It should fill us with joy, that infinite wisdom guides the affairs of the world. Many of its events are shrouded in darkness and mystery, and inextricable confusion sometimes seems to reign. Often wickedness prevails, and God seems to have forgotten the creatures that He has made. Our own path through life is dark and devious, and beset with difficulties and dangers. How full of consolation is the doctrine, that infinite wisdom directs every event, brings order out of confusion, and light out of darkness, and, to those who love God, causes all things, whatever be their present aspect and apparent tendency, to work together for good.
Manual of Theology, Gano Books, 1982 edition of original 1857 edition published by The Southern Baptist Publication Society, p. 86-87.
God is infinitely wise, because He selects the best possible end of action…[and] because He adopts the best possible means for the accomplishment of the end which he has in view.
Manual of Theology, Gano Books, 1982 edition of original 1857 edition published by The Southern Baptist Publication Society, p. 86-87.
As a wise, skilled pharmacist mixes medicine, our heavenly Father wisely mixes exactly the right measure of bitter things and sweet, to do us good. Too much joy would intoxicate us. Too much misery would drive us to despair. Too much sorrow would crush us. Too much suffering would break our spirits. Too much pleasure would ruin us. Too much defeat would discourage us. Too much success would puff us up. Too much failure would keep us from doing anything. Too much criticism would harden us. Too much praise would exalt us. Our great God knows exactly what we need. His Providence is wisely designed and sovereignly sent for our good!
Every time someone comes to [God] with a request, He opens His treasury and freely distributes wisdom. Just as the sun continues to give light, so God keeps on giving wisdom. We cannot imagine a sun that fails to give light; much less can we think of God failing to give wisdom. God’s gift is free, without interest, and without the request to pay it back [see James 1:5].
James, Baker, 1986, p. 38.
God’s wisdom is His perfect knowledge of how to act skillfully so that He will accomplish all His good pleasure – to glorify Himself.
God the Father by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue taken from Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, copyright 2017, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. Page 180.
I need not despair because the living God is my partner. I do not have sufficient wisdom to meet these difficulties, but He is able to direct me. I can pour out my heart to God and ask Him to guide and direct me and to supply me with wisdom. Then I have to believe that He will do so. I can go with good courage to my business and expect help from Him in the next difficulty that may come before me.
The Autobiography of George Muller, 1984, p. 152-153. All quotations taken from books published by Whitaker House are used with permission of the publisher. Whitaker House books are available at Christian bookstores everywhere.
Keep praying, but be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your prayers (William Culbertson)!
God’s work of giving wisdom is a means to His chosen end of restoring and perfecting the relationship between Himself and human beings – the relationship for which He made them.
Taken from Knowing God by JI Packer. Copyright(c) 1973. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515, p. 108. Get this book!
Not till we have become humble and teachable, standing in awe of God’s holiness and sovereignty, acknowledging our own littleness, distrusting our own thoughts and willing to have our minds turned upside down, can divine wisdom become ours.
Taken from Knowing God by JI Packer. Copyright(c) 1973. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515, p. 101. Get this book!
Wisdom is always living wisdom, conditioned by the times in which people live. Christian truth is eternal truth, but it is never timeless truth. It is always timely truth, addressed to specific people facing specific problems. It is not an assemblage of disembodied propositions, abstract principles, nameless and placeless verities. Almost every page of Scripture contains the names of specific people, places, and circumstances. That’s for a reason. Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is forever meeting us, whoever we are right where we are.
Seeing With New Eyes, P&R Publishers, 2003, p. 257. Get this book!
God is all wise. In perfect wisdom He determined and executes His will. Someone has said: "If I had the power of God, there are many things that I would change; but if I had the wisdom of God, I would not change a thing."
God’s Sovereignty and Prayer, Revival Commentary, v. 2, n. 1, p. 10.
Often indifference to our Creator’s wise guidelines reveals a heart that is simply disinterested in its own happiness!
Am I Wise or Foolish? Proverbs 1:1-7, August 27, 2017.
Don’t forget that God is the source of wisdom. “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Pro. 2:6). And though the book of Proverbs relentlessly calls us to pursue wisdom, we must remember that wisdom remains a divine gift. If we are to seek the wisdom that leads to joy and life and satisfaction and success and meaning, we must turn to God, as He is the source of all true wisdom. Seeking for wisdom is seeking for God, these two pursuits are one and the same and must never be separated (Gen. 41:39; Rom. 16:27; 1 Cor. 3:10).
Am I Wise or Foolish? Proverbs 1:1-7, August 27, 2017.
We must not think as the eastern religions do, that God can be used to attain wisdom apart from a relationship with Him. We need first to realize that the essence of all godly wisdom is a fear of the Lord. Meaning this, the foundation of all true wisdom is respecting God for being God (Pr. 1:7; 2:5; 9:10; Job 28:28; Ecc. 12:13)!
Am I Wise or Foolish? Proverbs 1:1-7, August 27, 2017.
God in His grace grants us His wisdom often through four sources: prayer (Jas. 1:5), Bible reading (Psm. 19:7), wise counsel (Pr. 12:15) and godly relationships (Pr. 13:20).
Am I Wise or Foolish? Proverbs 1:1-7, August 27, 2017.
To do anything less than commit ourselves completely to our Lord in simple trust during the troubling times in our lives is to insult His wisdom. To resist Him, question Him, doubt Him, or criticize what He allows in our lives is to deny that He is the only wise God, and claim that we are wiser than He.
Treasures of Wisdom, www.bible.org, Copyright ©1996-2005, All rights reserved.
The Christian rejoices in the wisdom of God. Heartache comes to him as it does to all men. Puzzles about the world situation perplex him too. He has no inside information on the day-to-day acts of God. But the Christian has something better: he has faith in the wisdom of God. The Christian knows that God knows what He is doing.
A Vision for Missions, Permission by The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA. p. 56.
God has many ways that He might use to achieve His ends but His wisdom determined the best way to accomplish them.
The Decrees of God, 1690.
