DIVINE WISDOM (PURE)

James 3 vs 17

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."
In the next few weeks, I will be blogging on divine wisdom. The core scriptural text is James 3 vs. 17.

It tells of the characteristics or attributes of divine wisdom and importantly how it differs from worldy wisdom.
Each of this attributes will be touched on, the need for us to use them as benchmarks for the wisdom we have conerning the obstacles we face and the things we need to do or not do for optimum results when implementint divine wisdom.
This post takes on the attribute of divine wisdom PURITY

PURE

The amplified bible says the wisdom from above is "undefiled".
On quite a number of grounds, we can confirm the truth in the purity of the wisdom from above. Because this wisdom is from above, it is from God, it is divine hence it is pure.
God will not give impure things. He is a Holy God.

"Be ye holy as I am holy” (1 Peter 1 vs. 16)

1John 3 vs. 1-3
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

God who is holy and pure is the source and giver of divine wisdom (James 1 vs. 5). Divine wisdom comes from receiving instructions from God concerning a matter. A major avenue for receiving divine instructions is through the word of God, both the rhema (spoken) word and the logos (written) word.
The whole world was formed by the spoken word and in Timothy the written word is described thus:

(2 Timothy 3 vs. 15b - 17)
“and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.


The psalmist tells us something about this word in Psalm 12 vs. 6

"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."

In the opening scripture in James 3 vs. 17, the writer James gave us the attributes of the wisdom that is from above. This attributes are there to guide us in examining the kind of wisdom that we profess to possess.

Is the wisdom you claim to have concerning that matter pure?
Have you decided to get things done by hook or crook and intend to normalize it with a testimony at the end?
Or have you diluted the divine wisdom that God has given you?

The wisdom from above is pure, but can the same be said of the wisdom we implement.

Maintaining the purity of God’s instructions/revelation (i.e. Wisdom) from reception (from the time God gave us the instructions or showed us the revelation) to implementation (when we act based on what God has shown us) is our duty.

There are examples of people in the bible who through their actions contaminated the wisdom that God gave them.

Moses is a great man of God who had the privilege of speaking with God directly. At a point in the journey from Egypt to the promise land, the children of Israel started murmuring about their lack of water. As a leader, Moses was in a difficult position, and he prayed to God for help. God, the source of divine wisdom told Moses what he needed to do.

Numbers 20 vs 8
“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.”

As pure as this wisdom was at reception, things changed when it got to the implementation of the divine wisdom.

In verse 11
“Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.”

Moses contaminated the wisdom with his anger. Instead of speaking to the rock as instructed, he struck the rock twice. Water still came out and the people drank, and to the people, Moses would have looked like a superhero, but God was not impressed. In fact, that action cost him entry into the promise land.

Verse 12
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

How can we ensure the continued purity of God's wisdom?

Have a pure heart....
It will minimise our human tendencies to contaminate the pure wisdom from above.
Matthew 5 vs. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Pursue holiness….
Hebrew 12 vs. 14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Divine wisdom is only possible when we have access to God and holiness becomes a prerequisite.
Don't settle for rough signals....
You may have started small in the business of hearing from God or knowing the mind of God but don't stay small.... Improve your reception. There is a possibility for us to not get the full picture of what God is showing us or saying to us. In the book of Jeremiah, God asked the prophet to look and the prophet described what he saw.... And God responded "you have seen well".... Meaning there was a chance for the prophet to have seen wrongly.

Be willing to obey…
Samuel told Saul “Obedience is better than sacrifice”. Sacrifice most of the time is a reactive measure to purify something that has been contaminated. We should strive to get to the place where God’s wisdom is kept pure so we wouldn’t have to resolve to sacrifices.