(Audio)
The mouth of the just man tells of wisdom
and his tongue utters what is right.
The law of his God is in his heart,
and his steps do not falter.
What is the source of the wisdom that Solomon has to offer the queen of Sheba?
King Solomon explained everything she asked about,
and there remained nothing hidden from him
that he could not explain to her.
King Solomon was not wise in the wisdom that comes from the world. He was wise because his heart sought God first and not the things of the world. The law of God was in his heart, and, for a time, his steps did not falter. The queen of Sheba sensed that it was not simply the cleverness of Solomon that made him able to answer her questions. She could tell that his wisdom had a higher source than himself.
Blessed be the LORD, your God,
whom it has pleased to place you on the throne of Israel.
In his enduring love for Israel,
the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and justice.
We too are called to be wise. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit (see Isaiah 11:2). But we are not called to the wisdom of this world. God has made such wisdom foolish (see First Corinthians 1:20). We are not called to a wisdom that merely makes us seem smart or clever, or wisdom that could just as easily be used for evil as it could for good. The cleverness needed to rob a bank is not wisdom. Even the cleverness needed to create a peace around false pretenses still misses the mark of genuine wisdom. True wisdom is directed to God's law. When the wisdom comes from God it is evident that he is behind it.
In order to manifest the wisdom of the Spirit we need clean hearts. Worldly wisdom can be external, requiring no change or repentance on our part. But the wisdom Jesus wants to teach us begins within hearts that he himself makes new. This is why he warns against the bad fruit that comes from hearts that have not been renewed.
But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
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