Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro
 
Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son's name? Surely you know! Proverbs 30:4

Wisdom has as its core quest God Himself.  A wise man will look at the glory of the heavens and the earth and realize that such order and such majesty is not just the work of random forces.  Thus he will see the order - see the creation and immediately realize that there is a Creator.  We will try to look at each of these questions and see the wisdom in asking these things.  (Due to the sheer grandeur of the questions themselves - we will only answer one each post on this verse - therefore there will be multiple posts on verse 4 in this blog).

Question #1 - "Who has ascended into heaven and descended?"  What is fascinating is that God asked questions very similar to this to Job when Job decided that God was unjust - and that Job needed for God to explain Himself in Job's suffering.  The Word of God answers this first question - which assumes that there is a God.  There is also an assumption that the one who has ascended into heaven itself and descended would be an authority on these matters.  Humans are a horrible choice when it comes to the matter of the origin of the earth and all its processes (like wind, clouds and rain, creation, and the identity of God Himself who made all these things). 

Here we have our first problem with philosophers in our world.  They want to know why and how we can just assume that there is a God.  They make no such assumption - demanding proof that there is a God or gods before they continue.  The argument here is honestly pretty simple.  For there to be a creation - for there to be something - there has to be a creator - there has to be someone who made it.  When we see a painting we do not doubt there was a painter.  When we see a building we do not doubt there was a builder.  When we see a book we do not doubt there was an author.  Why then when we see creation do we doubt a creator?  To argue that there is no God - and that creation was never created - it just happened - is to argue that nothing plus no one equals everything.  It is also to argue that if random processes just happened to bring about everything around us - that there is absolutely no reason to exist - and that it is the height of foolishness to even ask if there is meaning in anything around us.  The worldview that demands that God prove Himself beyond the fact that there is a creation of His making, is to descend into Nihlism.  That is the only "honest" conclusion that can be reached if there was no intelligent being behind the design in our universe.  If everything came about by chance - it still exists by chance - and since there is no reason to random chance - there is no reason to our lives and no reason for which we exist. 

The wise man, as said earlier, knows to ask these questions.  His assumption is that God is able to ascend and descend the heavens at will.  If God is able to make all that we see - and even beyond that - going up into heaven and coming down from there is not difficult.  If there is such care and such glorious design in all that there is - He must be a God of detail and beauty.  No one has seen God at any time.  The Word itself tells us that if a man were to see God he would not live.  Thus, the question also asked here is who has the revelation of God.  Who has ascended before Him - and who hase descended to earth again.  Here we have the answer - it was Jesus Christ - He is the One who has given us the perfect revelation of God through His life, death, burial, and rsurrection.  There is only one who has done this - and it is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He has ascended and descended!  He has brought us revelation of God - but has also brought us far more!  He has brought us salvation and a payment for our sins. 

Wisdom drives us to know Who God is.  And true wisdom is in knowing that God has revealed Himself and shown us Who He is.  We find in Scripture that this is answered on our behalf.  Jesus Christ is the One who has ascended into heaven - and descended from it.  Know Him and we will know wisdom.  Know Him and we will know all that we truly need to know in this life and in this world. 
 
 
 "All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. "They are all straightforward to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge. Proverbs 8:8-9
 
Ah yes, that sticky doctrine of infallibility of Scripture rises again with a statement made by Wisdom.  God is speaking in this passage as wisdom is personified.  God is calling out to men and women everywhere to listen and to open their hearts to receive the wisdom that God wants to grant to them.  Wisdom is awaiting them at home, in the workplace, in the market, where the two roads diverge in the wood (with thanks to Robert Frost).  But the question should rightly be asked, "Can we trust what Wisdom says to us in all these situations?"

ALL the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness!  Well there is an answer for us.  Wisdom cannot lie to us - cannot mislead us - will not deceive us!  Every utterance - every word from the mouth of God given in wisdom is righteous (that means they are all in a state of being RIGHT!).  What is even better is that we next read, "There is nothing crooked or perverted in them."  Crooked here means to twist something - and it speaks of those who are shrewd and cunning - those who are devious and who wrestle the truth in a direction that is to their liking.  God does not work like this.  Holiness means that God's motives are utterly transparent.  He may speak things in a mystery - but He never speaks things with devious or cunning intent.  What drives Him is His love - and His passion for righteousness and for His own glory.  Perverted here is the Hebrew word "iqqesh" which means something crooked and perverse.  It describes one with a deceitful, perverse, and evil heart.  The person like this perverts morals, social graces, even religious things for underhanded purposes.  Once again - God knows nothing of this kind of mindset or motive.  We read further of His heart in verse 9.

All God's utterances - His Word - are straightforward.  In the vernacular of our day - God shoots straight with us.  The idea behind this word is honesty.  It also has with it the idea of someone who is incapable of being perverted or being partial in their judgment.  Something we all need to grasp is that ultimately God is worthy of all glory - therefore - what He does is ultimately to display His own glory.  What we don't grasp is that God is not being in any way conceited by doing this.  To be conceited, God would have to be gaining or seeking glory that is not rightfully His.  The truth is - all glory is rightfully His - all the time - in every situation - and from every person that has ever lived or ever will live - period!  Therefore God speaks the truth - and He does so with absolute honesty - and with a view to the absolute best at all times. 

Now there is something that would be nice to have.  Someone Who will never be partial to anything but the very best.  Someone Who knows what needs to happen, what needs to be said, what needs to be addressed - and does so every single time with wisdom, with tact, and with razor sharp accuracy.  But we need to note that this ability to see God in this way is for those who "understand."  There is a discernment that takes us beyond fleshly, earthly wisdom that is necessary for men to understand the straightforwardness of God at all times.  You see all the time in liberal circles men and women who don't understand - and who accuse God of the most horrific sins and the most terrible motives.  The fact is that they DON'T udnerstand and are blind the true nature of God.  This understanding comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds.  Without Him and without God's gracious work in us - we will never understand.  Our minds and hearts are perverted and twisted by sin.  It is only when God's grace is manifest to us that we are transformed - and that our sinful tendencies are no longer dominant in our thinking. 

God is offering wisdom to us every day - in a myriad of situations where we need it.  The truly wise man is the one who submits himself to God - and learns to listen at the crossroads as God instructs him in how to live and how to walk.  May we be such men and women - and may we be blessed by the wonderful straightfoward words of God!
 
 
Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy? Proverbs 27:4

Three things are mentioned here - with the last being the most severe.  Wrath is the first thing mentioned.  The word used here is "hemah" and it means to be hot with anger.  It signifies anger, hot displeasure, indignation, or rage.  It was used to speak of a person's burning anger as well as once to speak of God's intense anger toward those who practiced idolatry in 2 Kings 22:17.  We are told that this kind of burning anger is fierce.  When people have this kind of burning wrath toward something - or probably in this context someone - they can be both fierce and cruel.  For the most part, God encourages us to refrain from this kind of wrathful, hot anger and rage. 

The second word used in this proverb is anger.  This is the oft used Hebrew word "aph" and it refers literally to a flared nostril or the way a face is altered when a person is angry.  Except for only a few instances, this kind of anger is viewed negatively in the Word.  What is fascinating is the two or three examples where an exception is given.  This anger is expressed in a passion and desire for God to be glorified.  Because He is not - then the anger rises in one who speaks or acts on behalf of God and His honor and glory.  We see that this word is described as coming in a flood.  The word for flood means a mighty torrent of water - probably something like a flash flood.  God's judgment is mentioned as coming this way in Nahum 1:8 where God says, "But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of its site, And will pursue His enemies into darkness."  When God's anger is loosed in judgment - it will be like a flash flood - like a tsunami that will crush all that stands against Him.  But when humans act this way - it is usually when someone blows his or her top.  Like a volcanic eruption - the person just blows - and the result is seldom anything but problematic and damaging to whomever is unfortunate enough to be in its path. 

As said at the beginning of this devotion - three things are mentioned here - with wrath and flared anger being those two of those three things.  But the third is considered the worst them.  That is jealousy.  The word here is "qana" and it means to be jealous with great zeal.  It describes a person who has an intense fervor, passion, and emotion that supercedes that of a person with wrath or anger.  This is seen in the Word as both good and bad in various situations.  Phinehas was filled with this jealousy when he acted on the Lord's behalf in Numbers 25:11.  Seeing an Israelite man walk right in front of the tent of meeting with a Midianite woman - intending to have sex with her - filled Phinehas with a jealousy for God's glory that moved him to act.  This kind of sin was only a precursor to Israel stumbling headlong into Baal worship and its practice of sensuality and sexual immorality as worship of their false god.  Incensed and filled with passion and godly jealousy - Phinehas pierced both the man and the woman through with a spear as they engaged in this wicked act.  God praised Phinehas for his godly jealousy in this passage.  But jealousy can also be evil.  Proverbs 14:30 warns agaisnt a passion that is rottenness in the bones.  The wrong kind of jealousy - for our own honor and praise - for what we want and think we deserve - can eat us alive. 

In the end - God experiences all three of these things in His great love for His honor and glory.  His wrath is fierce, and His anger can come like a wave crashing against the wickedness of man.  But these two things cannot measure against His great love for His people manifest by His godly jealousy and zeal for them to love Him and honor Him as He deserves.  We read in James that God's Spirit desires us to the point of envy.  God has redeemed us and bought us for Himself.  What He has done in bringing us to life - paying for our sins - and calling us unto Himself - He longs for it.  He longs to see us tear down every idol and cast out any other love - and to be completely devoted to Him.  Who can stand before such a jealousy!? 

Here is the amazing thing about this proverb.  Our first response to this should be to cower in fear at the manifestation of God's wrath and anger.  These things have been seen in ways that would drop any man alive to his knees.  We would prostrate ourselves before God in terror at His wrath and anger - fearing and trembling for our lives as we watch Him bring the just deserts of the wicked upon their heads.  But what we experience as believers is the Lord's jealousy for the work He has done in us.  He longs for us to fully embrace the grace He has given us - to fully access all that His Spirit is willing to do in us.  And He does so with a jealous passion to see us as the very trophies of His grace and kind work in our souls and bodies.  Who can stand before such blazing love?  Who would dare to oppose Him in His quest to destroy every idol in our hearts and have every part of us as His sole possession?  Oh, that we would see the love of God in all of its shining glory and passionate heat.  We cannot stand before it - we cannot imagine the depth of His love.  All we can do is fall before Him and see ourselves consumed in the loving flames of His glorious, jealous passion that in Christ Jesus He will finally be glorified in His saints.
 
 
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2

Why is it that God conceals Himself and the things He says so often?  Think about this for a moment in regard to Scripture.  The later half of Old Testament Scripture is prophecy, in which much of what God said was hidden for their time - and some remains to be fulfilled in ours.  Think about Jesus Christ and His statement that much of what He said would be in parables, so that seeing they would not see and hearing they would not hear.  Then there's the common practice of Jesus to answer a question with another question.  What's that all about?  That is what this proverb helps us to understand.  Let's take a look at it today.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.  So we learn that it is actually to God's glory that He reveals Himself by parables, prophecies, allegories, metaphors, and similitudes.  God reveals His will and His ways in the Word of God.  He Himself tells us in Isaiah  55 that "My ways are above your ways, and My thoughts your thoughts."  In fact God describes His own ways as being so much higher, that the only example that is fitting is of how much higher the heavens are than the earth.  Contrary to popular opinion today, God is not just "the man upstairs" or "our divine buddy."  It is entirely fitting to honor God and properly think of His majesty and glory.  If we see the pomp and glory afforded an earthly king or president, which is fitting for their position and station in life - how much more honor, majesty, and glory should be given to the King of the universe - the very God of creation itself?

In keeping with the majesty of God - the Lord makes known His ways and wisdom by putting it in a way that must be seriously studied to be understood.  This is so that we will prize the wisdom and will of God when we discover it.  God Himself is unsearchable and unfathomable, thus aspects of His being and ways would never be understandable to us if we spent a myriad of lifetimes studying Him.  Thus we are to be filled with awe and wonder as we consider how He has revealed Himself - how He reveals His will - and how He reveals His ultimate purposes.  Paul, when receiving a little light on God's ultimate purposes with the salvation of Israel and the Gentiles, found himself in such awe that at the close of Romans 11 he wrote the following:

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD , OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." 

Thus we see one of the greatest minds in all of history bursting with spontaneous praise at the consideration of the mind of the Lord.  It is a sad thing to see many in our culture wanting to drag God down to our level - or having no sense of awe or honor of Him at all.  We need to see God as He is - Someone higher and more glorious than ourselves and our own limited finite minds.  We need to consider the vast limitedness of our own comprehension of things.  Think about this a second - can you fathom the glories of the universe God has given us?  Do you fully grasp how very little we know of it.  Yet manking has an unbounded pride in his pitiful little accomplishments.  Pardon my Shakespearian moment but,  Methinks we glory in the pittance of our knowledge too much.  God knows all that there is to know in every corner of the universe.  Our tiny halls of learning are but a single utterance, a mere passing thought, compared to the eternally infinite lecture that God could give based upon His perfect knowledge of all things everywhere.  He conceals matters because we would understand them about as well as an infant would understand a lecture on Newtonian physics.  He calls us to learn - to study - to mine His Word to gather the vast array of priceless jewels of wisdom available to us.  It is to His glory and everlasting praise that He does so.

But Kings . . . there is a different thought presented here referring to them.  "But the glory of kings is to search out a matter."  The purpose of a king is to be wise in matters of state so as to create a stable soceity in which his subjects can prosper in relative safety.  Being finite in nature, a king needs to search out matters.  He should confer with wise counsellors when making decisions in the best interests of the kingdom.  Presidents and potentates should be learned men who possess both knowledge from men and the knowledge of God.  It is a blessed country who has such - and who has a king who applies such wisdom (especially the wisdom of God) to the matters pertaining to the state.

When kings and presidents do not properly search out matters great harm comes to their kingdoms and countries.  One of the great plagues of state is a king or president who is filled with pride and an agenda not based upon God's wisdom or truth.  Pride causes kings to be more concerned about maintaining power than manifesting prudence.  They make decisions that concentrate their power and absolute rule over the populace, which unfortunately leads to abuse.  They mistake domination for dominion, and surround themselves with sycophants rather than sages.  In a representative republic like our own, you have a recipe for disaster when rulers decide it is more in their interest to maintain power than make prudent decisions in the public welfare.

Consider, for a moment, the recent incidents of climate fraud that permeate the psuedo-science of the global warming hoax.  Rulers who desired power more than truth surrounded themselves with supposed men of science to justify their radical plans.  We learn later that these scientists did not submit themselves to peer review, they  falsified findings, and destroyed data that did not fit their pre-determined conclusions.  Presidents and kings should "search out" a matter - not pre-determine it and make their plans regardless of the facts.  Here is why having a leader committed to truth regardless of the consequences, political or otherwise, is important. 

The glory of God and kings is important both to understand and honor.  It may seem difficult to the king to study out matters diligently before making decisions - but truth is always an ally to the wise man.  It also may seem troublesome at times to faithfully search out the mysteries of God - but as we have learned from Proverbs itself - the knowledge of the Lord is wisdom!
 
 
There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Proverbs 6:16

God hates things?  This seems so strange to some people who do not know God's holiness and justice.  Their view of God is of a loving, tolerant, indulgent father who would never do anything mean - and certainly does not hate anyone or anything - except maybe what they hate.  The Bible teaches differently than this. 

Note here that Jehovah speaks of six "things" which He hates.  The word for hate here is "sane" which means to hate, detest, to dislike or be hostile to something or someone - to loathe.  Wow, that's a strong word isn't it.  The thought that God actually hates and loathes something may be new to you - but let's go on to see just what it is that He loathes and hates. 

Next we read that there are not just six - but seven things which are an abomination to Him.  Abomination is "toebah" and means something patently offensive - something which God loathes and dislikes to the extreme.  In the Old Testament this word applies to such things like idolatry, child sacrifice, intermarriage by Israel with the wicked nations around them, the false religious activities of the wicked, and homosexuality.  God is holy and is completely separate from sin and wickedness.  We must grasp His essential nature of holiness or such passages as these will not make any sense to us.  More than this they will tend to offend us - if we do not grasp the truth of God's nature and that things sinful are offensive to Him.

Wisdom is realizing that though God is love - He is also a holy God who hates sin.  Those who fail to consider God's holiness and hold fast only to a nature of love wind up justifying and accepting sin in the end.  I know that it is difficult to consider and think of God in this way - as a God Who is angry - to the point of hate and considering things an abomination.  Yet doing this can be very helpful to us.  It will help us in the area of seeing sin as utterly sinful - and seeing outright rebellion and perversion of what God desires as very dangerous.  Remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It is a good thing to look at certain sins and just simply be scared of committing them - because we know our holy God hates them intensely.
 
 
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3

As a pastor, I have the fun task of informing people that God sees and hears everything.  This is usually after someone learns that I am a pastor - and immediately apologizes for saying something crass or ungodly.  I appreciate their graciousness in apologizing, but I also want to inform them that God hears and knows everything.  There are some who do not believe this - but kind of believe that I'm mic-ed by God for surveilance of anyone near me.  Soooo . . . when they speak within the range of my mic - God hears them - but when I'm out of range - well, everything is go for ungodly behavior.

Proverbs lets us know - the eyes of Jehovah are in every place.  God has an attribute called "omnipresence" which means that God is everywhere at all times.  That is one reason God sees all things.  There is a second attribute of God called "omniscience" which means that God knows all things at all times.  Therefore we see that God not only sees all things - He knows what is said - the motives behind what is said - and He even knows what was not said but merely thought. 

This is information that is unnerving to say the least to those who are walking contrary to God's ways.  I think it is one reason why some are so adamantly atheistic in their views of God.  They cannot tolerate a God who konws all things they have done - and more importantly, One to whom they are accountable for these things as well.  Therfore they just choose to deny Him instead.  Of course this is as ridiculous as someone who denys the sun exists - yet still receives the light and warmth of the sun - even though he denies its existance. 

God does see - in every place - and He watches the evil and the good that is going on everywhere at all times.  There is nothing He does NOT see or know.  To be perfectly honest - this is unnerving to me!  It is unnerving because there are times even I don't live like God sees and knows everything.  It is unnerving because God does see all I do - and knows every motive that I have and every thought that passes through my head.  If I did not know of the blood of Jesus and the grace of God - I might find myself mentally unstable due to this knowledge - but peace reigns in my heart because I do know such things. 

What a respect and fear of God comes to us when we grasp the attributes of God.  It is a good thing to know this - because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.  It is when we grasp such things that we realize that a life lived for our own desires and lusts is a foolish life indeed.  It moves us to wisdom because we grasp that life is to be FOR God - for His purposes and plans.  It moves us to wisdom because such a knowledge leads us to a life lived THROUGH God Who alone is capable of giving us what we need to live a life acceptable to Him.  So, next time you are tempted to trust self - live according to self - please self - and think that no one but you matters . . . think again.  The eyes of God are in every place - seeing the good and the evil.  And . . . He is the One with Whom we will have to deal in the day of judgment.