He who learns wisdom
[Proverbs 30:1-9]
What are you learning on your journey of faith? One of the things I am learning on my journey of faith is from “I can” to “I can’t, but the Lord can.” When I am working as a pastor, there are many times when I feel that I truly need the power of God. That is why there are many times when I ask God for His power in my prayers to Him. I thought this was right. In other words, I believed that I needed to rely more on God's power as I thoroughly realized my weakness and incompetence while pastoring the church. Of course, I don't think this is a wrong prayer. But God made me to realize that there is a problem with priority. In other words, I didn’t know that I had to seek God's heart before asking God for His power. So, I want to learn God's heart while seeking His heart. And I pray that my heart will be changed to the heart of God. So, like the apostle Paul, I want to love my brothers and sisters in Christ with the affection of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:8).
In Proverbs 30:3, the Bible says, “Neither have I learned wisdom ….” Here “I” refers to “Agur the son of Jakeh” (v. 1). This man, Agur, is mentioned only here in the entire Bible, so we know little about him. However, as it is said in verse 1, his father's name is “Jakeh” and the meaning of the name “Agur” is “gatherer” (Tyndale Concise Bible Commentary). According to Pastor John MacArthur, Agur was probably a student of wisdom in Solomon's time (MacArthur). Althouth the Bible said that Agur has not learned wisdom (v. 3a), I thought about it in opposite way as I meditated this word. In other words, I want to become a learner of wisdom rather than an unlearned person of wisdom like Agul. So, I would like to receive the lessons from Proverbs 30:1-9 under the title “He who learns wisdom” by meditating on three things about he who learns wisdom.
First, he who learns wisdom knows his own folly and ignorance.
Look at Proverbs 30:2-3: “Surely I am more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.” We must get to know ourselves. We must get to know ourselves by knowing God. For example, the Bible 1 John 4:16 says “God is love.” The more we come to know the truth that God is love, the more we must realize how unloving we are. Also, in Leviticus 11:45, God says, “I am holy.” The more we get to know a holy God, the more we must realize how unholy we are. In a word, we must get to know ourselves by growing in the knowledge of God. However, the problem is that as the prophet Hosea prophesied, we don’t have the knowledge of God now. So as the number of church members increases, we are sinning against God more (Hos. 4:6, 7). The reason we don’t have the knowledge of God is because we have rejected it (v. 6). Therefore, the Bible tells us to press on to acknowledge God (6:3). When we press to know God, we will be able to truly know ourselves. Then we will realize that our thoughts are different from God's thoughts (Isa. 55:9). We will come to realize that there is a difference between our standard and God's standard.
In Proverbs 30:2-3, the writer of Proverbs Agur said, “I’m more like a dumb animal than a human being. I don’t even have human understanding. I haven’t learned wisdom. I don’t have knowledge of the Holy One.” He said that he was so foolish that he was “like a dumb animal” (v. 2). As I meditated on this verse, the word of Psalms 73 came to my mind. The psalmist Asaph, who was envious of the arrogant when he saw the prosperity of the wicked (Ps. 73:3), realized the end of the wicked when he entered the sanctuary of God (v. 17), and said of himself: “I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you” (v. 22). Eventually, Asaph entered the temple of God and realized not only the end of the wicked, but also realized that he was a beast before the Lord because he was foolish and ignorant (v. 22). The reason Agur said in Proverbs 30:2, “I’m more like a dumb animal than a human being” is because he himself had no human understanding, had not learned wisdom, nor did he have the knowledge of the Holy One. In a word, the reason Agur said that he was like the dumb animal was because he had no knowledge of the Holy God. To lack the knowledge of the Holy God also means to lack wisdom and understanding. And the lack of wisdom and understanding is like an animal. In this way, Agur confessed about himself to “Ithiel and Ucal” (v. 1). These two were probably Agur's favorite students (MacArthur). Agur asked the two of them: “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!” (v. 4) The reason Agur asked this question was because he knew that he could not understand without divine revelation. In the end, Agur showed his humility by confessing his ignorance to Ithiel and Ugal (MacArthur).
What is true wisdom in God's eyes? It is the right profession of faith through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. When we look at Matthew 16:15, Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” At that time, the apostle Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Jesus heard this confession and said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (v. 17). In the end, it was because of the revelation of God that Peter was able to confess his faith in Jesus. Therefore, as learners of wisdom, we must long for God's revelation. And we must be able to humbly admit our ignorance, knowing that we cannot know God without His revelation. We must also know that we cannot have the knowledge of the Holy God without His revelation (Prov. 30:3). We cannot know Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, without the revelation of God. Therefore, as learners of wisdom, we should humbly acknowledge our ignorance, and we should yearn more for God's revelation. I hope and pray that God will reveal to all of us so that we can come to know Jesus Christ more and more.
Second, he who learns wisdom trusts in the pure word of God.
When I think about the word ‘test’, it reminds me Job 23:10 – “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” God is a God who tests our hearts (Prov. 17:3). God has tested us “in the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10). In the end, God is testing and refining us through the hardships we go through. God makes us like pure gold by walking through the pathway of suffering. In particular, God purifies our faith that is like dross and impure (Isa. 1:25) through the furnace of suffering, so that our faith becomes like pure gold. God also purifies us through suffering (Dan. 11:35).
Look at Proverbs 30:5 – “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto those that put their trust in him” (JUB). Here, the word “flawless” refers to ‘a product made pure by melting silver or gold to remove impurities’ (Park). Do you roughly know how to get rid of the dross from silver? We can remove the dross, which are impurities, by putting silver in the furnace and applying high heat. However, it is said that impurities aren’t easily removed. Therefore, in order to obtain pure silver, it must be smelted several times with high heat. However, it is said that blacksmiths don’t hesitate to do this in order to obtain the pure silver they want (Internet). The Bible Proverbs 17:3 says, “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.” What does it mean? Just as a blacksmith smelts silver with high heat many times to obtain pure silver, God lets us pass through the “furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48:10) to refine our hearts. In other words, God allows us to go through trials and hardships that are the furnace of affliction in order to remove these things from us when there are impurities that remain in the flesh and earth like the dross (Internet). A good example is Job from the Old Testament Book of Job. Look at Job 23:10 – “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” So why does God let us go through the furnace of affliction to remove the dross from the silver? Look at Proverbs 25:4b – “… out comes material for the silversmith.” What does it mean? It means that the silver is subtracting the dross to make it a usable vessel. In this way, God wants us to pass through the furnace of affliction so that we may eventually come out like pure gold. What is the purpose? Why is God making us like pure gold? Look at 2 Timothy 2:21 – “If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” The reason is because the Lord cleanses us and prepares us worthy of His use so that we may become vessels that the Lord uses preciously
So what are our responsibilities? I want to briefly consider three things:
(1) We must crave the pure word of God (1 Pet. 2:2).
We must crave for the pure, unmixed word of God. We must not add to the pure word of God (Prov. 30:6). If not, God will rebuke us and prove that we are liars (v. 6). In fact, if we crave too much for the pure word of God, we may be tempted to add to it. That is why the Bible Revelation 22:18 says: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.”
(2) We must trust in the pure word of God (Prov. 30:5).
The word ‘to trust in’ here means ‘to hide oneself’. This meaning refers to a faith that completely depends on God in difficult and perilous times (Park). This reminds me the Korean hymn “Simply Trusting Every day” lyric 1 and the chorus: “Simply trusting ev’ry day. Trusting through a stomy way Even when my faith is small Trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting the moments fly, Trusting as the days go by Trusting Him whate’ver befall, Trusting Jesus, that is all.” We must trust in Jesus every day. We must trust His pure word. We must hold on to the Lord's pure promise and seek the true God of the covenant by faith who gave that promise. Then the Lord will be our shield (v. 5). The Lord will protect and keep us.
(3) We must obey the pure word of God.
Then the Lord will purify our souls. Look at 1 Peter 1:22 – “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.” Also, when we obey the pure word of God, the Lord will purify our conduct. Look at Psalms 119:9 – “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.”
All the words of God are pure (Prov. 30:5). God purifies us with the pure word of God. God removes all abominations from our church. Therefore, God preserves the purity of the church. What should we do? We must trust in the pure word of God. We should not be afraid to suffer. Rather, we should expect and experience the work of God who refines and purifies us through suffering.
Third and last, he who learns wisdom prays to God.
Before you die, what are the prayer topics you want God to answer? If you look at Mitch Albom's ‘Tuesdays with Morrie,’ he says ‘Forgive yourself before you die and forgive others.’ I wrote this short writing based on the content of this article: ‘You must forgive before you die. Failing to forgive yourself and others even in the face of death is not a beautiful death. What is unforgivable in the face of death? All must be forgiven. In order to do this, we must remember the death of Jesus on the cross. And we must face death with an attitude that commemorates the death of Jesus. In other words, just as Jesus died on the cross to forgive all our sins, we must forgive ourselves and others before death. We must offer this genuine forgiveness even in the face of death.’ I personally believe that before we die, we should forgive all those who have sinned against us, be reconciled to them, and then leave, realizing more deeply, more greatly, more broadly and more highly that our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ have been forgiven in Jesus Christ. This should be our earnest prayer. I hope and pray that God will answer our prayer.
In Numbers 27:16-17, Moses, who knew that he would die like his brother Aaron (Num. 22:13), asked God for what he wanted. He didn’t ask God to extend his life (cf. 2 Kgs. 20:6). He didn't even ask God to let him enter Canaan, where he really wanted to go (cf. Deut. 34). In fact, Moses went up to Mount Abiram and only saw the land of Canaan, which God had given to the Israelites, but could not enter and died according to God's word (Num. 27:12-13). So, what did Moses want before he died? What he wanted was to set up a man over the congregation of Israel so that the congregation of God would not become like sheep without a shepherd (vv. 16-17). In other words, before Moses died, he asked God to raise up the leader in the congregation of Israel who could lead the Israelites to the land of Canaan instead of him. From this, we can see that Moses thought more about the Israelites than himself. In other words, Moses cared more for God's people than for himself.
Look at Proverbs 30:7-8: “Two things have I required of thee; do not deny me them before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread of my judgment” (JUB). Agur asked the Lord for two things. He prayed that the Lord would grant these two prayer requests before he died:
(1) The first prayer request was “Remove far from me vanity and lies”(Prov. 38:8a).
Like Agur, we must also offer this prayer to the Lord. First we need to pray to the Lord, “Remove far from me vanity and lies.” When I think of “vanity,” I am reminded of a verse from Ecclesiastes that I meditated on in 2010: ‘The vain world’ (Eccle. 1:1-11), ‘The vain wisdom’ (1:12-18) and ‘The vain pleasure’ (2:1-11). The reason why this world is vain is because it is useless, that is there is no gain (1:3), because life ultimately returns to dust (vv. 5-6), because there is no satisfaction with human greed (v. 8), and because people of the future will not remember people of this age (v. 11). The reason why wisdom is vain is because the conclusion of his empirical research is painful (v. 10), because there is no way to save a human being through human wisdom (v. 15), and because all the things that is done under the sun was meaningless and chasing after the wind (v. 14). Although King Solomon experimented with alcohol for the pleasures of this world (2:3), tried great projects (v. 4), and had many wives and concubines to satisfy his fleshly lusts (v. 8), his conclusion was “that also proved to be meaningless” (v. 1). We must keep away from these vain and meaningless things. Therefore, like Agur, we should pray to the Lord to remove all these vain things far from us.
Agur asked the Lord to remove far from him not only “vaintiy” but also “lies. So we must pray to the Lord to remove lies far from us. When I think about “lies”, the words of John 8:44 come to my mind: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” The devil is a liar and the father of lies. Therefore, when we ask the Lord to remove lies far from us like Agur, it implies that we stay away from Satan, the father of lies, and that we don’t become liars.
When I think of this prayer topic of Agur, I am taught that we who learn wisdom should seek the truth and what is useful in God's sight when we pray to God by relying on His pure word. In other words, we should pray to God to remove far from what is useless, while to be close what is useful in God's sight. Also, when we pray to God to remove far from lies, while to be close to God's truth.
(2) The second prayer request was “give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with the bread of my judgment” (Prov. 30:8b).
When I think of this second prayer topic of Agur, I remember the Lord’s Prayer. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus is also teaching us, “Give us today our daily bread” (Mt. 6:11). Here, “daily bread” refers to the bread needed for that day. This means that at the time of the Exodus, the Israelites could only bring manna and quail that God had provided for them to take with them only bread for a day (Exod. 16: 4). If we look at the background of this word, on February 15th, exactly one month after they came out of Egypt (v. 1), the whole congregation of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron (v. 2). The content of their complaint was “Would that we had died by the LORD'S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (v. 3). God heard the complaint and said to Moses: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily” (vv. 4-5). God heard the complaint of the entire congregation of Israel and promised to rain down bread from heaven. At that time, the responsibility of the people of Israel was to go out and gather a day’s portion every day (v. 4). Moses told the word of God to the people of Israel. But they didn’t listen to Moses and some left part of it until morning (v. 20).
In Proverbs 30:8, the second prayer request that Agur asked to God encourages us not to live like the people of Israel who didn’t obey God's word out of resentment at the time of the Exodus, but rather to live in asking the Lord for our daily bread as Jesus taught in the Lord's Prayer. As Agur prayed, we should pray that God feeds us with food that is our portions. That means we should not ask God to give us the daily bread that we want, but only the daily bread that we need. As I meditated on the content of Agur’s second prayer “give me neither poverty nor riches” (v. 8), I was reminded of Philippians 4:11-12: “… for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Paul learned the secret of being contentment in any circumstance. So it didn't matter that he himself be poor or wealthy. Especially because he could do all things in the Lord who gave him strength (v. 13), poverty or riches didn’t matter so much to him.
In Proverbs 30:9, Agur mentioned the reason why Agur asked God, “give me neither proverty nor riches”: “That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?" Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.” How relatable is this? Of course, just because we are poor, we should not dishonor God's name by stealing in violation of the eighth commandment of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not steal” (Exod. 20:15). However, I can relate a lot to the reason why Agur asked God not to make him rich. The reason was because he feared that he be full and deny God and say “Who is the Lord?” The reason why Agur's reason resonates with me is because I have been meditating on the Bible and have often seen people who believe in God become arrogant and forsake God and sin against Him.
Those who learn wisdom pray to God like Agur. Therefore, we who learn wisdom should pray to God like Agur. We should pray to God to remove vanity and lies far from us. I hope and pray that God hears and answers our prayers and help us. In addition, we must pray to God, “give me neither poverty nor riches” (Prov. 30:8). We must fear like Agul. What should we fear? We should fear that we may deny God and say, “Who is the Lord?” when we are full and rich (v. 9). We should also fear that we may steal and profane the name of our God by becoming poor and be in want (v. 9). Like Agur, we should pray, “feed me with the bread of my judgment” (v. 8). We should pray to God, “Give us today our daily bread,” according to the prayer the Lord taught us.
We must be learners of wisdom. We who learn wisdom knows our own ignorance and foolishness. As learners of wisdom, we should humbly acknowledge our ignorance and folly, and must crave more for God's revelation. I hope and pray that God will reveal to all of us so that we may come to know more about His begotten Son, Jesus Christ. And we who learn wisdom trust in the pure word of God. The Lord purifies us with the pure word of God. The Lord who purifies and cleanses us wants us to long for the pure Word. We must trust in that pure word. The Lord will purify our souls and deeds as we obey His pure word. We who learn wisdom pray to God. We pray that God will keep us from vanity and lies, and that we will neither be poor nor rich. Let us pray to God to fee us with our daily bread. May we all continue to learn wisdom.