Bill Johnson - Discovering the Way of Life
You and I were born for significance. I don’t mean a big title; I don’t mean fame and all that stuff. I mean significance in the eyes of God and significance in the sense that we fulfill our purpose. Wisdom is at the heart of that. You and I could live in and function in divine wisdom. Hey, welcome to our pursuit of wisdom series, and I do pray that if it’s not automatically in your heart right now, the passion for wisdom would increasingly have that place in your heart. I believe it’s one of the mandates of the Lord; in fact, it’s so critical that Jesus identified Himself in the book of Corinthians, Chapter 1, I believe it’s verse 30, as our wisdom. He is the person of wisdom. He was the person of wisdom on the day of creation in Proverbs 8. So we’re going to look at this person, and any of the characteristics or nature of Christ that are to be demonstrated and manifested in our life will always be through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who helps make this real and manifested in our lives. The guy that we know for wisdom in Scripture is Solomon. I love studying him, and I know he ended badly, but it wasn’t the fault of wisdom; it was the fact that he stopped reading his own Book of Proverbs that led to his mess. He broke some ground for us that I think is profound, and if we can stop being offended by his failure and learn to absorb from his success, I think we can gain insights that would really help us in this particular hour.
Here’s where we will start. We’re going to begin a little later in the story by going to Proverbs Chapter 4. What I want to do in this series is take verses from each chapter and go in sequence throughout the Book of Proverbs. But to start with, I need to begin actually where the story started. This is Solomon giving us his account of his journey into wisdom. In verse one of Chapter 4, he says, «Hear, my children, the instruction of a father; give attention to no understanding. For I give you good doctrine; do not forsake my law.» Here he starts unveiling his personal journey: «When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, 'Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands and live. Get wisdom; get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.'» It goes on from there as he begins to illustrate the nature of wisdom, the power of wisdom, and how wisdom keeps us safe; it guards us, and the story unfolds.
What struck me is that we know Solomon had a visitation from God, which we’ll look at next—this visitation where he was given an opportunity to make a choice; he could have anything he wanted. He found such incredible favor with God that the Lord showed up in a dream and invited him to choose anything. He didn’t choose long life; he didn’t choose wealth or any of the things others would contend for. Instead, he chose wisdom. How did he know what to choose? I’d like to suggest David prepared him for the decision. David was the one who, when his son Solomon was small, began to train him to know what was important in life. He learned through his own ups and downs, his own successes and failures, that the real issue of life was to function in divine wisdom. Divine wisdom is that partnership with the mind of Christ that becomes illustrated and manifested in and through us.
Solomon was trained from childhood: «Son, choose wisdom; son, choose wisdom. In your wisdom, make sure you get understanding; this is the principal thing, the valuable thing.» So, when Solomon was older and now a king who knew he didn’t have what he needed to rule, and the Lord showed up saying he could have anything he wanted, he was prepared to make the right choice. Here’s the deal: I think you and I can prepare ourselves for future decisions by positioning our hearts and minds for readiness for what God might put in our lap—something unearned, perhaps even unexpected, as it was for Solomon. God showed up and said, «You can have whatever you want,» and he resisted the temptation to choose what any other king in the world would have chosen—long life, sons after sons following him on his throne. He rejected all of that, set it aside as not the top priority, and chose wisdom.
As parents, we prepare our children to make decisions they will face later in life. I like to look at it this way: I’m wondering if Solomon is the only one we see given that option in the Bible, but he’s also the only one we see trained to make the right decision. I sometimes wonder if perhaps the way we train our children, the way we interact in relationships with friends, the way we speak prophetically or offer encouraging words, could be the process that attracts the activity of God—giving someone an option because they’re the only ones prepared to make the right decision. You and I have a tremendous role in preparing people for a supernatural, truly fulfilled life, in ways that are ignored by so much of the church.
You and I were born for significance. I don’t mean a big title; I don’t mean fame. I mean significance in the eyes of God and significance in fulfilling our purpose, and wisdom is at the heart of that. You and I could live in and function in divine wisdom. There’s a passage in Ephesians Chapter 4 that says: «Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for the moment, that it may give encouragement or strength to those who hear, according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.» Think about that with me for a minute. Don’t let unwholesome words come, but instead, words that prepare people for grace. Can you think with me? Grace is a god-given gift; it is divine favor, divine enablement. So when we choose to speak life-giving, encouraging words instead of degrading or death words, we mark that individual to experience God’s grace. It’s almost like God says, «You trust them; I’m going to trust them.»
I understand He is sovereign; He can do whatever He wants, but He has chosen to co-labor with us. Part of our role in life is to bring strength and encouragement to those around us and to speak words of great hope that attract into their lives a sense of opportunity and purpose they might not have had otherwise. I think that’s what happened to Solomon. I want to encourage you to consider this subject and the pursuit of wisdom in your own life—how to prepare yourself. Next, we will look at the actual experience Solomon had with the Lord; it’s so unique and different. I want to encourage you to read 1 Kings Chapters 3 and 4 and see how God prepared him for this and how it came about that he was able to excel in such extreme wisdom.
That’s our goal. I bless you. I pray that such hunger will rise in our hearts together to pursue supernatural wisdom so that we can actually put on display the mind of Christ. I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen.
You were designed to hear from God; it is your nature. Jesus said, «My sheep hear my voice.» The very fact that I am a child of God means He created in me a capacity to hear Him. Everything about me is wired to hear from God; we’re accustomed to hearing an audible voice from another human being, and we call that hearing from God, not realizing that God speaks to us in so many different ways.
Hey, welcome back! I’m glad you’re joining us. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you have one, to 1 Kings Chapter 3, as I referenced last week. I want you to see what actually happened in Solomon’s life. This is such a fascinating story. We know Solomon was given an option; in the middle of the night, God shows up, and he has the opportunity to choose anything he wants. It’s an extraordinary moment in his life, but what he actually asked for was quite surprising to me. So let’s jump right into it; we’re going to start at verse 3 of Chapter 3 because it sets us up. It says, «Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.»
You don’t want God to put «except» before your life. Solomon was copying other nations instead of following the biblical patterns of worship; he adopted the styles and practices of surrounding nations that worshiped false gods. Even though he worshiped the most high God on those high places, at least initially, it was the worship of self-will, not surrender. It’s a good note for us to take. Now jump to verse 7; we get into the actual encounter Solomon had. «Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father David, and I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or to come in. Your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?»
This speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing, and God said, «Because you’ve asked for this and you’ve not asked for long life for yourself or riches,» etc., He’s going to give him exactly what he asked for. Here’s the interesting thing; verse 15 says, «Then Solomon awoke.» This tells me that all of this happened while he was sleeping. Sleeping and having an encounter is amazing to me—that God would trust Solomon to make a decision that would affect the rest of his life and the entire nation of Israel while he was in his sleep. Solomon would later coin this phrase in the Song of Solomon: «Though I sleep, yet my heart is awake.»
Here’s the first thing I want you to pick out of this story: it is possible to be so entirely devoted to one reason for being that it becomes part of how you think, how you sleep—decisions you make subconsciously, not just intentional decisions but spontaneous eruptions of the soul. They are consistent with this main reason for being, and Solomon was so married to this hunger for wisdom, which his dad trained him for, that when he was given this opportunity, God could trust him to make a decision even in his sleep. The Lord gave him exactly what he asked for—supernatural wisdom.
But back up in the story; I want you to see one other thing here that I think is pretty critical. It’s in verse 9: «Therefore give your servant an understanding heart.» I looked that up in my study Bible, and it says that understanding heart literally is a hearing heart. Think about this: the prayer for wisdom is actually, «God give me a hearing ear; give me a heart that hears your voice.» That’s extraordinary because it implies that there’s not just wisdom that becomes resident in me, but wisdom becomes the manifestation of my continual hearing from the Father. That’s critical for us to understand: we need continuous fellowship with the Lord to stay current in our wisdom.
It reminds me a lot of the subject of faith: faith comes by hearing. It doesn’t say faith comes from having heard. It’s not pointing back to a past experience. Faith by nature is a manifestation of present fellowship, of present engagement with God, and that’s what Solomon was praying for. He was saying, «God, give me a hearing ear. Give me an ear for your voice so that I can stay in tune with what you’re saying, what you’re thinking, what you have purposed, and planned for this great nation.» I love Solomon’s love for Israel. I love how impressed he is with his father’s success. His father was a man of war; Solomon was a man of peace. He didn’t have the responsibility to copy or mimic his dad; he just needed to build upon what his dad accomplished. That’s how we honor forefathers; it’s not about mimicking. I don’t need to try to mimic my dad; I just need to honor what he accomplished.
When we get into the subject of Proverbs, we find this starts with absolute dependence on God and an understanding of his earthly father. Solomon begins his journey into wisdom as a response to his mom and dad’s instruction. I realize not everyone watching this has Godly parents, or even if you do, we don’t all have parents who instructed us in the pursuit of wisdom. Regardless, we all have God as our Father. We have one we can absolutely trust 100% of the time, and He will lead us from glory to glory. He leads us from one realm of wisdom to another realm, from one place of understanding to a greater place, and what you and I have to do is steward what He gives us well; we manage it well; we honor it well.
You know, when the Lord speaks to me in the night, I don’t know if you’ve done this, but I’ve had times where I had a dream, and I think, «Oh, I’ll just remember it in the morning,» whether it’s a new tune or words to a song. I think, «I’ll remember it,» but in the morning, I don’t have it anymore. It’s not there because He’s actually looking for those who adjust their lives to His pace, to His pattern. That means I change my routine to accommodate Him; I don’t require Him to change His routine to accommodate me. That’s the life of a child. That’s what a child does—has that type of dependency.
Look where this ends for me in Proverbs Chapter 1, verse 23. He says, «Turn at my rebuke.» Here’s wisdom speaking. Wisdom is going to demand change. Wisdom is going to set a direction that’s different than the one I’m taking, so when I see that, I have to adjust my lifestyle, thinking, prayers, and ambitions. I’ll adjust to this new direction wisdom will set for me. So he says, «Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my Spirit on you.» My goodness! Responding to wisdom invites the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is an Old Testament verse; this isn’t Acts Chapter 2. This is the Book of Proverbs telling us that from the very beginning, God designed our cooperation with His heart and mind to position us for outpourings of the Holy Spirit. So He says, «Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my Spirit on you, and I will make my words known to you.»
Listen to that phrase: «I will make my words known to you.» Psalm 25 talks about the secret of the Lord being reserved for those who fear Him. He’s put it aside as something to be inherited, the secret of the Lord, and here He says if you just respond to wisdom, what does He do? He pours out His Spirit on you. Let me use my language: He releases over you a spirit not only of wisdom but revelation to understand His word. It’s not in addition to Scripture; it highlights what we’ve already seen.
I pray that for you. I pray what Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:17—that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and that you and I together would be like children, completely responsive to the moving of the Holy Spirit and to the insights He gives us from His Word. I pray that for you in Jesus' wonderful name.
Next week, we’re going to examine the subject of passion and the role it plays in the pursuit of wisdom. Bless you in Jesus' name.