Learning Wisdom from God in the School of Hard Knocks

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By Joe Renfro, Ed.D.

All of life is an education or should be. We can learn from our positive, good experiences as well as our negative, bad experiences.  Yes, there is the school of hard knocks, and it often something with which it is hard to cope. But the sad fact is that often times we fail to learn from either type—the positive or the negative.  However, the focus of this article is the education that comes from life’s difficulties, trials, and afflictions, things that in the Christian life temper us to be more able to grow mentally and spiritually in Christ.

Dr. David M. Sweets, editor of  the Christian Observer of  June 17, 1931,wrote a statement about this school of hard knocks, although he did not label it as such, in a copy of the Christian Observer which I have under glass on my desk  He wrote:  “One of the strange statements of the Psalmist was, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn ‘thy statutes.’ What we are passing through life’s difficulties, trials and afflictions, they seem to be anything but good. We cannot associate them with ‘green pastures’ and ‘rest by the water course,’ as they are described in the twenty-third Psalm, but as life flows on and we look back over the way we have come, we realize in the mellow light of life’s evening time that some to the riches blessings that have come to us have been because of the trials and sufferings through which we have passed.”  Wise words from the Presbyterian editor of the Christian Observer ninety-plus years ago!

What Dr. Sweet referred to is that which speaks to the realization, development, and practice of heavenly wisdom from above in the midst of adversity and afflictions, and it relates very much to the whole topic of education in life. It is the wisdom of learning  to rest in Christ regardless of the situations. Hebrews 4:9-10 speaks to this state of abiding in Christ as it says: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the hope of God.  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his, which  points to the wisdom of learning to abide in Christ.

This ties very much to the wisdom messages of the book of James ,which gives us the capacity to learn to discern between what is the way of blessedness even in the midst of negative circumstances.  Here is the call  to learn wisdom from the school of hard knocks, hard knocks that we each experience in life, some that Christians are experiencing, some more and some less.

There is an article in The School of Life, July 1, 2018 entitled, “What Is Wrong with Modern Times – and How to Regain Wisdom.” that well describes the state of many in our days, as it says:  “But, in our times, there is now no established point of reference beyond us that can matter. What happens to us here and now is framed as overwhelmingly important; it is all there is. And so everything that goes wrong, everything that frustrates or disappoints us fills the horizon. The idea of something bigger, older, mightier, wiser and nobler than us to which we owe love and obedience has been stripped of its power to console us. So much of the commitment to modern day personhood is centered on the “me, my, and I,” and it is totally inadequate.

The is wisdom of this world which is often in the context of conniving, trickery, scheming and it is evil, but there is the wisdom that comes from above, which we can realize as we live in Christ.  One type of wisdom leads to blessing and the other to cursing. How do we overcome these battles and realize the wisdom of knowing God’s peace in our souls?

James 3:13-16 says:  “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter jealously and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, nonspiritual, devilish. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity.  And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Proverbs 9:10 states firmly that:  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and knowledge of the holy is understanding.”  It has become the hip thing to downgrade respect to our  faith in God by much of our contemporary media.  We sadly see that under contemporary pressures many forsake the way of the Lord and we observe the result.

The leftist thinking in much of our media creates programs with a straw man that they call Christianity and use the word “bigots” to attack those who support biblical morality.  Sad isn’t it, for this straw man that they create is not real Christianity at all.   This is why I Corinthians 3:18 says, “If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become foolish in the world’s eyes that he might truly be wise.”  The world laughs at God’s ways, but the end of their laughter is destruction, as the Bible says.  However, this is not just what the Bible says, but also what history shows, as well.  Sin brings destruction. We need wisdom to discern!  Colossians 3:10 is the call to all Christians to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.”

James points us to the only true wisdom, that which is the wisdom from God, or “from above”  To the one who is wise and understanding, James says, “By his good life let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.” What is a good life? Is it one free of trial? No, it is one that is lived in the meekness of wisdom to find God’s guidance and support in the midst of trials.

James 3:17: “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” You notice he uses the same phrase “from above” here, the same phase James used in 1:17, when he wrote that: “…every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” This wisdom is part of the good and perfect gifts our Fathers wants to give us.

This wisdom is “without uncertainty or insincerity.” God’s wisdom is not double-minded. He gives us all one thing—Himself and more of Himself. As He enables us to more and more grow in wisdom, and to be more and more filled with His one real life, this perfection works in us our relationship with Him that is increasingly no longer any double-mindedness.  We are called to be completely pure., as we were created to be.  It is a life-long journey, but is it is the call to live to and in the blessing, not to the curse of condemnation.

Throughout the book of James, the focus is on how to live as followers of Christ in the midst of continuing, ever-present trials in a twisted and fallen world. This is written to real life, written to those who are struggling, and their struggles have even led them to be tempted at times to even question God’s presence, care, and activity in their lives. It is the call to the wisdom of walking with Christ through all of life’s school of hard knocks.

The blaming game is going on in our society. Hard knocks and difficulties of all types can face and do face each of us, but the blaming game is not the answer. Personal responsibility, which we can really come to know in Christ is the way to handle all life’s hard knocks.

In the bible we see that Adam first blamed the situation on his nakedness, and this is why he hid himself from God.  He said to God,  “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  But that wasn’t good enough, for next he blamed Eve, as he said, “The woman whom thou gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I did eat.”  In this response, Adam was also blaming God, for God gave Eve to him to be his wife.  The blaming game was rolling!

Eve harmonized with it, putting the blame on the serpent saying, “the serpent beguiled me, and I ate.”  The poor serpent, the most stupid in the pecking order of all the rest of creation, assumed the final blame and the end result of our blaming game.  You have heard it, “The devil made me do it.”  The snake has become the symbol for evil!  It is the blaming game! This is not just back then, but one very much in the here and now, the blaming game often promoted by our own envious greed.  The 10^th Commandment points to this:  “You must not be envious of your neighbor’s house, or want to sleep with his wife, or want to own his slaves, oxen, donkey’s, or anything else he has.” Envy and greed create not wisdom but discord!

Humankind is in the midst of a flood of hard knocks   What will we learn in all the hard knocks is that we each encounter?  There is a wisdom from above that is available in Jesus Christ, and when hard knocks come up here is the avenue to  developing wisdom which holds knowledge in the right prospective.

It can be said that wisdom has three aspects.  First, there is knowledge about God’s Truth, somethings the modern world has felt it has outgrown.  Secondly, there is the understanding of God’s Truth, which can only be realized in the walk of  faith.  Thirdly, Wisdom is so much more  than just knowledge, but it is act according to the spirit of God’s commands, some the modern world now calls “bigotry”,  But we need to learn from the school of hard knocks, something, I fear, that not just individuals, but our society as whole is going to have to do.

Some of the courses in the curriculum for wisdom are 1.) Proverbs 9:10 that teaches that: ”The fear of  the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding,”  2.)  Proverbs 4:6-7 teaches:“Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, though it cost all you have, get understanding,”  and 3.)  Proverbs 3:13 “Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding.”

The Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:15 gave Timothy a directive that could guide him over and through all the hard knocks he might of have to encounter, and he wrote:  “And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Back to Dr. Sweets’ observation in the 1931 Christian Observer  and Sweets’ observation of  Psalm 119:71 that says: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn ‘thy statutes.’” Here he pointed to the growth in wisdom as one ages, but it is important to know these as they are taught by God in the school of life in all of life, the young and the elderly in the midst of all the hard knocks.

Our time is increasingly filled with various types of hard knocks, but the sad part about is that many who are failing to find the wisdom of God through Christ in their lives. It is sad so many are just dangling in chaos of unbelief without the wisdom of God to lead them on. But be glad if you know it, and grow in it!