A Cry for Wisdom

A Cry for Wisdom

Psalm 119 and we read from verse 130 through verse 133. Let's remind our hearts of verse 130 again. The entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding unto the simple.

My heart has been drawn this week to my great need of wisdom in a number of things. I need wisdom and yet we all need wisdom. We are all in need of wisdom for many different things in our lives. I have to be careful. I think we each have to be careful that we don't think that we're the one with the greatest need of wisdom of anybody. All of us face many challenging circumstances and maybe even good things, but we just need to make the right choice. We need to make the right choice in a number of different areas of life. We need to say the right things. We need to think the right things first and we need to say the right things and we need to do the right things.

And the right things are not always spelled out. There are many principles to guide us, but we may not always, I mean if everything was written in the Bible that addressed every specific situation, we would have a voluminous Bible that we would take us quite a while to find that. God's God, the Holy Spirit will guide us in the truth of the Word and give us wisdom. But we must ask for it.

The passage we read here this morning, it's very clear that David is saying in this Psalm in verse 130. He says the Word of God, God's words, illumin, they give light when they enter. They enter our hearts and minds and we understand them. And it's not just that we're glazing over them, but we are hearing what God is saying. God's Word gives light.

It's amazing even to me when we've been going through, and I'm not the only one that's noticed this. And I've heard other pastors say this, but even when you're going through the study of a book of the Bible, it's something how the God who knows it all can even, your eyes as you light upon a certain passage and you're studying a certain passage of that week or you're preaching. And even the Holy Spirit just brings the thought, well that's the answer to what I'm looking for right there. And it was just in a week by week study of something.

Every Word of God is pure. God's Word is profitable for doctrine, for reprove, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. The man of God may be perfect through he furnished into all good works. God's Word is able to give us light and give understanding to the simple.

And so what does David say? What does the Psalmist say here? He says, I open my mouth. I open my mouth and pant it. When you see an animal panting, that means they're thirsty. They want something to drink. They're hot in the thirsty. They're tired. And they need water as the heart pans after the water broke, right? So my soul panted after thee. Oh God.

The thirst. The thirst. God is able to create that thirst in us for himself. But he says, look thou upon me and be merciful unto me is thou uses to do unto them that love thy name. He's even looking back and saying, God's people in the past, you've met their needs. God's people in the past, we hear the stories. We've spoken to these people. They've shared their testimony and they've showed even to inner own past the past of our lives. We look back and we see how merciful God has been.

When all thy mercies, oh my God, thy rising souls, pervades. When I think back on all God's mercies, and I remember how you've been faithful to the saints in the past. And you've given them wisdom and you've met their needs. And the word has been just what they needed at the time they were panting after thy word.

Now in light of that, look upon me, Lord. Look thou upon me and be merciful unto me in giving me wisdom. Order my steps in thy word. And we're going to take more time on this. But, order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

There's a lot tied up in those two thoughts right there. Because if our steps are not ordered in God's word, established in God's truth, step by step, then what's automatically going to happen is that iniquity will ultimately have dominion over me. If I am not led by the Lord and wisdom, I will end up in sin. That's why David said thy word, if I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. So that I am guided not by my own understanding, but I'm guided by the understanding of revelation, of God's truth. And my steps are in accordance with the word.

And we need wisdom. We need wisdom. What did he say here in verse 130? He said the entrance of thy words give it light, but he says the word gives understanding. They give it understanding unto the simple.

You remember when we looked at the three different kinds of people in Proverbs, there was the simpleton. There was the simple one. There was the wise man. And then there was the fool, right? And the difference between the simpleton and the fool is that the simple one or the simpleton, he just, he's just naive, he doesn't know. But the fool is the one who rejects wisdom. He rejects the knowledge and the understanding that God wants him to have. And therefore he becomes the fool because to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin, right? He knows the right, but he doesn't do the right. And therefore he becomes the fool because he does not receive wisdom and is not made wise.

Now we might say, well, I've already received wisdom, well, there's always more wisdom to receive. We have never reached the pinnacle of wisdom where we have nothing else to gain. In fact, we will ultimately, if we say, well, I'm topped off, I don't need any more wisdom, then we start actually going against the things that we thought we had received and we begin to unravel. Because God is the source of that wisdom. And he's the one that enables us to walk in wisdom. He's the one that enables us.

You know, the thing with Solomon, he's the perfect example of this. We might say, he was wiser in his beginning than he was in the middle of his life. In the middle of his reign, because he was humble in the beginning, but then we see he became so consumed with, I guess his pride manifested differently in him than it did in Saul perhaps. But in his pursuit of so many things, he became proud in that pursuit of these things. And he lost out on all the wisdom that God really had for him. Because vanity, vanity, vanity, vanity, he was in the pursuit of vanity.

And as a pastor, I think of the calling that God has placed upon my life. I could pursue many, many things and become very foolish and unwise and not be led to the Lord in my steps. And miss out on it, actually end up sinning against God because I'm not following his wisdom and fulfilling the calling that he has for me and my life. And I don't understand before God and say, I know there are already things that will be burned up in that day. But I don't want something to be able to present to the Lord and say, here Lord, it's all by your grace. And I hope that every one of us will be able to stand before the Lord and say, thank you. Like Sister Valkarfeld saying yesterday, Jesus led me all the way.

Can we say that when we stand at the end of life's journey? The Lord led me. And if I turned and when I turned to the right of the left, that's not on the Lord, but the Lord led me all the way and he even brought me back in the right way that I should go. When I did straight, when I did turn to the right hand, and I did turn to the left hand, as I should not have done.

But God sends us, James will tell us, God sends us trials so we can grow. We can have patience, right? The trial of our faith is a precious thing. Most more so than of the gold that parishes. Peter talks about that. James talks about it. The trying of our faith, the trial of our faith is a good thing because it produces this patience, it produces character in our lives as we're looking to God for what? What does James tell us we need to be looking to God for? In the trial.

Well, he says in James 1.5, what does he say there? James chapter 1 verse number 5, you know it. But let's read it. He says, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that give us to all men liberally and upbraith not, and it shall be given him.

It seems to be a conditional statement here. If any of you lack wisdom. But I think the idea here is if you found that you lack wisdom and isn't that what we should be finding as God puts us through tests and trials, we should be finding, you know, I am the need of wisdom. I am in need.

Sometimes we may not always feel that we need wisdom. We may not always realize that we need wisdom, but God has a way of helping us to realize you need wisdom. You need to depend on me for everything because without me, he can be nothing. And so the Lord puts us through many, many tests and trials. He gives and he takes. He delays. He sometimes destroys things that we have put our confidence in. You take that away from us.

But if any of you lack this wisdom, this word is seen even in verse 4. But that patience have a perfect work. James 1-4 says, but that patience have a perfect work. That she may be perfect and entire. That completeness, mature fullness, wanting. There is that word. Same word that we see in verse 5. Lack is the same idea of the same word here for wanting. Lacking. Wanting nothing. You will not lack anything. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Because he provides, and yet I need to ask. I need to look to him. It's the heart of Lord. I realize my need.

What up? When a person is unsaved, God may put them through a variety of things to bring them to their knees, bring them to the end of their rope so that they can realize and say, I am a sinner. I need to be made wise unto salvation. They may not say those words. But God is able to make them wise unto salvation. But first of all, they're not even going to get over in their mouth and pant. And long for the wisdom unto salvation, and so does it. So does what must I do to be saved until they've gone through some tribulation, until they see, no, is me. I am a sinner. I have great need before God.

You know, it wasn't before the earthquake that the Philippian jailer said serves. What must I do to be saved? Well, and it is often true in the Christian life that it may not be something that drastic and that dramatic, but God in order to teach us, in order to make us wise as to what he wants us to do, puts us through a variety of tests to make it unmistakably clear to us that we need it. And that as we trust him to give us the wisdom he will given, he does give it. So that we will not lack. We will not want anything that he intends for us.

So, like David, we must pray for this wisdom. We must open our mouth. What does it say in verse 131? Here in Psalm 119, verse 131, I open my mouth and panted for I longed. We know it longing. And it is an intense desire for something, right? I longed, but somebody has been away from the south. I think David Dean has said he sometimes longs for sweet tea. It was not a sweet tea up here. We are in a dry land here. But you know, being up in Wisconsin, but here, I longed for that I commandment something for a raider.

And then we ought also, as it says in verse 132, to pray for God to be merciful, as he has been in the past. Lord, be merciful to me in giving me what I am in need of, even as you have been faithful and merciful in the past. And then verse 133. Order my steps.

Spurgeon says of this verse, make my steps firm and thy word. Make my steps firm and thy word. Establish my steps. Is the idea. In Psalm 25, verses 8 and 9, we would read there. Let's look over there. Psalm 25, verses 8 and 9. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment. And the meek will he teach his way.

The meek. Do you realize that you need God to put his thoughts into your mind? Do you realize, do I realize? I need God to help me to think right. I think certainly now more than that, are we not, are we living a loud world? There are so many voices vying for our attention. This voice is saying that. That voice is saying this and talk about confusion. We need to know what God's mind is. We need to know what God's mind is.

Someone once said that God's word sheds a lot of light on the commentaries. Something that I think. I'm thankful for commentaries. But sometimes it's good to go through. It's often good for me to just sit with a passage of scripture and meditate on it. Before I just run to the commentary and say, what does the commentary say? Sometimes the commentaries are very helpful. I need, we need to know God's wisdom. Thank God that what other people have written about God's word has often been helpful and led us to wise thinking. I think the Lord for them. But it's ultimately God's thoughts that we need to understand.

What is it? What is it? What would the Lord have me to do in this situation? He's promised to guide in our text here the meek, as an ink. He has promised to guide the meek, or even as we just read a moment ago in Psalm 25 verse 9. He will guide the meek and judgment, and he'll teach them his way. He'll teach them how to walk, what they need to do, what they need to think.

So if we lack wisdom, let us ask of God. Charles Spurgeon said we are all so ready to go to the books, to go to men, to go to ceremonies, to anything except to God. Consequently, the text does not say, let him ask books, or ask priests, but let him ask of God. And see the confidence in that passage will go on to save, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that waver is like a waver of the seed, driven with the wind and tossed. For that man, think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

See, this has got to be single-minded, single-hearted confidence that God will do what he says he will do for us. He will give us wisdom, but first of all, I've got to say, Lord, I need your wisdom, with the same earnestness that a sinner realizes, I need your salvation, Lord. I need you to save me from my sins. There's no other place to turn, but to you, Lord. And so that's the spirit that we need to have as Christians even, not to panic about situations, but to pray about them, and really expect the Lord to give us the wisdom that we're needing.

So if you'll turn over with me to Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 2, let's look in verse 20. Daniel chapter 2 and verse number 20, we're remembered that Daniel have been presented this ultimatum by the king that we can measure asking, so what do you do? The king said, somebody doesn't interpret the stream off of all of your heads and so many words. Somebody better interpret this dream for me. That's all I know. And Daniel said, please, King, give us a little time. The Lord, the world, will give me answer. Just like later on, he would say the Lord is the one that's able to deliver out of the mouth of the lions.

Well, Daniel had a time constraint. Are you under a time constraint right now? Might say, I need wisdom, and I need it before this date, and I need it by this time. I need to know what I'm going to say, you know how to think about this situation. The clock is ticking. And Daniel, for Daniel and these Hebrew young men, the clock was ticking.

But our natural tendency is to panic, isn't it? But that's not going to do any good. To panic is not going to please God, it's not going to help us or anybody else to pray about it. Open our mouth and pant. And long after God's commandments, Lord, be merciful as you've been to saints in the past and as you've been to be in the past and give light, help me to understand how to think about this.

And so Daniel, in chapter 2, verse 20, what can he give the credit to, of course? Daniel answered and said, blessed, verse 20, be the name of God forever and ever. What does he say? For wisdom and might are his. In my mind, they belong to the Lord. And he changed at the times and the seasons. He removed of kings and set it up kings. He give it wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that no understanding. He revealed the deep and secret things. He know if what is in the darkness and the light dwelleth with him.

You see, the Lord knows, he knows the heart of everyone involved in a situation. He knows the future. He knows what the ramifications of every choice that we make will be. And yet he has given us a completed word. He guides us, the Holy Spirit will guide us into the understanding of that word. So we know how to apply it.

And think about how many people over the years, billions and billions of people. God has written this word in such a way. And he's given the Holy Spirit to believers that we might have wisdom in every situation of life. This is the guide book. This was the lamp to our feet. This is the light to our path. But it's not just automatic. We've got to ask him for the wisdom. We've got to ask him.

And so this is what the Lord wants us to do. He brings trouble into, say, people's lives, believers' lives that we might see that all true wisdom is found in Christ. He's the fountain of the wisdom that we are ever in need of. And the more that we grow through the trials, the more deeply we realize how every decision, every choice we make, Lord, you've got to be in this. The spirit of Moses, we're not going to go up and go up unless you go with us, Lord. That's got to be our heart. Lord, help us in making the right choice. Here, thinking rightly about the situation.

There is wisdom that's available to us today. I mean, I think about you can find out just about anything you want. It might not always be accurate, but you can find out a lot of information by just asking questions. I have an apron. I think a picture that we took of an apron that I got. I think I picked it up at the bags and bin store. When I opened it up, I looked up. Oh, it says, what does it say? I graduated from YouTube University or something like that. And I learned how to do this on YouTube. And so I'm sitting there holding a rabbit that I've processed with this apron on. And that information is there, but you've got to ask for it by typing in the letters. I want to know how to do this. And then you learn how to do it.

Well, far more wise than whatever the internet could offer us. It's available for us to know wisdom, but we have to ask. We have to open our mouth and desire it.

Solomon, as we said, he became so busy with all these other things. The pursuit of all these things that he forgot about God and the midst of all of it. And did not seek his wisdom ultimately. Until it was later on in his life. And he belonged that fact, if we believe that Ecclesiastes is the record of his writings.

But here, we in this world, we may have medical assistance. Sometimes we realize in an acute need in our lives, there's something going wrong in my body. I need to go to my doctor because my doctor has more wisdom about hopefully about this need than I do. I need to look to someone who can help me with legal advice. You would be ill-advised to just trust some sort of armchair legal wisdom in a very important matter. You need to go to a qualified attorney that knows how to deal with this. Or you might end up in a very bad situation, legally speaking.

But over all of that, we must go to God. We must seek his wisdom first for getting in nothing his blessing to seek. We need to seek his wisdom. We want to see what the Lord has to do in this situation. Or that situation, I was reminded of the Him in 1831 that William Bathurst wrote. He said, all for a faith that we're not shrink the oppressed by every foe that we're not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe that we'll not murmur or complain beneath the chastening rod. But in the hour of grief or pain will lean upon its God. A faith that shines more bright and clear when tempest rage without, that when in danger knows no fear and darkness feels no doubt.

That's what James tells us. Don't be like a wave of the… Don't be wavering. Trust God. Look to Him. And He will give wisdom liberally and upgrade not.

But the hymn writer goes on. He says, Lord, give me such a faith as this. And then whatever may come, I'll taste in here the hallowed bliss of an eternal home.

We know that God gives liberally. The idea of liberally, the word liberally here, is maybe not what we would automatically think that it is. It has the idea of He gives with a single unwavering intent. He gives without any apprehension at all. He gives…it's the idea of… You know, if you love someone, you'd love your wife. You'd love your husband. I'd love you with all my heart. Singularally. That's the idea of how God gives to us. He is waiting to give wisdom with a single heart towards us. With all that heart towards us, if we will just ask.

And we think about this. We ought not to look at the circumstance, but we ought to look at the Lord and say, Lord, I'm amazed at how you have mercifully given to the saints in the past, who look to you with this unwavering faith. And I want to look to you today with this unwavering faith and this great desire. Because I know you've brought me to the place where I see. And I feel I sense the need of your wisdom. And Lord, you've promised with a singular heart and mind to give me all that I need and not to reprove me or not to chastise me for asking for this wisdom. And so I come with childlike faith and confidence that you'll give it to me.

That is what is pleasing in God's sight. That is what is well pleasing unto the Lord. We saw recently that every good gift, every perfect gift comes from above. From the Father of Life with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Every good gift comes from Him. But once again, we've got to ask. We've got to ask.

Lord, help me to think. We're this wisdom. James will tell us it's not like the wisdom from below. That wisdom is sensual, devilish. It's just it's carnal wisdom. We want spiritual wisdom. It's first pure and peaceful, gentle, easy to be entreated. It's not a conjured up earthly wisdom. It is divine wisdom. It is the wisdom that helps us enables us to think God's thoughts after Him and speak in the way that's consistent with what God reveals in Scripture and act in a way that is loving to His people that is compassionate toward the lost, that is meek and humble as it pertains to ourself and not self-exotic. If we are exalting ourselves or we're saying, look at me in some way, but that's not God's wisdom. God's wisdom calls us to get our eyes off of ourselves and get our eyes on Him and the needs of others around us.

They God help us to have a simple faith that He's going to provide the wisdom that we need when we ask. That's the whole battle, right? There isn't it. Just believing God will do it. Just believing that He will give it to us. The devil is most effective in our minds when He can get our attention on so many various and sundry things and people will say, well, why are they all that? Why is this happening? Get your eyes off of all of that. Get your eyes on the Lord. Don't look at your failures. The devil will bring up all your failures in the past and say, look, you failed in this and this and this. But you can stop and say, but God has been faithful in this and this and this and this and look at how He's met all of the same it's needs in our own time but also in time past and we look back and we have to have that simple faith faith. Lord, I know you'll do this.

May God help us to see the need of wisdom and then to trust the Word to give it.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, perhaps there's some here today that are in need of wisdom as it pertains to their physical bodies. We know that we're getting older. Sometimes the doctors give conflicting reports or inadequate information and we're less in a quandary. What do we do about this, or help us to learn patients and learn to trust you in every situation that you will provide the need of wisdom? Perhaps there's those here with financial concerns or there are those that are looking at the future with concern. There are those that are looking at present circumstances where there's a timetable laid out and they need an answer by certain time, a certain date and the pressure of the ticking clock is a reality.

Lord, there's those that are raising children, those with spouses that need wisdom and our interactions with our husband or wife who are just giving us all this confidence or that if we really look to you in faith and deeply feel and acknowledge our great need before you have wisdom that you will give it, help us to know that you're not against us, you're for us and you will be glorified in the situation if we will just turn to you with all of our heart trusting and knowing that you've promised to turn to pour out upon us with all of your heart wisdom that we're in need of. We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.