Confessions of a Church: Wise in My Own Eyes
The Psalm writer wrote: Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received. This is the word of God. It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.
Ecclesiastes 7:23-29 I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it? I directed my mind to know, to investigate and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of folly and the foolishness of madness. And I discovered more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains. One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but the sinner will be captured by her. “Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find an explanation, which I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a woman among all these. Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”
For all of the chatter swirling around right now regarding tyranny, spheres of authority, rights, and liberty, it is easy, due to the nature of the rights we enjoy in America, in particular our right to free speech, assembly, and petitioning the government, for us to move from a category you might call "concerned citizen" to one titled "troublesome meddler". We could look at a variety of scenarios in the different spheres of government: church, state, and family, to illustrate this point, but we're not. Let's be honest, we all know what it looks like when someone is meddling in our business, so let's not pretend that at least some of what we are seeing unfold around us right now is not meddling, with busybodies on all sides engaged in sticking their noses where they likely don't belong, to the neglect of their primary duties.
Now, I am not saying that one should not be informed, aware, and planning for contingencies. I am not saying that godly men and women ought not apply wisdom to the issues of the day. On the contrary, when it comes to plumbing the depth of God's word, of searching for wisdom, Scripture applauds the bereans for being men who: "were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so."— Acts 17:10-11
In 1 Chronicles 12:32 it says of the sons of Issachar that they were "men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do".
We are called to be intelligent, reasoning men and women, ready to stand against the tyrant who would demand allegiance to him or her over and above Christ. We aren't called, however, to be so engrossed in worldly cares, out there, that our primary duties before God and family are neglected.
Solomon said ""I will be wise", but it was far from me. What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it?".
Our pursuit to get to the bottom of every single theory, to unravel each and every conspiracy, to make it our personal life goal to get to the bottom of whether or not Doctor Fauci is the ringleader of a vast conspiracy, working with Bill Gates, to mask up the world's population and control them through DNA modifying vaccines, may be to go beyond our station in life. This pursuit of knowledge, which some would call a wise use of time, effectively inserts ourselves into the narrative of the day, leaving us entangled in business which we will never resolve. It winds up being endless speculation. Rather than tackle the problems facing us in our own hearts, homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces, we chase rabbits down holes, never finding the bottom, all the while oblivious to the sin swirling in our own lives.
This is the nature of the man with the log in his eye, attempting to remove the speck from his brother's eye (Matthew 7: 3-5). The sin present in our life blinds us, yet we arrogantly believe we are wise enough to right all the wrongs going on in the world around us. This isn't wisdom, it's folly. This isn't the wisdom described in James:
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
— James 3:13-18
"We must defy tyrants! It's our duty before God!"
Agreed. Can we at least start by killing that little tyrant in all of us called self. That tyrant who wants their way. That tyrant who never turns the other cheek, never goes the second mile, and when he does, he grumbles and complains the whole time. The tyrant in each of us that never loves his enemies, only seeks to prove them to be wrong, and crush them. That tyrant who got red-pilled, a week ago, and is now going to claim to be an expert in germ warfare, Afghanistan, education, and constitutional law. Do you get the point?
This approach, where every issue is a nail, and you are the hammer, is not wisdom. It's folly.
Matthew Henry says this of Solomon here:
He applied himself not only to know what lay on the surface, but to search what lay hidden out of the common view and road; nor did he search a little way, and then give it over because he did not presently find what he searched for, but he sought it out, went to the bottom of it; nor did he aim to know things only, but the reasons of things, that he might give an account of them. Yet his success was not answerable or satisfying: "I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me, I could not compass it. After all, This only I know: that I know nothing, and the more I know the more I see there is to be known, and the more sensible I am of my own ignorance.
Solomon recognized his ignorance. His creaturely limitations.
Do you?
Do you recognize the sin, the little tyrant dwelling in your very own bosom? Do you weep and gnash your teeth at him, as much as all the perceived tyrants out there? When is the last time you examined your own sin as closely as you examine Biden's, or Faucci's? Do you want to be wise? You would do well to dive into God's Word and plumb its depths rather than the latest headline meant to have you chasing ghosts.
Let us be humble, brothers and sisters, and pray for more of His grace. If we are proud, God will resist us.
At this time, if you are able, please kneel as we confess our sin to God, Who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Heavenly Father,
Please be merciful towards us sinners.
The nation's rage, wicked rulers decree, oppression seems forthcoming, but you sit in the heavens and laugh.
Help your people to have a right perspective Father, one which remembers Your faithfulness to all generations.
Help us to remember the saints of old, "who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight."— Hebrews 11:33-34
Please forgive us when we apply worldly solutions to problems, when only the gospel will do.
Forgive us for failing to remove the log from our own eyes, that we may see clearly to remove the speck from our brother's.
In Jesus's name we pray, amen.
Please stand and listen to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to his church:
Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!
(From the 08/22/2021 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)