One of the most practical definitions I have ever heard in my life is: “Wisdom is learning to look at life the same way God does and then living accordingly.” This definition itself is wise because when all the grains of sand in the hour glass of your life have fallen the only opinion about your life that will matter will be God’s. Regardless of what the preacher says at your funeral, or what your family thinks, or even what your friends and enemies believe, the only thing that will matter is: When you are weighed in God’s balances, were you found wanting or not? To live wisely, therefore, necessitates that we learn to look at life the exact same way that God does, and then live accordingly.
One of the first things that must be understood and incorporated into the foundation of one’s thinking (so as to be wise) is the fact that when God looks upon humanity He only sees two categories of people—the righteous and the unrighteous. He does not see nationality, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status; He only views humanity through the prism of righteous and unrighteous. Once this perspective is understood and cemented in your heart, it is then time to attentively meditate on David’s contemplative prayer that is Psalm 5.
Contrasted in this psalm is God’s diametrical attitudes and actions toward the righteous and the wicked. David explains this as follows: Jehovah listens to and heeds the prayer of the righteous (vv. 1-3), but He abominates the wicked (vv. 4-6). Jehovah accepts the reverential worship of the righteous and leads them in righteousness (vv. 7-8), but He rejects and destroys the rebellious wicked (vv. 9-10).
In light of these somber truths, David concludes that the righteous ought to rejoice because they are richly blessed (vv. 11-12).
The wicked must repent, or they will perish (Luke 13:3, 5).
(See Psalm 6 for David’s description of the blessings of repentance.)
