Another take on understanding and wisdom

Sometime back I blogged about theology and right understanding. I was just thinking about another talk by Thio Lee Ann which I attended a few weeks back, where she addressed in the front portion of her talk on wisdom and understanding.

Part of our generation's issue is that we shy away from deeper understanding of today's issues and ask for quick understanding and want to be spoonfed. A lot would rather have their pastors or leaders give them the answers instead of going out and find the answers themselves. What we do not realise is that the happenings around us are not occurring in isolations but have theological and spiritual implications. Yet when leaders and pastors in church begin to give the answers and not encourage a culture of seeking understanding and wisdom, we are effectively building a generation (in my opinion) of people who will be swayed to and fro by the wind.

But we hear the complains: 'it is so chim, it's beyond my understanding...' The key is to look at what the scripture says about seeking understanding:

By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its room are filled with rare and beautiful treasures - Proverbs 24:3-4

If I read the scripture, this proverb is one of the many verses in the bible that exhorts the readers to seek understanding and wisdom and not remain a simpleton in terms of these things. It may be chim in some sense but it does not give us a warrant to avoid understanding or even worse, accuse those who understand that they are confusing people or just advocating talks. There is also no reason to believe that the works of the Holy Spirit and seeking wisdom and understanding cannot gel together. I continually think about Paul's encounter with Jesus at the road of Damascus and wonder what was he thinking in the three days when he was blind. My educated speculation is that he must have taken the time to make sense of his experience and understand how all these gel with what he has acquired and understood over the years. My evidence comes in the episode after he spent a few days with the disciples and then went on the synagogues to preach that Jesus is the Son of God, being able to prove his claims. And Paul is not someone, for those who read the epistles, who does not know the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

I pass by the field of sluggard by the vineyard of one who lacks wisdom. I saw that thorns had grown all over it, the ground was covered with weeds, and its stone wall was broken down. - Provebs 24:30-31(NET)

We often read this proverb and relate to someone who is lazy but we often miss out the fact that there is also the vineyard of the one who lacks wisdom (NET), the one who has no sense (NIV). To reiterate the point, it seems once again to suggest that the lack of wisdom and the lack of diligence to seek wisdom and understanding will lead to the 'breaking down of the wall'. I just would like to ask how this works out in the individual life. Would it mean that when the walls are broken down, anyone can just come in and sway us all over the place. Indeed, to be consistent with what I have understood so far, the answer is yes.

And hence, we need to ask ourselves, are we willing to put in the effort to seek that understanding and wisdom. The bible says it very clearly as well that if any of us lacks wisdom,we should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to us. And one must realise that this is the process of maturity as well. When James 1:5 exhorts us to seek wisdom when we lack it, it is saying in the context that gaining maturity and completeness without the lack of anything.

Maybe I should relate this to my own experience. I think my journey of yearning for understanding and wisdom on the 'chim' stuff came purely by accident (in human sense) but indeed, when one looks back, it is a journey that was entirely paved out by God and all I did was that I responded. For those who follow my blog or those who know my life well enough, the beginning of my Christian journey focused a lot in apologetics. Reading the materials on apologetics eventually sparked my interest in theology, not surprising since apologetics is applied theology. Listening to Ravi Zacharias, and eventually reading his books, allowed me to better understand the issues of the world as he explains the world in the light of the gospel and sins. Followed by this, equipped with more knowledge, it dawned upon me that sometimes, we receive (or give) teachings that are theologically unsound or insufficient (a sad case for a church which prides itself for sound biblical teaching). And it dawns on me that our believers like to take verses out of context.

The realisation is something that increasingly worries me. And not to condemn anybody, I really believe that we need to disciple believers to greater understanding of the scripture and what it says of the world. We need to teach our disciples to learn from the early church and devote ourselves to 'the teachings of the apostles'.

But how many disciples among us will heed the warning of the scripture and really seek God for the understanding and wisdom?  I have no answer but it doesn't mean that I can condemn the current state. The question is, if we see a particular lack, could it be that God place us here to address the particular lack?