Proverbs 30:1-4. 1The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out. 2Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. 3I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. 4Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
Officially, chapter 29 is the end of the proverbs of Solomon (proverbs written and collected by King Solomon and some by King Hezekiah). Proverbs 30 was written by a man named Agur. What stands out right at the beginning of Agur’s writing is his humility. Here is a man who can admit that he lacks wisdom and yet doesn’t try to understand everything in the world around him, but simply observes it in awe and wonder. We could all take a lesson.
Agur really wanted to know what wisdom is and how to get it. He begins his proverbs by saying how weary and stupid he is. But why does he feel this way? Because he lacks the knowledge of the Holy One (God). Just as Solomon did in the rest of the proverbs, Agur is connecting wisdom to knowing God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Solomon said. Agur is saying the same thing – I want to know God, and when I know God I will be wise, because only God sees and knows everything, even the invisible things.
It might sound like Agur is being too hard on himself – too stupid to be a man. But this kind of self-awareness is actually what it takes to gain wisdom. Agur has adopted a low anthropology, a low view of man, especially in comparison to God. The world around us embraces a humanistic high anthropology. Be your best self. You can do it. You have what it takes. And even more of a grand delusion – we can solve all of our own problems. But Agur rejects this view of mankind, at least for himself. I am limited. My perspectives are jaded. I am ignorant concerning most things. My experience is very narrow. I have definitely not ascended to Heaven and come back down.
What does he mean when he says that? Agur is saying that the only way to be wise is to go up to Heaven, meet God, become wise, and then come back down to Earth. Despite the books written by those who claim to have died, gone to Heaven, and come back, Agur is saying no one has done this. No one can do this.
But there IS someone who started in Heaven and then came to Earth. Jesus. Listen to what Christ said to a powerful man named Nicodemus who wanted to know who he was:
John 3:13. No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Jesus is quoting Agur from Proverbs 30:4. But Christ isn’t saying that he was a man that ascended to Heaven and then came back to Earth with all kinds of wisdom. Jesus is saying that he started in Heaven as God, and then descended to Earth to become a man. Jesus didn’t go to Heaven and meet God. Jesus IS God. Jesus didn’t go to Heaven and gain wisdom. He IS the wisdom of God.
To be in Christ is to know just how stupid you are in the natural. How much understanding you lack. How much knowledge you’ve left on the table. But it also means that in Christ you can know the Holy One. To know Jesus is to know God. The God who would descend to us. The God who would give his weary and worn out people rest. The God who would place into us his wisdom in the indwelling person of Christ.
You: Do you think you have a low anthropology or a high anthropology?
You in Christ: How does our union with Christ make God’s wisdom knowable to us?
Christ in you: What does God’s wisdom look like (descending)? What will this kind of wisdom look like for you today?
Pray: Father, you have made your wisdom known to us in Jesus by his descending to us. Help me to never look past the wisdom of the cross for something more. Amen.
To Live is Christ 