Gaining Wisdom

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” - ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139:18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

King David placed enormous value in knowing God’s wisdom over his own knowledge. We are living in an age where we are on information overload. A study in 2011 said:

“When you think that 100 years ago people were lucky to read the equivalent of 50 books in a lifetime but now most children have watched a couple of hundred movies.”

The researchers went on to say that there was now “295 exabytes of data floating around the world – that's 29,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 pieces of information. While this is enormous – 315 times the number of grains of sand on Earth – Dr Hilbert points out it is still less than one per cent of the information that is stored in the DNA of a single human being.”

So all the information in the world equates to an infinitesimally small amount compared with that of the creator! So it’s pretty clear where we should be going for our understanding of life and the universe. God the Holy Spirit has given us access to some of his wisdom through the Bible. Here is how John Piper talks about scripture.

“The Holy Spirit is the divine author of all Scripture. If this doctrine is true — and it is — then the implications are so profound and far-reaching that every part of our lives should be affected. Because Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture: 

It is true (Psalm 119:142) 

It is altogether reliable (Hebrews 6:18)

It is powerful, working its purpose in our hearts (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

It is not returning empty to the One who sent it (Isaiah 55:10–11)

It is pure, like silver refined in a furnace seven times (Psalm 12:6)

It is sanctifying (John 17:17)

It gives life (Psalm 119:37, 50, 93, 107; John 6:63; Matthew 4:4)

It makes wise (Psalm 19:7; 119:99–100)

It gives joy (Psalm 19:8; 119:16, 92, 111, 143, 174)

It promises great reward (Psalm 19:11)

It gives strength to the weak (Psalm 119:28)

It comfort to the distraught (Psalm 119:76)

It gives guidance to the perplexed (Psalm 119:105)

It reveals salvation to the lost (Psalm 119:155; 2 Timothy 3:15)

The wisdom of God in Scripture is inexhaustible.”