Knowledge and Wisdom Part 2 : The Emptiness of Human Wisdom



Photo by Aldrin Muya

   All of us want to be wise. Having an education, being able to make the right decisions, and being able to solve problems does make us wiser and may improve our quality of life. However be aware that though it has value, human wisdom does not bring lasting happiness nor answer the meaning of life as we expect. It is very much like chasing after the wind. This was the grim conclusion of a man who endeavored to acquire wisdom and understanding in this world :

For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

- Ecclesiastes 1:18 (ESV)

   The irony is the more you know, the more you will ache. For you will see that human progress and advancement is both a blessing and a curse. Even if everyone in this world were smart, hate, prejudice, adultery, murder, deceit, and many other evils will never be eradicated because human wisdom is powerless to transform the heart of man that is by nature morally corrupt.

    There are people who put their faith solely in their education and knowledge.They put their hope and trust in being raised well by their parents, attending good schools, receiving high marks, and getting a diploma but in the end, what does that really gain? This same wise man also said,

The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that the same event happens to all of them. Then I said in my heart,“What happens to the fool will happen to me also. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart that this also is vanity. For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool!

-Ecclesiastes 2:14-16 (ESV)

The fate of the fool and the wise is the same, hence human wisdom - this wisdom apart from God - is ultimately empty. This does not mean that we should abandon wisdom altogether. Rather, there is the right wisdom that we ought to recognize and embrace.

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.

-Proverbs 4:7 (ESV)

What we need to get is transcendent wisdom and insight. This is not man-made understanding. This wisdom comes from the all-wise, and all-knowing God.

Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

- Psalm 119:98-100 (ESV)

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

-Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)

I've written previously that to fear the Lord is NOT to be filled with terror, despair, and dread before him. This kind of fear drives us away from God. Godly fear is best described as "reverence". It is the convergence of awe, adoration, veneration, wonder, honor, worship, confidence, and thankfulness that arises from recognizing God for who he is. It is an acknowledgment of his transcendent qualities, his absolute authority, and his supreme value. David Legge says,

It is a deep-seated humility, humble, poor of spirit, grounded upon an abiding awareness - totally in your mind and in your heart at all times is an awareness of absolute dependence for your very existence on, not just God, but the undeserved mercy of God. And only a heart like that, full of humility and dependence, is prepared to perceive and receive the wisdom that God gives!

    The fool is the one who in his pride, has no fear of God, rejects God, and despises God's wisdom and instruction. The fool trusts in his self-sufficiency, self-effort, and self-experience. He relies, according to John Piper, on the "wisdom of the world": the use of the human mind to achieve and maintain a ground for boasting before God and man. He may be wise and understanding in his own eyes and in the eyes of others yet he does not really see.  

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

-Psalm 53:1-2 (ESV)

Have you invested your life in the pursuit of human wisdom? Realize that it is a vain and empty quest, like chasing after the wind. Listen to the cry of another wise man :

The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.

The man declares, I am weary, O God;

    I am weary, O God, and worn out.

Surely, I am too stupid to be a man.

    I have not the understanding of a man.

I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

Who has ascended to heaven and come down?

    Who has gathered the wind in his fists?

Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?

    Who has established all the ends of the earth?

What is his name, and what is his son's name?

    Surely you know!

-Proverbs 30:1-4 9( ESV)

True wisdom begins with the knowledge of the Holy God who is all-wise and all-knowing. Divine wisdom can only be ours when we become humble, acknowledge our littleness, recognize the limits of our self-wisdom and understanding, and be willing to have our minds turned upside down.

More next time...