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver" (16:16)! "For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it" (8:11). "For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it" (Eccl 7:12). Only truly hopeless fools pursue money.
Now everyone wants to be wise! They want others to come knocking for answers to life's problems. But only a select few will pursue wisdom according to Heaven's rules. Only the select few will obtain it. Wisdom starts by believing and admitting you know nothing at all. Such a man, to whom God gives humility, will be a great man (I Cor 3:18-20).
Wisdom is only for a select few - those who admit they know nothing at all. Too hard to admit, reader? Don't worry! You are with the great majority rushing through the wide gate to travel down the broad way to destruction. Only a select few use the grace of God to humble themselves to become truly wise and fulfill the highest calling in life.
If a man holds any self-confidence or lofty thoughts about himself, the blessed God will bring him down to a blithering idiot, where he was all along, but just didn't realize it. Humility is the recognition of truth - you are nothing, and the Most High is everything.
Here are words of one of the wisest men ever - inspired words of greatness! Covet these words and the heart-felt conviction behind them! Strip your soul of self-confidence until you believe these words about yourself! Become a fool! The more ignorant the better!
Humility is the key to open the treasure vaults of Heaven for wisdom. If you do not abase and humble yourself before God and men, you will never even find crumbs of wisdom. You will waste your ridiculous life inhaling the fumes of human idiocy, which will anesthetize you for your descent into the blackness of darkness forever (26:12).
Consider your great wisdom. You arrived dirtying yourself. It took you four years to color inside the lines, seven to ride a bike, sixteen to drive a car, twenty-one to be trusted with wine, forty to realize you are mortal, sixty to know you wasted your life, and eighty to fear what is next. You will leave dirtying yourself. You will meet an angry God unprepared. And you think you are wise? It would have been better to not be born!
Reader, get down! Now! Desecrate yourself! Defile your opinions! Curse your confidence! Damn your thoughts! Flush your intelligence! Memorize this proverb and repeat it to God and all men. It is your only hope. Beg the blessed God for mercy!
The LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Ex 34:14). "God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies" (Nah 1:2). He hates your love of yourself; He hates your haughty arrogance and high opinions; He will bring you down!
Any difference between you and others was by His choice. Anything you have, which is nothing but vanity, was given to you by God Himself. Why do you think and speak about it as if you chose or earned it (25:27; I Cor 4:7)? Get down! Think soberly about yourself! Do not think so highly of yourself (Rom 12:3; Gal 6:3; II Cor 10:12).
David said, "LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me" (Ps 131:1). The man after God's heart, with glorious achievements and universal acclaim, denounces his own wisdom. So God gave him true wisdom in abundance (I Sam 18:5,14-15,30; II Sam 14:20).
Solomon said, "I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in." He actually was a twenty-year-old genetic specimen with the best training and counselors the world could offer. But he knew the truth - he was an idiot in all matters of importance, due to the blinding and damning control of sin on his heart (Is 44:20; Jer 17:9).
Therefore, humility is truly the principal thing! For wise Agur begins teaching wisdom by declaring total ignorance! See the comments on 30:2. The key to obtaining wisdom is humility - the rejection of all your wisdom and acceptance of all God's instructions.
If you lean to your own understanding at all, you will be cut off from even crumbs. If you tear down all high thoughts and prostrate yourself before God, He will pour out a liberal blessing of wisdom on you. True wisdom is simply rejecting all opinions - including your own - to dedicate yourself to His Word (3:5-6; Ps 119:128; Is 8:20; II Tim 3:16-17).
Here is a great man in the earth - the man who can humble himself as a little child (Matt 18:1-4). God will fight against any man who does not do this (James 4:6). Before the Lord Jesus Christ, this humbling of ourselves ought to be easy. Let us say with John the Baptist, the greatest born of women, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
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