Realizing our lack of wisdom

You will never come to realize your own lack of wisdom unless you are enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God. That is exactly what Paul meant when he said, The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. You can think of lots of very prominent Americans today, famous people in various spheres of life, who have really made it in terms of the good life that we talk about in [America]. Telling these people that they do not have wisdom would really make them laugh. They would say, Well, look at all that I have accomplished. Look at all of the wonderful things that I have done. You mean to tell me that I do not have wisdom? You see, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him [1 Cor. 2:14]. And the reason they are foolishness to him is that he has no capacity to realize his very need of that thing.

But Paul also says, we have the Spirit of God that we might know [1 Cor. 2:12]. In other words, we have been enlightened. One of the first marks of this enlightenment of the Holy Spirit of God is our realization of our own natural deficiency in wisdom. It is always a good thing when I hear Christian people say, Oh, I seem to be so stupid! That is a very promising thing. [Those words] do not make me feel bad, it makes me feel good when I hear that from the Lord's people. Or when I hear someone say, I just really am a dummy when it comes to the Bible, I say, Well now, there is real hope for that dear soul. At least that person has made a beginning. That person at least realizes the need of wisdom.¹

G. I. Williamson