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, 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. We face many, 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, of all humanists, a Bible that we, it would take us quite a while to find that. But God's, God the Holy Spirit will guide us in the truth of the Word and give us, 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 illumine, 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, 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 for 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 reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto 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 he say? What does the Psalmist say here? He says, I opened my mouth. I opened my mouth and panted. When you see an animal panting, that means they're thirsty, they want something to drink, or they're hot and they're thirsty, they're tired, and they need water. As the heart pants after the water brook, right? So my soul panted after Thee, O God. The thirst. 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 as thou usedest 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 their stories, we've spoken to these people, people they've shared their testimony they've showed even even to in our own past the past of our lives we look back and we see how merciful god has been when all my mercies oh my god my rising soul surveys 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 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 you there's a lot tied up in that in those two thoughts right there because if god 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 have i hidden 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 and we need wisdom we need wisdom what does he say here in verse the 130.

He said, the entrance of thy words giveth light, but he says, the word gives understanding, it giveth 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 is not 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 probably we will ultimately if we 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 that begins to unravel of 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 a a 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 he was in the pursuit of vanity

and you know 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 of the Lord in my steps and and and and not and and miss out on and actually end up sinning against God because I'm not following his wisdom and and fulfilling the calling that he has for me in my life

and I don't want to stand before God and say I know there I know there are already things that will be burned up in that day but I don't want I 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 Val Carthel uh 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 and the left that's 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 stray 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 much more so than of the gold that perishes 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

and I love it lives is 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 giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth 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 in 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 you can do 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 had put our confidence in. He'll take that away from us. But if any of you lack this wisdom, this word is seen even in verse 4. But let patience have her perfect work, James 1.4 says, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire. That's that completeness, mature fullness. Wanting, there's that word, same word that we see in verse 5, lack.

It's the same idea, the same word here for wanting, lacking. Wanting nothing. You will not lack anything. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, right? Because he provides, and yet I need, I need to ask. I need to look to him. It's the heart of, Lord, I realize my need. 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 going to, they're not even going to open their mouth and pant and long for the wisdom unto salvation. Sirs, what must I do to be saved until they've gone through some tribulation, until they see woe 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, Sirs, what must I do? 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 him. And that as we trust him to give us the wisdom, he will give it. 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 opened my mouth and panted. For I longed. We know what longing and desire, it's an intense desire for something, right? I longed. When somebody's been away from the South, I think David Dean has said he sometimes longs for sweet tea. I longed. There's not any sweet tea up here. We're in a dry land here. But, you know, being up in Wisconsin. But here, I longed for thy commandments. Something far greater. And then we ought also, as it says in verse 132, to pray for God to be merciful as he's 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 in thy word. Make my steps. Make my steps firm in 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. Psalm 25, verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek. Will he guide. He will 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 ever. Are we not? Don't we live in a loud world? I mean, there's 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. You know, 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. But 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. Thank the Lord for that. But it's ultimately God's thoughts. That we need to understand. What would the Lord have me to do in this situation? He's promised to guide, in our text here, the meek. Hasn't he? 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 in 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, nor ask priests, but let him ask of God. And see the confidence in that passage will go on to say, But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not 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. 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 remember that Daniel had been presented this ultimatum by the king. King Nebuchadnezzar asking, so what did he do? The king said, you know, somebody doesn't interpret this dream off with all of your heads in 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 will give the 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. I need to 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 me in the past and give light. Help me to understand how to think about this.

And so Daniel, in chapter 2, verse 20, look who he gives us. He gives 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. Not mine. They belong to the Lord. And he changeth the times and the seasons. He removeth kings and setteth up kings. He giveth wisdom unto the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and… secret things. He knoweth what is in the darkness and the light dwelleth with him. You see, the Lord knows… He knows the heart of everyone involved in the situation. He knows the future. He knows… He knows what the ramifications of every choice that we make will… will be. And yet, he has given us a completed word. He guides us. The Holy Spirit will guide us. And to the understanding of that word, so we know how to apply it. And think about the… How many people over the years… Millions and millions 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 guidebook. This is the lamp to our feet. This is the light to our path. But we… It's not just automatic. We've got to ask. We've got to ask him for the wisdom. We've got to ask him. And so it's… This is what the Lord wants us to do. He brings trouble into saved people's lives. Believers' lives. That we might see that all true wisdom is found in Christ. It's not found at all in us. 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, 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 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, anything you want. It might not always be accurate, but you can find out a lot of information by just asking questions. I have a… 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 Bins store. And it just… And when I got… When I put it on, I opened it up, I looked… Oh, it says… What does it say? I graduated from YouTube University or something like that. Or I learned how to do this on YouTube. And it says, so I'm sitting there holding a rabbit that I've processed with this apron on. And, you know, that information is there, but you've got to… Well, you 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 is God. 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 in the midst of all of it and did not seek his wisdom ultimately until it was later on in his life. And he bemoaned that fact if we believe that Ecclesiastes is the record of his writings. But here, 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 doctor. 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. Forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek. We need to seek his wisdom. We want to see what would the Lord have us to do in this situation or that situation.

I was reminded of the hymn in 1834, 1831, that William Bathurst wrote. He said, Oh, for a faith that will not shrink though pressed by every foe, that will not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe, that will not murmur nor 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 tempests are in the air, when tempests 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… He will give wisdom liberally and upbraid not. But the hymn writer goes on. He says, Lord, give me such a faith as this, and then whatever… There 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 love your wife, you love your husband, I love you with all my heart. Singularly. That's the idea of how God gives to us. He is waiting to give wisdom with a singular 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… 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… 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 do, 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 lights 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. This wisdom, James will tell us, is not like the wisdom from below. That wisdom is sensual, devilish. It's just… It's carnal wisdom. We want spiritual wisdom as first. Pure, peaceable, 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, humble as it pertains to ourself and not self-exalting. 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 will cause us to get our eyes off of ourselves and get our eyes on Him and the needs of others around us. May God help us to have a simple faith that He's going to provide the wisdom that we need when we ask. May He give us that. 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 and say, well, you know, why are they like that? Why is this happening? Get your eyes off. 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 look at how He's met all of the saints' needs in our own time, but also in time past. And we look back and we have to have that simple 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 are 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, Lord? Help us to learn patience and learn to trust You in every situation that You will provide the needed 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 a 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 we need wisdom in our interactions with our husband or wife. Lord, just give us all this confidence, Lord, that if we really look to You in faith and deeply feel and acknowledge our great need before You of 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 this situation if we will just turn to You with all of our heart, trusting and knowing that You've promised 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.