Resources/Articles
The Blessing of Wisdom
Let me share with you the true story of a man named William McPherson. He had a charge of dynamite go off in his face. He lost his eyes and hands and the feeling in parts of his face. He realized how much the Bible meant to him and he needed its strength greatly He could not read it in Braille because of his artificial hands. He tried to place his lips on the dots, but they were numb. He found he could use his tongue to decipher the Moon Type system of dashes. The metal left his lips and tongue bleeding and very sore, but he prayed to God to help him continue to learn just one letter of the alphabet. In the 65 years that followed, he read the Bible through four times with his tongue.
What if the same thing happened to you that happened to Mr. McPherson? Would you have the desire — the intense desire — to know God’s will? Would you go through what he did to learn? Would you study the Bible if you had to get up an hour earlier each day to work it into your busy(?) schedule? Or miss your favorite TV program if, at that hour, you remembered you hadn’t studied your Bible for the day and wouldn’t have time afterwards? Would you study the Bible if you had endured a hard day at work or if you were just too tired? How many “ifs” keep all of us from reading or studying the Bible? These are sobering questions, yet they reveal truth about whether we are spiritual reprobates. Paul wrote, “Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless ye indeed be reprobate” (2 Corinthians 13.5).
God provides us help and blesses us when we resolve to call upon him for salvation. Calling upon him is explained by both Solomon and Jesus as follows:
For Jehovah giveth wisdom;
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding: He layeth up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to them that walk in integrity.
Proverbs 2.6-7
If any man willeth to do his will,
he shall know of the teaching,
whether it is of God,
or whether I speak from myself.
John 7.17
Jesus also defined for us the proper attitude required to receive this blessing of truth: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; which a man found, and hid; and in his joy he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls: and having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (Matthew 13.44-46).
Resolve today to use your Bible in the manner that God purposed it:
- As “a lamp unto your feet; and a light unto your path” (Psalm 119.105)
- To “search the scriptures daily” (Acts 17.11)
- To “study to show thyself approved unto God” (2 Timothy 2.15)
