Wisdom, the Work of the Spirit

[HKHaugan]

Wisdom, the Work of the Spirit

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better (Eph.1:17).”

When we are talking about strongholds, we are describing man’s wisdom.  It’s the way man, apart from God, devises his own way to deal with right and wrong.  Going back to the original problem in Genesis 3, we see Eve tempted to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Notice, it’s a tree the fruit of which can give knowledge.  We all want knowledge.  In this case, eating the fruit carries the promise of knowing good and evil.  But there is something missing in the promise.  Adam and Eve discover the missing ingredient after they follow the devil’s offer.  They know the difference between good and evil but they can’t handle it.  That’s why they hide.  Not only are they physically naked, they can’t handle their nakedness, the absence of the Spirit, so they hide.  Now that they have the knowledge, to their horror, they don’t know how to handle the difference when something looks good and promises you the world.  The Spirit that held their innocence was rejected when they made the choice to know something they couldn’t handle.  That’s the real problem with decisions.

A perfect example is gambling.  You go to a casino and are presented with the possibility of making a ton of money.  You know how to play cards, pull the levers, spin the wheels but then what? Real wisdom would tell you not to go there in the first place but if you do you find the house always wins.  The casino is the world and ‘the house’ is run by an unseen figure with a staff of spirits dealing his false hopes.  It is the birthplace of addiction.  As disciples, it’s easy to see the devil in the background, in a guarded office hidden from sight.  Addictions are strongholds.

Consider all this in today’s frame of reference.   Men and women know they are different but apart from God, they don’t know how to handle it.  Dating is guesswork at best.  Physical and emotional relational issues are unpredictable.  These are why marriage has a learning curve, a long learning curve.  Children arrive and they make their own demands for which no book or course offers sure solutions. 

Looking at professional life, medical students learn a lot about the human body but each patient they treat is more than their ailments and handling the difference is not always discernible.  An MBA from Wharton School of Finance may give a future CPA great financial tools but he might find himself in a corporation or business that demands a questionable ethical style.  The same goes for any professional training.  You get the knowledge but when you are in the field it takes something called wisdom to be able to handle the unique demands that everyday decision-making presents. 

There is no Ph.D. in wisdom.  Human wisdom dictates the thing to do is ‘learn the ropes’ and ‘fit in.’  The ‘ropes’ are the strongholds of personal survival.  Tenuous at best and arrived at through ‘trial and error judgments’, those who are alert to the need for conformity survive until they wear out from the process and are disposed of with some ornate plaque and ritualized thanks.  Usually they end up disillusioned, irritable from lack of recognition and self-justifyingly telling themselves that at least they contributed something.  Spiritually, few people really know about the sin behind it all.  The sin that causes our imbalances, frustrations and relational struggles.  Nor are they too willing to listen to the idea of sin as the primary cause of separation, division and the finality of death.

“But the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (James 3:17).”  The good fruit mentioned here can be seen also in Galatians 5:22: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”  Carry these pieces of wisdom into any situation and you serve not only God but the people the profession was designed to serve in the first place.   

There is only One Spirit of wisdom, the Holy Spirit, who provides eternal true wisdom and He is available only in a relationship with the Lord Jesus.  He neutralizes our aloneness and by trusting Him with our every next moment in all the unknown moments and their content, we have a personal Stronghold, the Lord, who can carry us through any circumstance.

A key passage to enter the discussion is John 16:5-16.  It gives us real insight into the work of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 8 is the Spirit’s hope built into all who believe in Jesus.