Why Would Wisdom Be Hidden?

Matthew 11:25-27 (CEB) – At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you’ve hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have shown them to babies. Indeed, Father, this brings you happiness.

“My Father has handed all things over to me. No one knows the Son except the Father. And nobody knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wants to reveal him

This is a puzzling thought – that Jesus would praise God for hiding spiritual truth from the wise and intelligent.  Throughout scripture, those who are wise are praised.  More obviously, the whole book of Proverbs is devoted to the God-given gift of wisdom.  To get at the heart of what Jesus is saying here, we need to pay attention to the “God-given” part.  Proverbs does indeed praise wisdom, but Proverbs also assumes that the reason wisdom is praiseworthy is that it is from God:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; don’t rely on your own intelligence. (Proverbs 3:5)

So, our scripture draws a distinction between the natural intelligence and wisdom that we possess as human beings and wisdom that is graciously revealed to us by God.  Jesus is expressing thankfulness for this distinction to God in His prayer above.  In doing so, He also points out that we can become oblivious to this distinction.  We find ourselves violating the advice of the proverb above.  We begin to trust in our natural intelligence to the extent that we come to believe our wisdom IS divine wisdom.   When that happens, Jesus suggests that we are blind. This is why Proverbs 9:10 contests that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; the knowledge of the holy one is understanding.”

Divine wisdom is never procured by human effort; when we have the kind of wisdom, it is always because it was graciously revealed to us by God.  This is especially true of any knowledge or understanding concerning the character of God.  We don’t “discover” who God is.  God reveals who God is to us.  Revelation is always a gift.  Wisdom should not bring forth pride.  It should give birth to gratitude. 

The good news about this is that all of our striving for a better relationship with God is unnecessary.  We’ll talk more about that next time.

Question:  Have you ever found yourself blind to an insight that seemed obvious to others? 

Prayer:  God, we confess that all we know about You is that which you have graciously revealed.  Forgive us for forgetting that sometimes.  We believe; help our unbelief.  Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Give God thanks for people God has used to reveal spiritual truth to you today.

Song:  Perfect Wisdom of Our God (Official Lyric Video) – Keith & Kristyn Getty