December 30

Dec 30 - Today from Proverbs 30 we look at verses 2 and 3
"I am the most ignorant of men: I do not have a man’s understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One."

If we read this with a Western mindset, we see a man lamenting his own buffoonery. He is frustrated because of his inferior intellect. But this was not written with a Western mindset. It was written by an Eastern scholar, a learned man of great understanding. How then can he make such a statement? Is he being sarcastic? Is he being pretentiously humble? No, he is being very honest. Much more honest than most of us most of the time. He is a man that has weighed the secrets of his own heart and has come up desperately wanting. Who truly knows a man’s heart but the man himself? If the world around you could look into the deep secrets of your thoughts and intents, how would you measure up to the person you present to the world? It is a very scary thought, isn’t it? The Lord declares in Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" As our Teacher looks deeply into is own heart, he comes forth honestly about the state of his heart. Coming to grips with a deceitful heart without cure puts a man on a path of searching – how can he ever know truth when he is beset with deceit in his very deepest being? He gives an answer in verse 5, "Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him." There is no deceit in God’s word – but the truth is often hidden. Man seldom, if ever, truly prizes that which is lying around in abundance. But that which comes by way of focused effort becomes a valued and cherished possession. God reveals His truth, but He often allows us to struggle to find it.
The first truth God reveals to us is that of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is God’s final word to man. He is the complete fulfillment and expressed will of the Father’s heart. This revelation comes not with words of human wisdom, but through the wonder of the cross (1 Cor. 1:17). Through Christ comes the Spirit of Truth. It is by His Spirit that we are able to mature in wisdom (understanding life the way God meant it to be). There is a cure for the heart, but it is not found within ourselves. It is found in Christ Jesus. There is a place where we can gain knowledge of the Holy One, but it is not in our own understanding. It is in His revelation. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor 2:14. In order to gain understanding of the Holy One, we must first be honest about the state of our own heart. Once we are truthful about its condition, its sets us on a spiritual quest, an earnest and diligent searching. A quest that can only be truly reached when we end up at the cross where the Living Word intersected time and eternity. There He invites us to experience it as well. Apart from the revelation of the Spirit, it is just more foolishness.