COMMENDED ACCORDING TO HIS WISDOM – Proverbs 12:8
Proverbs 12:8 A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.
How bright is your light for God? Have you ever made a campfire in the woods? The more wood that you put on the fire, the bigger and brighter the fire will be. If you build a large enough fire, it will produce enough light so that you can see your way around camp.
In this verse, we see that a man is commended according to his wisdom. The Hebrew word commended used in this verse means to shine and to give light. This means that the wisdom of God in your life produces a light that the world is able to see. The more wisdom that is in your life — then the brighter your light.
Just as a big campfire is necessary when you have a large campsite with many people, so too is a lot of wisdom necessary if you are going to reach many people. Solomon had been made king over the entire nation of Israel and he understood that HE needed wisdom in order to properly rule over the people God had placed him over.
Maybe the reason God has not been using you more is because you do not have the wisdom that is from above. If you desire God to use you more, then you must allow God to remove from your life your perverse heart. Then you must be willing to daily add knowledge of the ways of God to your life. The more time you spend obtaining wisdom from God, the brighter your light will shine and the more people God can use you to influence.
James tells us that 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 (James 3:17). Think of a lighthouse high above the sea. It does not matter how bright the light is, if the glass is painted with black paint, the light will not be very bright and will fail to properly warn ships of the treacherous rocks. So likewise, if your life is not pure, if there is something between you and God, how can you expect to properly reflect the light of God to this world?
We live in a world where we must be careful that our words and our actions correspond. The world is watching us and they are seeing if our life properly reflects the words that we are using. If the world can see any hypocrisy in us, then they are going to be quick to dismiss the message that we preach. We can destroy our ministry by one simple action that the world sees that in their minds makes us a hypocrite.
The more wisdom of God that you have, the brighter your life and the more you will be used of God. God is the giver of wisdom and that means that you must turn to HIM in order to obtain HIS wisdom. The more time you spend reading the Bible, praying, and meditating upon HIS words, the more wisdom HE can give you.
You must be faithful in adding knowledge of the ways of God. By maintaining a close relationship with God, God can open your eyes to things that you need to change so that you can be even more effective for HIM. The more God refines your life, the brighter your light will be and the more HE can use you to touch the lives of others. If you really want to be used of God, it all starts with you seeking to draw closer to God.