April 13

The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of judgment. — Prov 10:21 BSB

There is a deep connection between true wisdom, which is “a knowledge of the holy” (Proverbs 30:3), and the fear of the Lord, just as there is a connection between ignorance of God and sin. Saved saints are called “wise,” and lost sinners are called “fools,” not only in the Old Testament, especially in the Proverbs, but also in the New Testament. Many of the Lord’s people are suspicious of knowledge, not clearly distinguishing between spiritual, experiential knowledge and what is called “head knowledge.” They see that a person may have a well-furnished mind and a graceless heart, understanding “all mysteries and all knowledge,” yet still be “nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). And because some of these all-knowing professors are the most corrupt characters in the church, those who truly fear the Lord grow wary not only of them but also of the knowledge they possess.

But let’s consider it from another perspective. Ask the people of God whether there is a divine reality, a heavenly blessing, in being “taught of God” (John 6:45), in having “an anointing from the Holy One, and knowing all things” (1 John 2:20). Ask if they know the truth for themselves and find it makes them free (John 8:32). Is there not a “counting of all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord,” a stretching of the soul’s desires to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings”? Is there not “a knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 1:77), “a knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6), a being “filled with the knowledge of His will” (Colossians 1:9), and “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10), a “growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18)? Ask the living family of God if there is such a knowledge as this, and whether this knowledge is the very core, the sum and substance, of true godliness, and they will all agree, “It is!”