“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is”
(Psalm 63:1)
The cry of wisdom is sent forth: “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me” (Prov. 8:17). Also, it is written of the Lord: “Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: (Jer. 7:25 etc). There is much to be said for rising early and commencing the day by reading the Word of God. It sets the mind up for the day, and provides an early focus on spiritual things. There is also another sense: it is better to seek the wisdom of God early on, rather than leaving it too late. Now is the day of opportunity – we need to take hold of the opportunity to imbibe the Holy Word in the short time that remains.
Wisdom’s cry is: “I love them that love me”. There are those who love and delight in Wisdom and Truth, and there are those who spurn Wisdom’s cry. But it is only those who receive the knowledge of the Truth that shall be saved (cp. 2 Thes. 2:10), and the only source of Truth currently extant is the Wisdom of the Word of God. This is the wisdom which is from above (Jas. 3:17), which is “first pure, then peaceable …”. The Disciples of Christ are those who love the One who “is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). They, by applying themselves to the reading and study of Scripture, become “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). This is not accomplished by the wisdom of men, “for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21).
“Wisdom is the principal thing”, hence the exhortation to “therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Prov. 4:7). And again, “how much better is it to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver” (Prov. 16:16). Wisdom is superior than riches in every way: “for wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it” (Eccl. 7:12).
Our desire to drink deeply from the well of salvation should be like a man longing for water in a dry and thirsty land. There is currently a spiritual famine, like that of Israel of old: “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh” (Amos 8:11). We live in a spiritually dry and barren wilderness: men of the flesh are impoverished without even realising it, but men of the spirit thirst greatly for the sustenance of the spirit. It was against this background that Messiah spent his mortal days: “he shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground” (Isa.53:2). There was no spiritual sustenance in the environment in which he lived: he gave attendance to the Water of the Word. We must do likewise, so that we might ultimately be blessed – with the Master – to be like “a tree of life planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.”
Christopher Maddocks
