i have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. [psalm 119:99]
this is a beautiful picture of “the wisdom of the world [being] folly with God” (1 cor. 3:19) and that “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (1 cor 1:27). if we are to seek wisdom, understanding, and truth, that comes only through seeking Christ, and that through His word. as we do so, we may even surpass our teachers.
the gospel, however, becomes more clear when we ask the question: where’s the humility in this? if we live life always thinking (rightly or not) that we know better than our teachers, how can we avoid the snare of pride?
in a rephrasing of romans 5:8, the truth of this verse is that while we were still fools in our sin, Christ died a fool so we could have a wisdom not our own.
if our wisdom was the wisdom of the world, a wisdom we can produce ourselves, then we would have reason to boast, and we may not even need Jesus! but the wisdom that brings us beyond our teachers, leads us through suffering that would send the worldly to self-pity, and gives us peace through trials is beyond anything we can produce!
Lord, teach us to see our own folly, and teach us to see that the wisdom we do have is from you. grow the gospel in our hearts, so that no matter how much You grow, bless, and teach us, we will only become smaller in our own eyes—as we behold Your glory and wisdom.
~stephen hall