Day 1206: Where wisdom is found - Psalm 119 vs 97 – 104

97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. 98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. 99-100 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged (the elders) for I keep your precepts.

101-102 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. 103-104 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Psalm 119:97-104 English Standard Version

Verse 98 of today's reading tells how God's commandment made the writer wiser than all his enemies. What a wonderful truth that is. Our enemies today aren't always those who try to hurt us, but are often those who try to ridicule us and mock all that we believe. And the wisdom spoken of here isn't the same as the world's wisdom. Paul said: “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

So how do we get this wisdom that is the power of God, and how do we grow in it? (vs 1)

The first place we must turn to is God's word. In the days this Psalm was written, most of God's word consisted of the first five books of the Bible. He says we should 'love God's word so much' that we meditate upon it. So do we make much of God's word today? Is it a delight to spend time in the Bible. Not that the Bible itself saves us! Jesus warned people who “searched the Scriptures, because they thought that in them they had eternal life! But the scriptures bear witness about Himself, and they refused to come to Him” (John 5:39-40)

We should read God's word in order to know Christ better. It is He alone who gives us eternal life. And as we spend more time in God's word, we will grow wiser. The writer says he became wiser than even his teachers. We read that when Jesus came to His home town, “He taught in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, 'Where did this man get this wisdom - and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son?” (Matthew 13:54-55) Luke tells us of Mary, “who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching.” And Jesus said of her that she had chosen “the good portion!” (Luke 10:38-42)

But what else is involved to grow in wisdom? (vs 101-102)

It's to keep our steps from going down the wrong way, and to not deviate from the truth we receive. The book of Proverbs makes much of God's wisdom, and Chapter 6:17-19 speaks of things that God hates. It mentions “haughty eyes - a lying tongue - hands that shed innocent blood - a heart that devises wicked plans - feet that make haste to run to evil - a false witness who breathes out lies - and one who sows discord among brothers.” So vs 104 of our Psalm says “therefore I hate every false way.” How good it is to not be enticed into those paths. It is wise to hate the things that God hates.

Wisdom comes from making God's word something we take pleasure in. “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (vs 103) His word is 'better than jewels'. Anything we may desire can never compare with His wisdom. (Proverbs 8:11) But, once again, we should note that it is not just God's word that is our life, but it is the living Word we must embrace.

The apostle Paul prayed for believers that “their hearts might be encouraged, and knit together in love. And that they would reach the riches of full assurance of understanding and knowledge of God's mystery which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:2-3) May this be our prayer too, both for ourselves, and for others.