January 2nd, 2024 Issue

Understanding Wisdom's Emotions

This link will take you to a full index of all the Heartfelt Exhortations that were written in previous newsletters. Making it easy for you to go back, and find what you are looking for.

Heartfelt Exhortations Index

Understanding Wisdom’s Emotions

Isaiah 7:14-15 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

You can see from the above verses that Jesus, our Messiah, is said to have eaten butter and honey, and as a result he will “know to refuse evil, and choose the good”. I prayed, and ask the Lord to give me wisdom and understanding concerning these verses. This is what I felt He shared with me.

Butter and honey are both products of extraction. In order to have butter you must agitate the cream aggressively. With much effort the butter will separate and can be utilized. Honey in its extracted form, necessitates aggressive action from crushing and then straining. What I believe the Lord is wanting us to understand, is that for us to have the discernment that Christ had, we have too aggressively, not passively, seek to understand the Father’s heart and will. Seek wisdom, with all of our heart. Wisdom is the ability to see things the way the Lord does.

Matthew 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

I believe the violence that Jesus is referring to here, is alluding to this idea of aggressively seeking something. A complacent person will not receive much from the Lord. He is looking for zeal and diligence. Do some word studies on those words.

Proverbs 23:23  Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

We are being told to buy these things. This shows us there is a cost we have to be willing to pay

Proverbs 4:7  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Psalms 90:12  So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Wisdom does come at a cost. Listen to Solomon, the man that had received more wisdom than anyone else in the Old Testament.

Ecclesiastes 1:16-18  I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 17  And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. 18  For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

One day as I was reading these verses, the Lord brought this verse to my mind.

Isaiah 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

This is a prophecy about Christ. Why was He a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief? Because as Solomon said, “For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” Oh I wish I had understood this when I was a young believer. When I first started my journey with the Lord, I would regularly beg Him for wisdom. He said He would give it liberally to them that ask. But I didn’t realize the cost that would come with receiving it. “much wisdom is much grief” So what is the Hebrew word for grief in that verse?

Remember what Solomon said, “I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit” So what is vexation? State of irritation or annoyance. Anger, grief, indignation, provocation, wrath. So why is it that as you increase the amount of wisdom you receive, these are the emotions that come with it? Let’s look at the life of Christ.

Matthew 17:17  Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

That verse is just oozing with the vexation that Jesus was feeling, because of being filled with the Father’s wisdom. When God allows you to see things the way He does, at times it can be very trying. Not because there is a feeling of superiority. It is different than that. Here is a meme that I saw that I think will help me get the point across.

The sentiment in the meme is on a different subject, but captures very well what I am trying to communicate. Those that have received of God’s wisdom, have studied and given their hearts diligently to understand. Yet they have to stand by and watch as the “ignorance is bliss” crowd often just doesn’t have a clue and are suffering the consequences for it. Which can still have ramifications for your life. Those that truly have received wisdom, understand where it came from, and humbly recognize that it is only because of the goodness of God, that one does understand. But many times you can’t help feeling like this guy, and wished most other people were as passionate about receiving it. But in all actuality it is not very common to meet someone that has diligently pressed the Lord to receive it, and even those that have, have not even scratched the surface of the depths that remain, I’m sure. If we did get a glimpse of the full measure, we would probably be swallowed up with grief and sorrow, that we wouldn’t know how to deal with.

Romans 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Another thing that many people don’t realize, is that Word of Wisdom is one of the Spiritual gifts.

1Corinthians 12:8  For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

Someone that has this gift, will often be the one that when a group of believers is seeking to understand what they should do, the one with this gifting will share something and most everyone will feel like “they hit the nail on the head”, it rings true. They are the brother or sister that spiritual believers seek out to get advice often times.

The other gift mentioned in this verse, is the Word of Knowledge. The church today should be BEGGING God for mature manifestations of this gift. It is the gift Peter exercises in this passage:

Acts 5:1-4  But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, 2  And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3  But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4  Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.

In this passage God gives special knowledge, that only He could have known. This is often a tool of a prophet. Peter prophesied what would happen to them. Jesus is exercising this gifts all the time. It seems like He is always knowing what other people are thinking. With the woman at the well:

John 4:16-19  Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17  The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18  For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19  The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

“I perceive that thou art a prophet.” There are first had accounts from Russia, from a revival that took place back in the 1930’s, that tell of believers trembling as they would go to meetings. There were prophetic men with this gift present. If someone would come into the meeting, with sin in their lives, that had not been dealt with ahead of time, their sin was revealed and they were called to repentance in front of everyone. People were very carful to be searching their heart on the way. Can you image the transformation that would take place in the church today? You would know that the believers coming together were Holy. In Acts it says that fear (Godly fear) came over the church after that happened with Peter. You can understand why. Ok now I will leave my rabbit trail and get back to the main topic.

Oh, if I could have understood this vexation when I was younger. I can’t tell you how many times I would have a very precious time with the Lord, when He was showing me things that were so edifying to me. So life giving. Yet having to live in this world, where the wisdom of God is so readily rejected, and the wisdom of this world is the polar opposite. And having to feel the vexation, because people just didn’t care. I had to be very careful that I didn’t allow that vexation to develop into discouragement. At times it did. I didn’t realize why there was often a smoldering vexation (irritation or annoyance) under the surface. In my immaturity at times I would become angry and irritated, taking it out on my family. This I recognize was very wrong, but I didn’t fully grasp at the time what was behind it. So I definitely don’t regret begging God for wisdom, I just wish I had understood the emotions that will inevitably come with receiving it.

I have to be very carful as I write these messages at times, that I don’t become pointed. There is a place for a loving rebuke or reproof, and they can seem very pointed. But I will often go back and reread these posts, before I publish them, trying to discern if I am allowing the grief I feel at times to come in, in a way that is not edifying.

In future posts I will be sharing things the Lord has written on my heart, that many of those reading this will be offended by. When we get to looking at whether we are serving God or money, that one will be very hard for many people to receive. Living in the wealthiest nation that has ever existed, where many people are drowning in materialism and covetousness. What the Lord will be asking me to share will be very unpopular to say the least. How many times did Christ teach something, and most everyone turned and walked away? The wisdom of God is foolishness to most people. The wisdom of God will often ask you to do things, that will not even begin to make sense, to those that have no desire to see things the way God does. I think you will find though that an honest child, can intuitively understand them many times. We will be discussing that as well, because our Lord made it clear that unless we become as children, we cannot even enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mat 18:3-4  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

So I encourage you to plead, and beg God for wisdom. But I wanted to be faithful to show you what kind of emotions will accompany those, that He pours it out on. One more thing you should know though, is that wisdom is only given liberally to those that have no fear of man. What does God say is the beginning of wisdom?

Proverbs 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

If someone is controlled by the fear of man, they will always look around and wonder what other people think before they do something. Someone that primarily fears God, will be quick to wonder what God thinks, in any given situation.(Proverbs 3:5-6) When you learn to turn your attention, to wanting to know what God thinks first thing, not caring at all what other people will think. You are a candidate for receiving God’s wisdom. The problem is the vast majority of people, including Christians, will habitually turn to fearing how other people will respond. This is the killer of receiving anything. Oh we have to learn to be totally dead to what other people think! Just be prepared though, that as you see things the way God does, there won’t be many people that will understand or appreciate it, and you need to be aware of the emotions you will experience because of that. May God give us a mature Love, as we are in this world, but not of it. God bless you all!