How Wisdom Works

 

          The old teacher clutched the package to his chest as he left the post office. -The curriculum had arrived! As he returned to his classroom, he unwrapped the box and pulled the familiar books from inside. The covers were the same. The workbooks looked like they did when he was a child. Nothing had changed, not in fifty years. An old catalog of reprinted curriculum had yielded its fruit. He stepped behind his desk and sat down. He remembered struggling through its ideas. He had asked plenty of questions of his teacher. He had rebelled against the ideas at first, then came to the slow recognition that the books, old even then, held value. He remembered what a difference the books had made in his life, in his future. He wondered if they could still do the job for a new and skeptical group of teens.

          At the last board meeting, he had pressured the administrators to let him order the set. The administrators were at their wit's end to know how to progress. The students were not learning. Too many government mandates. Additional social programs. School violence. Student apathy. Cries for more money hadn't helped. The money had come and gone, and the situation was worse. The district was far behind its counterparts. Teachers and administrators were disillusioned. They chose early retirement and moved south to avoid the cold.

          Partly because of his age and partly because they had tried everything else, the school board had consented. They doubted books without colorful covers and innovative supplemental materials could make a difference. At least the teacher cared and was still trying to make a difference. The teacher smiled and opened the books. He studied the class goals, the scope and sequence, and began to write his lesson plans.

          Slowly, administrators noticed a change. Students who attended the old teacher's class were making improvement. The ones who applied themselves had less detentions in school and grades improved. Teachers noticed students had a zeal for learning and a new alertness in their eyes. Parents began to notice an increased respect and politeness at home.

          The curriculum exceeded all expectations. Change came not only in academics, but in manners and morals and direction for life. What the old teacher had recalled was changing the course of life for his students. Other teachers began to inquire after his success. They borrowed the address and ordered that curriculum for their own students. One young teacher daydreamed about repackaging the curriculum and selling it as his own. Maybe one day he could have his own infomercial, his own DVD course to sell. He would be rich. He knew, like the old teacher knew, that the curriculum actually worked. Change came every time it was seriously used.

          Then the inevitable meeting came- the board meeting when a red-faced man stood before the administrators and dared them to read the class goals to those in attendance. To their horror, they realized that the curriculum mentioned God. The board condemned it immediately and gathered up the books and workbooks from every teacher who had bought them. The books were boxed and sealed with tape. They were labeled "old curriculum" and stored away.

          Grades dropped. The teachers returned to their frustration and the students returned to their apathy. Teachers retired and students quit. Yet, packed away amid the desks and chairs, was the solution. It had worked every time it was tried. But, society had made sure it wasn't going to be tried again.

The Book of Proverbs makes some extravagant claims about itself. Designed as a

curriculum to train godly leaders for a godly nation, the book boasts that it is written to accomplish the following goals:

For attaining wisdom and discipline;

For understanding words of insight;

For acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

Doing what is just and right and fair;

For giving prudence to the simple,

Knowledge and discretion to the young— Let the wise listen and add to their learning,

And let the discerning get guidance— For understanding proverbs and parables,

The sayings and riddles of the wise. (Proverbs 1:2-6)

          Do you hear what the author is saying? To the wise, no matter how wise, this book will make them wiser still. To the simple, the person who is gullible with a bent toward sin, there is the possibility of change. Real change. Beyond the excuses, beyond the blame-shifting, beyond the counseling, there is hope for radical, permanent, character change. To everyone who is tired of banging their heads against the wall, to every parent of a wayward child, to every delinquent or disadvantaged teen, there is hope. Everyone who reads and applies the principles taught in Proverbs gets wise. Money back guarantee.

If this sounds to good to be true, it is only because our society has made it so. Wisdom.

Discipline. Prudence. Knowledge. Discretion. The words almost sound archaic in our culture! Knowledge may still be heard, but the other words have been replaced by words like science, freedom, and tolerance. Knowledge is doubling at an exponential rate in our culture, but our ability at relationships has seriously declined. Divorces, lawsuits, and violent crimes are all testimony to the waywardness of our society. Science has helped us build a bigger bomb and a better TV. We have been freed from the moral constraints of the past. We have rights, not duties, and tolerance has castrated our ability to stand for truth, even in our own families.

          Wisdom, the art of steering a life, has run into troubled times. It ought to be the overarching concern of teachers and parents, churches and governments. Parents ought to have a burden to impact their children in such a way as to make them wise. The state ought to have a vested interest in the production of wise citizens, wise rulers. But society has changed. If parents were intentional in teaching their children to be wise, they would first have to unteach the very pillars of post-modern society.

Wisdom vs. Humanism

          In our opening story, it is clear that society has priorities. If it has a clear choice between acknowledging God and worshiping man, it will always choose the latter. That means, according to wisdom, it will always choose to make its students fools. The claims of wisdom and the claims of humanism are completely at odds. No one could deny that humanism is the religion of record in our schools, colleges, halls of justice, and political seats of power. It has made incredible strides at unseating Christianity as the decisive moral influence. It seems like Christianity and wisdom itself have been boxed up and sealed. As we look at the tenets of wisdom, we will find it is no surprise that it can't take root in our humanistic culture.

 

          l. God exists. Proverbs puts God right at the center: "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (l :7). It sees God as Creator and Sustainer of all things, Wisdom is built into the fabric of creation (8:22-31) so that design, usefulness, purpose, power, and beauty are clearly evident. Paul argues in Romans that God's qualities are so apparent in creation that man's conscience is convicted and he tries to suppress the evidence (see Romans 1:18-20). Wisdom says she was the craftsman by God's side in creation (8:30).

God is the final Judge of all our activities: "For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all his paths" (5:21). He is the Defender of the fatherless (23:10-11) and He will not let the righteous go hungry (10:3). He is a strong tower for them (18:10). God is self consistent so that his thought and actions are always righteous, just, and loving. Wisdom assumes that God exists and that it is foolhardy to believe otherwise: "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God" (Psalm 14:l).

          What do humanists teach? Paul Kurtz, a noted Humanist, writes: "Humanism cannot in any fair sense of the word apply to one who still believes in God as the source and creator of the universe." They replace God with man at the center of their philosophy. Humanists are concerned with the present happiness of mankind- man is free to pursue his own pleasure without regard to a God who will call Him into account. Fear of God has been replaced by the freedom of man.

          2.      Man was created. Humanists are dedicated evolutionists. For them, man is a part of nature and has emerged as the result of a continuing process. Personality is a function of biology. Man has no spirit; he only acts and reacts with his environment. Humanists believe in spite of the evidence. One has even admitted that spontaneous generation, evolving life from non-life, is impossible, yet  "here we are-- as a result, I believe of spontaneous generation."

          Wisdom holds that every part of creation has a purpose and is related to every other part. The smallest part of creation is irreducibly complex. No extra parts. No missing links. Everything looks- well, ordered. Wisdom says design is everywhere. Humanism says everything evolved from chaos. Wisdom says that meaning and purpose for man are found in the reason for his creation, the delight of God (8:31). Humanism says if man has any purpose at all, it is his own temporal, circumstantial happiness.

          3.   Morality is unchanging. This is what makes wisdom work. Every time you fall in with thieves, there is trouble (1:8-19). Every time you give in to the seductive words of an adulteress, you risk death (7:21-23). Wisdom lays out the rules by which the universe was created and by which it is governed. They don't change or adjust to a person's circumstances or desire for happiness. They always reflect the unchanging character of the God who made them.

          Proverbs sees both an active and a passive judgment on sin. Most of the time, judgment comes in the sense of natural consequences. "Can a man scoop fire in his lap without his clothes being burned"(6:27-29). "The unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity" (1 1:3). Other times, God is directly involved: "The Lord tears down the proud man's house" (15:25). Positive reward also come from His hand. "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done" (19: 17).

          Humanists have no supreme moral authority. With temporal happiness and personal autonomy as overarching concerns, it doesn't take a sage to see what is coming. Sexuality is freed from the constraints of commitment and conventional definitions. If adultery or homosexuality brings happiness, at least temporarily, then it is affirmed. Wisdom, of course, sees the trap that is coming. The pleasure of sin for a season is followed by sudden judgment, "like a bird darting into a snare" (7:23). The rules of the universe and a benevolent God are not set aside simply because one doesn't believe in them. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death" (14:12).

          4.      Man is placed under the authority of God. Authority is the right to demand compliance in thought or deed. It means God has the right to tell us what to do. That is why wisdom says to fear God. Man is a servant and is not free to chart his own course. "A man's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way" (20:24)? "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" (19:21). The wise will learn the ways and desires of God, then set his course to agree. Because God is holy and loving, such a path will bring God the most glory and us the most joy.

          On the other hand, humanists hold that man is autonomous. His reason and his efforts are his best and only hope. Man charts his own destiny and champions his own fate. Humanism breeds a host of self-centered men and women who demand the right to sin at will and to escape the consequences. Life will be clear sailing until his pride slams him into the immovable authority of God. Perhaps a little humility is in order! Are you beginning to get the picture?

Wisdom says	Society says
1. God exists	l. Man is the center
2. Man was created for God's purposes	2. Man evolved and creates his own purpose
3. Morality doesn't change	3. Morality depends on circumstances
4. God rules	4. Man is autonomous

 

          Proverbs has a certain direction and definite plans for you. It wants you to align yourself with your Creator. It wants you to learn wisdom. The book can deliver wisdom to the fool. It can bring about change. It has God's stamp of approval. Humanism has a different direction and a different end. If you want wisdom, you will have to search for it. It's been boxed up and hidden away among the chairs and the desks in an educational warehouse. No matter what the red-faced humanists of our day demand, it's time to get the old curriculum back out again. Civilization depends on it. There is no other way to produce a wise and godly man or woman.