What is Spirit Wisdom

 Spirit Wisdom is Higher Wisdom 

 Today as I continue reflecting about the role and function of the Holy Spirit, I want to talk about wisdom. 

Spirit wisdom is a higher wisdom that is imparted to the spiritually mature. That sounds lofty, but it does not mean you have to be a super Christian. It just means you are a genuine believer, born of God. And as you grow in your faith, you continue to see God’s dealings as good. He makes even a simple-minded person such as me appear wise.  

Keep it Plain and Simple 

Do you like it when people talk over your head with their lofty words of human philosophy? Most, if not all, of us would say no. 

Yet, some people will engage us in an argument because they want to congratulate themselves when they win. There are others who are really smart, but they don’t know how to communicate their wisdom so the rest of us can understand it.  

I like to talk to smart people who can keep it plain and simple. They care more about me understanding what they are saying than they do about appearing smart.  

Applied Knowledge is Beneficial 

My brother-in-law Dave is one of the smartest people I know. He knows when he hangs out with us, he is going to be the smartest person in the room. But he chooses and even seems to enjoy explaining complex things in a way I understand. That’s a really useful gift. And he doesn’t seem put off if I don’t get it the first time. He even anticipates the questions I am going to ask and has an answer ready when I finally get to the point of realizing what I didn’t even know I needed to ask.  

One time he was helping me with my computer over the phone. He said, “what does it say on the screen?” I told him. He said, “Are you sure it doesn’t say this?” To which I replied, “Oh, yeah, actually, it does say that.” Then he proceeded to tell me what to do. He’s a computer programmer so this is in his wheelhouse, but his willingness to help me understand extends to other topics as well -like books he has been reading that impacted him or analyzing a football game. He will take the time to re-explain things in a different way to help me understand. He is applying his knowledge in a way that is beneficial to those around him for their betterment not his own.   

If only someone would do that for me with every difficult thing or decision that arises. Hmmmm. If only there were answers in a book that I could turn to, and someone would help me understand them.

The Book That Has The Answers 

If only there were answers in a Book and Someone with wisdom could explain it in a way that I could understand so that it would be useful to my everyday life. 
You may have figured out where I am going with this. 

That is what the Bible is for me. It’s the Book that has the answers. And I need the Holy Spirit to help me understand it. He guides and teaches me through His Word when I sit still and listen.  

Listen to this first chapter of Proverbs from the ESV: 

1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: 
²To know wisdom and instruction, 
    to understand words of insight, 
 
³to receive instruction in wise dealing, 
    in righteousness, justice, and equity; 
 
⁴to give prudence to the simple, 
    knowledge and discretion to the youth— 
 
⁵Let the wise hear and increase in learning, 
    and the one who understands obtain guidance, 
 
⁶to understand a proverb and a saying, 
    the words of the wise and their riddles. 

It’s like Solomon is writing the theme of the book in these first six verses. Then he goes on…. 

 ⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; 
    fools despise wisdom and instruction. 
 

Solomon was thought to be the wisest man who ever lived, but he did not listen to his own instruction, and his life became a bit of a mess. However, near the end, he was able to conclude fearing God and keeping His commandments was the only worthwhile thing in life. Everything else was meaningless. 

The Difference is Jesus

When I consider what it means to fear God, there seems to be tension between the God of the Old Testament and what I see in Jesus’ life in the New Testament.  
 
If God’s character doesn’t change, what should be my view of Him? I am still trying to figure this out. And as I do, I am convinced God does want me to know His character and nature and fear Him in a healthy way.  
 
The difference between how I approach God now as opposed to how His people in the Old Testament approached a holy God, who could have nothing to do with sin, is Jesus.  
 
The difference is Jesus.  
 
That’s the Sunday School answer for a reason. When Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice, He paid the debt for sin so that we could have peace with God. And He is also the High Priest that makes it possible for us to boldly but reverently approach God’s Throne. If that were not enough, He gave us His Spirit to help us make sense of it all.  
 
God had all of this planned out. He knew the only way we could come to Him was if He came to us.  
 
He knew the only way we could come to Him was if He came to us. 
 
The only way to have peace with a Holy God is through His Son and by His Spirit. 

Even the Simple Appear Wise 

As I consider how Holy Spirit wisdom impacts my daily life, I will be reflecting on 1 Corinthians 2 which contrasts man’s wisdom of the day with God’s.  

Man’s philosophy of that day was intended to draw away the minds of men from divine truth. Paul says this stood in contrast to the simplicity of the Gospel. But the Gospel is not easy to understand until the Holy Spirit opens our blind eyes and then teaches us the Truth of it. When that happens, even the simple appear wise. 

Defining Wisdom

 I want to give you a definition of wisdom, but I don’t want to lose you. Stay with me while I take a minute to explain how I define words from the New Testament.  

I use Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary. The New Testament was written in Greek and Spiros Zodhiates is Greek. This dictionary was his life’s work.  Sometimes, there are pages of explanations to sort through. But he does give the bible references to help me narrow down my search to the word from the particular passage I am studying.  

Do you remember in school looking up words in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary? I used to think, “who’s Merriam and why does she get to decide how these words are defined?” I did not know the dictionary was named after Noah Webster and the two Merriam publishing brothers. Just like Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is now digital for ease of use, so is Zodhiates. Zodhiates is not free, but I have found it well worth the investment.  

I want you to understand this because it is not a reserved skill. You can look up definitions too. It just takes practice. Then the Holy Spirit helps you make sense of it in the context of the passage you are studying. Otherwise, it can be easy to be misled. What you naturally understand is not what you spiritually understand. That’s why Proverbs 3 tells us not to lean on our own understanding. 

The definition of this word for wisdom from Zodhiates dictionary is: 
the ability to regulate one’s relationship with God, specifically of insight imparted from God’s goodness.  Man’s philosophy says God is not good in his dealings with us. Spirit wisdom says God can only do good. 

By God’s Power not Man’s Wisdom 

When Paul came to his brothers in Corinth, he resolved to keep it plain and simple. Who is Christ and what did He do?  

But when he got there, he was scared. The mission God called him to was serious and he did not know what to say. He did not want to blow it with his own enticing words. He relied on the Holy Spirit to get the message across so that their faith did not rest in man’s wisdom but in the power of God.  

What Lasts

Our lifestyle may seem foolish to some of the people around us…maybe to our co-workers or even friends and family.  

Have you tried to explain why you do what you do and they don’t get it?  
Spirit wisdom is not through popular philosophies or fashionable influencers. Those won’t last.  It is through understanding the deep riches of God’s Word. This appears foolish to those who do not have the Holy Spirit to help them understand. 

When I do something I know is contrary to God’s Word, His Spirit convicts me. Then I feel sick to my stomach. If I keep on doing it anyway, eventually the sick feeling will go away, but so will my ability to discern God’s leading. And I don’t want to live like that. I have grown to love hearing God’s voice through His Word and by His Spirit and my life is so much better for it. I don’t want to quench His voice.  

How God Speaks

Sometimes I wish God would speak to me in an audible voice. Sometimes it feels like that is the only way I will be able to discern what to do. 

Strangely, I tend to have peace about the seemingly big decisions that are related to my faith and family or even my career and where I should live.  
When I started contemplating why I don’t struggle with the big decisions, I realized God has put people in my life to protect me. First my parents, then my husband. We got married young, so there was not a lot of time in between. And I trusted God would use my parents and my husband to help me with big decisions. 

It’s smaller stuff that gets me tied up in knots. I am not talking about what I should wear or what’s for dinner.  

I will give you an example. I told you in the first episode how I came to start doing this podcast. I had wanted to start it sooner and Eric thought we should wait. But that is how he operates. It takes him a minimum of six months and more like a year and a half to make any decision. It took him 2 years to buy a riding lawn mower and even longer to buy his car.  

We prayed about the podcast for a year and then it seemed like the right timing as God seemed to be providing resources that would be helpful to the process.  
But since I was the one pushing for it, once I committed, I started having doubts.   

Should I even do it? What will I talk about? Is this going to have an impact? Is anyone going to listen? 

God did not speak in an audible voice to give me the answers. Instead, He gave me His Word and His Spirit and that should be more than enough wisdom to help direct me. 

But I Still Struggle 

So why do I struggle with doubting it?  

We talked about fruit of the Spirit last week, and I should probably confess my impatience seems to get the better of me. I tend to feel like if read my bible and prayed in the morning, I should have an answer by that afternoon.  

It’s like when I diet, I should see results within three days. I haven’t had a bowl of ice cream for a week, and the scale hasn’t budged at all. I walked four times last week and managed to gain weight.  

One of my friends said, “oh that’s because you are building muscle and muscle weighs more than fat.”   

They were trying to make me feel better and it did temporarily. But what’s even more helpful is when followed that up with, “it’s going to take more than a week, or a month, or even a year to meet your goals, but I am here with you for the journey.” 

And that is what the Holy Spirit does. He’s never in a hurry as He encourages me to continue in the journey and stays with me when I struggle or have doubts. 

Keeping at It 

In keeping with this podcast illustration… I really thought the episode about Acts 2 and whether or not it promoted socialism would generate a lot of interesting comments. But on the day it was released, I mostly received crazy spam I had to delete. I got discouraged that night. Eric said don’t let that discourage you. Let it inform you of the time-of-day people tend to listen and then give them a chance to think about it.  

The next day I received some comments that really encouraged me to keep at it. 

What I Naturally Think

It’s interesting to me how much I let what others think and do influence my response, even though I have come to know God’s way of doing things will be different from what I naturally would think.  

Paul was no different. He had no clue about God’s eternal plan before his eyes were opened. Being influenced by the so-called experts of his day, Paul was on his way to Damascus to persecute more Christians when the Lord stopped him and blinded him until He could make Him see the true light.  

What I Come to Recognize

Paul says this is why Christ asked His Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him. They did not instinctively or intuitively know what they were doing. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.  

It is something believers come to recognize as the Holy Spirit illuminates our mind to help us understand what Truth is. There is no empirical evidence or rational conclusions that man could possibly imagine that compares to what God prepared for those who love Him.  

God’s Spirit will reveal God’s wisdom to those who affectionately revere Him, promptly obey Him, and gratefully recognize the benefits He bestows. The Holy Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even the profound and bottomless things of God. He brings it all out in the open before us. 

Natural Man v. The Spiritual 

Who knows what you are thinking and planning except yourself?  

It is the same way with the Spirit of God. He lets us in on God’s thoughts that we will not intuitively understand or comprehend. When we receive His Spirit, He freely teaches and imparts spiritual Truths using spiritual language that those who do not have the Spirit cannot possibly understand.  

We should not be surprised that the natural man – the one who does not have the Holy Spirit indwelling him – does not welcome the gifts, teachings, and revelations that come from the Spirit of God. They are meaningless to him. They seem like folly -silliness. He is incapable of coming to understand and recognize spiritual Truths because they are spiritually discerned. 

When Paul contrasts this natural man with a spiritual person, he says the one who is spiritual can investigate, examine, and come to discern anything when he is in open communication with God’s Spirit. 

Isaiah asked the question, “who can understand the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him?” 

And Jesus Christ’s answer to at least the first part of his question is this: 
Christ knows God’s mind, and we have the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, we can come to understand the mind of Christ, not to instruct Him but to be instructed by Him. 

It Takes Courage 

In closing, I want to remind you as I also preach to myself…it takes courage to believe in something before you see the results. 

I have been learning how to practice leaning into God’s Spirit, to discern His voice, and recognize His nudges as He pushes me forward in areas that at first feel uncomfortable but are actually quite satisfying when I rely on His wisdom and power, not my own.