“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem…wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” “…and Herod gathered the chief priests and priests and he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet…” And Herod sent the [wise men] to Bethlehem saying, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” “Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, the [wise men] departed for their own country another way.” – Matthew 2:1-5, 12

The quest for wisdom is as old as humanity.

As a matter of fact, the Bible says that Adam and Eve fell because the devil convinced them that the forbidden tree “…desirable for gaining wisdom” (Genesis 3:6, NIV).

However, that kind of ‘wisdom’ was not from God.

From our meditation today, we may take note of the various types of ‘wisdom.’

Firstly, the ‘wise men from the East’ had supernatural wisdom pertaining to the birth of the Christ.

The Jewish chief priests and scribes that Herod called in had the religious wisdom pertaining to where Christ would be born but their wisdom was limited; they could not tell that He was already with them!

Then using his worldly wisdom, Herod put the ‘wise men’ in a trap – “go and find the Child then show me where He is so that I can go also go and worship Him.”

Of course his intention was to eliminate the young Child, but the excited wise men did not know that.

But by His divine wisdom, God exposed Herod’s sinister plan to the wise men in a dream, and they traveled back using another route.

Whereas the Wise Men had special wisdom, their wisdom had a serious limitation.

It had to take the impartation of the special wisdom of God to avert a major disaster.

Whereas the Wise Men had special wisdom, their wisdom had a serious limitation. It had to take the impartation of the special wisdom of God to avert a major disaster.

The Bible says our God is the “only wise God’; He alone possesses perfect (sound) wisdom; He is the fountain of all wisdom; He alone is true wisdom (see 1 Timothy 1:17; Jude 1:25).

“Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength” (Proverbs 8:14).

As a believer, you have the Spirit of God to give you perfect wisdom!

“And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:2).

In the New Testament, the Bible talks of the “wisdom that is from above” (theosophia) in contrast to the wisdom that is ‘anthropinos’ (human).

The apostle Paul made reference to the divine wisdom, “not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, which are coming to nothing.”

“This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words” (1 Corinthians 2:13).

The wisdom of God will always put to shame and “make foolish the wisdom of this world”!

In 2024, may we pursue the true sound wisdom from God to deal with whatever situations we face in the New Year. As Isaiah 33:6 says: “And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times.…”