Get Wisdom (5)

And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. 1 Kings 4.29-32

Culture and glory
As diligent as Solomon was in studying creation and everyday life, he accomplished many works of culture, to encode the wisdom he gained from creation, and to preserve that wisdom, through culture, for the generations to come.

Solomon’s father, King David, had written that it pleased God to give gifts to all kinds of men, so that He Himself might inhabit those gifts, presumably, to manifest His glory and wisdom (Ps. 68.18). Accordingly, in his quest to gain the wisdom of God, Solomon set himself to studying and creating culture. The works of God in culture, like His works in creation, can yield much wisdom to guide our conscience for serving Him and others.

This only makes sense, for, since no human society has ever existed without culture, it would have been impossible to rule Israel well apart from some understanding of how culture should be used to encourage and express the wisdom and glory of God.

Solomon understood that works of culture have powerful ability to shape and serve a nation; but they must be used in a manner consistent with what God has revealed in His Law, if they are to aid in realizing the wisdom of God. So, just as Solomon studied the creation in pursuit of the wisdom of God, he also set his mind to understand culture, and his hands to bring wisdom through cultural artifacts to the people of Israel.

A man of culture
Solomon’s cultural interests and achievements were many and great. He understood the ways of poetry, music, and folk wisdom, as 1 Kings 4.32 makes clear, by referring to his penchant for composing songs and proverbs. He knew that such cultural forms and expressions could be important means of communicating the wisdom of God.

In pithy proverbial sayings and memorable songs, God can encapsulate much wisdom that can serve us in all kinds of ways. Many have found that, by reading one chapter a day from the book of Proverbs, they learn the wisdom of God and practice it more consistently.

But Solomon’s engagement with culture did not stop with music and musings; the King of Israel sought the wisdom of God in great works of public art and architecture. We see the detail with which Solomon attended to the building of God’s temple, using only the finest materials, according to the most lavish of plans, to create a workable and glorious structure for the worship of the Lord (1 Kgs. 6).

He also built a great palace, gardens, parks, pools, vineyards, stables, and houses. He testifies that he was guided by wisdom in building all these things (Eccl. 2.3), and so we can believe that, like the temple, there was much of the wisdom of God to be observed in the cultural achievements of Solomon.

Culture-making
In his book, Making Culture, Andy Crouch insists that every believer is a culture-maker; thus, all of us have abundant opportunities to seek and to manifest the wisdom of God in our day-to-day lives with and in culture. Everything from the words we speak to the food we eat, the way we dress, how we do our work, our participation in the life of the community, and our preferences in reading, study, films, and avocations – all these are forms of culture in which we may learn and express the wisdom of God.

The conscience seeks to bring our Kingdom values to light in wisdom through just such cultural forms and opportunities.

But if we would show God’s wisdom through our cultural activities, we must be willing, like Solomon, to understand the ways of culture and to bring our cultural lives under the searchlight of God’s Word. We can learn much about the wisdom of God through culture, and we can show His wisdom through our cultural lives to the people around us.

But we must study carefully and well if we would get the wisdom of God by this means.

For reflection
1.  Make a quick list of the different aspects of culture in which you are daily engaged. Meditate on 1 Corinthians 10.31. How can the culture you use bring glory to God?

2.  Can we learn God’s wisdom from culture? From music, let’s say? Or the history of our country? Give an example of something an item of culture has taught you about the wisdom of God?

3.  Your work is an aspect of culture. Should we seek God’s wisdom for our work? Should others be able to discern God’s wisdom in our work? Give some examples.

Next steps – Conversation: Can you think of a film you’ve seen that communicated something of wisdom? Talk with a friend about this as an example of how we might get wisdom by becoming more aware of the culture around us.

T. M. Moore

This is part 5 of an 8-part series on Purifying the Conscience. To download this week’s study as a free PDF, click here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.