Be Not Wise In Your Own Eyes

The Lord has blessed me with six beautiful children: Lagodian, Judah, Noah, Isabella, Analisa, and Isaiah. At the time of writing, they span from age twenty to just four months old. Each of them have many wonderful qualities that make them unique from one another. But there is a particular aspect in which they are all essentially the same. This aspect in which they are essentially the same is not stemming from the fact that they are all part of the same immediate family, but rather because they are part of the same human family—they too are descendants of Adam (the first man) by birth. Being descendants of Adam brings with it a certain kind of inheritance, but not the kind you hope for. As the descendants of Adam, my children (and all other natural born people) have inherited Adam’s sinful and corrupt nature. That is to say, my children have been born as sinners who are hostile to God, deserving of his wrath, and in need of salvation, (Ps. 51:5).

No one “wants” to believe this is true about their precious children. Like the proverbial ostrich who buries its head in the sand, many parents refuse to accept this reality despite the fact that their children continue to prove that it is true each and every day. Isn’t it amazing that, as parents, we have to spend untold amounts of time trying to teach our children how to do the things that are right, but we never had to spend a single moment teaching them how to do the things that are wrong? No one had to teach their children how to lie, or how to be selfish, or how to covet, etc. Our lives testify that even from conception, these kinds of sinful behaviors were already bound up within each of us, and that is because the Bible’s teaching is true, (Prov. 22:15). As descendants from Adam, we have inherited his corruption and guilt such that being sinful is not merely something we do on occasion, but rather something that we are at our very core. This is why the world is full of brokenness and evil; and this is why the whole world stands in need of the salvation that only Jesus Christ provides.

Just a moment ago I mentioned a short list of sins that no one has to teach their children how to commit because these things come natural to the offspring of Adam. Many more examples could be included in that list, but there is a particular type of sin I now want to draw your attention to: Being wise in our own eyes. My wife and I see this sin in our children all the time! It seems that no matter what mom and dad say, how they say it, or when they say it, the instinctive response of children is to question their parents authority and to believe that they (the child) knows better. While some children are more boisterous about this than others, the condition is universal. There is within us a baseline disposition of distrust in the authority of others (even without cause) and a baseline disposition of over-confidence in our own ideas and opinions.

Where does this pervasive problem come from?

This pervasive problem comes right from the Garden of Eden. It is the very sin which Adam committed against God in paradise, and it is the very sin which we continue to commit against God today as Adam’s offspring. When God gave Adam a good and holy commandment to follow in the Garden, what did Adam believe in his heart? Simply put: Adam believed that he knew better than God. And having given into this temptation to believe that he knew better than God, Adam went on to reject God’s wisdom and authority in preference to his own opinions.

Haven’t our own lives shown that you and I are just like our first father? How have you responded to God’s good and holy commandments when they have been applied to your life? Haven’t you believed that you knew better and therefore ignored God’s authority in preference to your own private opinions? Friend, this is not only a sin we see in our children, but a sin we continue to see in ourselves as well. And this is why the book of Proverbs cries out to the world saying:

“Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.”
Proverbs 3:7

In the foolishness of our sinful hearts, we have actually convinced ourselves that we know better than God. We see this most clearly in our refusal to “fear the LORD and turn away from” everything that God’s Word tells us is “evil.” That is to say, we see this most clearly in our unwillingness to simply trust and obey God’s good and holy commandments. Instead, we pick and choose in our obedience to God, don’t we? To some commandments we say: “Yes! Surely this is good and right and to be obeyed by all people at all times!” Examples of these are: Murder, Theft, Lying, etc. And yet, with other commandments we say, “Well, that commandment may have had its place for a time, but I don’t feel convicted about it.” Examples of these are: The Sabbath, Images of God, Tithing, Public Worship, etc.

Pay close attention here. On what basis were both of the above decisions made? On what grounds do we approve of some of God’s commandments and on what grounds do we dismiss others? Take careful note that both that which was approved and that which was ignored were both judged not on the basis of their source—who is God—but rather on the basis of our own private feelings and opinions. If we say a law of God is good, it because we think it to be so in our own hearts and minds. And if we say a law of God is no longer binding or necessary to be obeyed, it is because we think it to be so in our own hearts and minds. In either case, we are doing the very thing which Adam did in the Garden and the very thing which Proverbs 3:7 exhorts us against: We are thinking that we know better than God.

Tragically, this way of thinking has become the dominant practice of the Church in our age. What is worse, the Church today is so comfortable relating to God’s Word in this high-handed way that people actually think this is right and that those who endeavor to take all of God’s good and holy moral commandments seriously are the ones who are out of step with Christianity. Beloved, it is clear that we stand in need of the wisdom of Proverbs 3:7. We have become very wise in our own eyes and by such arrogance toward the Word of the Lord we have truly “become fools,” (Rom. 1:22). Like the younger brother in the parable of The Prodigal Sons, we have forsaken the true treasure for a false treasure and it has left us empty. We need to wake up from the mire of the pig filth in which we have wallowed for too long and return home to our Father’s wise and loving embrace.

What does it look like to cease being wise in your own eyes?

Ceasing to be wise in your own eyes means removing yourself and your feelings from the judgment seat of your life and giving God his rightful throne once more. It means that we do not stand over God’s Word as its judges, but rather we humble ourselves beneath God’s Word as humble subjects and servants of our Lord. This is what Proverbs 3:7 implies by telling us to stop “being wise in our own eyes” but instead “fear the LORD”. The wisdom which governs our life should not be our own, but that which has come down to us from heaven in God’s holy and inerrant Word.

There are two key things that we need to understand about the authority of the Bible:

1. The authority of the Bible is not based on how we feel about it, or whether we approve of its contents in our own private opinions.
The Bible’s authority is not derived from human approval or the church’s affirmation. What makes the Bible the ultimate authority of faith and practice is the fact that it is God’s own Word, (II Tim. 3:16). As the Word of God, the Bible carries the same level of authority as God himself. This is why a rejection of any part of the Word of God cannot be separated from a rejection of the God of the Word.

2. The authority of the Bible does not fluctuate throughout the pages of Scripture.
There are not some books of the Bible which are more authoritative and some which are less; nor are there some individual commandments or passages which are more authoritative and some which are less. The whole Bible bears the same authority from beginning to end because the whole Bible issues from God.

For the person who is no longer “being wise in their own eyes,” all of God’s good and holy commandments have an essential place in their Christian faith—not just some of them. Wherever the Word of God speaks into my life—regardless of cultural norms, personal feelings, or individual preferences—that Word has the ultimate authority to shape my beliefs and control my behavior. Whatever the Bible tells me is good and right for my life, I receive as the authoritative standard for my faith and practice. Whatever the Bible tells me is sinful and wrong for my life, I receive as the authoritative standard for my faith and practice. And wherever the Word of God contradicts my own ideas or inclinations I learn to humbly say by faith: “God is wise and I am foolish; God is right and I am wrong; God is good and my heart is untrustworthy and wicked; God’s ways are best and therefore, the best thing I can do is trust him and obey him with with my whole heart and life.”

The very next verse, Proverbs 3:8, tells us the promised outcome for those who cease being wise in their own eyes and submissively place their trust in God:

“It will be healing to your flesh,
and refreshment to your bones.”