A High Call to Men and Women of Understanding

“And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12:3 NASB

Chapter 1: Why The Daniel Project?

As we began laying the first few foundational stones of this organization we call The Daniel Project, a frequent question thrown our way was, “Why? Why this Project? Followed shortly after by, “What?” What do we hope to accomplish? These are, of course, valid inquiries, but a more pertinent question is not ‘why’ or ‘what’ but, ‘who?’ Who are we rallying to this Project? The answer to that question produces the why and what of this Project.

In the book, Good to Great, Jim Collins describes the key components of any great organization. He begins by having his readers imagine their organization as a bus (school, municipal, or luxury coach – you take your pick). He then states that the first determined push of any great organization, even before charting a destination, is placing of the right people on that bus. From this analogy The Daniel Project has taken its cue. We know precisely who needs to board this bus. It is this group that can – and will – carry this bus to its intended destination, the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of this Project. The Daniel Project “bus,” to realize and accomplish its intended goal, must be populated with “men and women of understanding.”

This ‘understanding’ group is described in the verse in Daniel at the beginning of this chapter. It is a community of highly specialized, Spirit-inspired, Kingdom-focused individuals that hold (whether they know it or not) the vital keys necessary to bring about a global, societal and existential transformation. A transformation the secular world cannot produce, but for which the entire world desperately longs. A group that has within its grasp the solutions to many of the world’s current problems including addiction, poverty, depression, and myriad of other key social, ecological, and physical issues. Put most simply, this key group of individuals will help develop, distribute and promote…

Strategies of heaven that transform earth.

Now, we completely understand how this statement may appear to be little more than a nebulous, marketing-biased slogan. Perhaps you might think it smacks of over-mysticism. You might just dismiss it altogether. Or you may conclude that while it sounds good, it would surely be impossible to verify… wouldn’t it? But what if it is possible to validate? What if this “strategies” statement is more pragmatic than ethereal? What if we have discovered that our “who”, by their very nature, will produce the “what and why” of our vision? What if our confidence is not in the potential possibility—but the inevitable probability—of the statement? What if both this “strategy” statement and the term “men and women of understanding” were calculable entities and not merely hopeful monikers?

Think about it for second; imagine the possibility. Heavenly strategies deliberately designed to transform earth. Divine keys to some of the world’s most troubling dilemmas. What a vital accomplishment.

You may even be holding some of these keys. Do you feel a longing for global transformation? Do you burn for societal impact even greater than personal evangelism? To see massive throngs of humanity embrace God as Father and Creator, as well as Savior? To see existence itself propelled past disease, entropy and decay? It may be something you have felt deep in your soul, but pushed down into hopeful crevices. It may exist merely as a feeling, rather than a set of formulated tactics. Disconnected ideas that fill personal journal pages, instead of thoughts and dreams expressed aloud.

And we understand why. As God has aligned us with other “men and women of understanding,” they often share feelings of isolated frustration. The majority of their church friends, focused on personal success, entertainment and pleasure, or even institutional ministry growth, remain disconnected from these men and women’s lofty aspirations, often unable to connect with their insights. So instead of revealing God-given Kingdom illuminations, these individuals shirk away from the masses, leaving many Spirit-inspired transformative discoveries locked in dairies and filed away in stenopads.

And so, if you are one of these men and women of understanding, this is your rally cry.

You are being called, even if you do not yet know who you are. You are being sought, even if you have ever considered there might be others inspired in a similar manner. We are giving you a rallying point. We are setting up a base camp. The Daniel Project exists to find and foster “men and women of understanding”. To give these men and women a tangible and developable vision, a platform of expression, and an enlivened, motivated community of like-minded, passionate individuals. As they develop and flourish, they will “shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven… and lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” As their illuminations are unveiled, and as they connect with other key individuals, we believe the world will change.

All right, enough vision casting. It’s time to get practical. To discover whether you are one of these individuals (those that will get on and take this bus toward societal transformation) we must unlock the Biblical definition – and more importantly the Kingdom correlation – of three little words:

wisdom, knowledge and understanding.

CHAPTER 2: CLASSIFICATION: WISDOM

Understandably, the last sentence of the previous chapter might appear a little anticlimactic. After all, these three terms have found their way into nearly every religious and worldview system on the planet. They are even being reclassified by the new atheistic cohort and our enlightened media conglomerates. But a true Biblical Worldview understanding of these terms unlocks a formula of pragmatic transformation that will ripple through the earth with such magnitude that even the most hardened skeptic will be forced to acknowledge its aftereffects. To unveil this critically vital group and to broadcast the high call for their rally and vocal steadfastness, we must unfold this formula in calculated order. The commencement of this formula begins with ‘wisdom.’

WISDOM

There have been many hypotheses and postulations about the definition (and correlation) of the term ‘wisdom.’ You may have heard someone declare, “Wisdom is knowledge applied.” More recently, an online sermon defined wisdom as “having the ability to make right choices where the moral rules don’t apply.” The disparity between these two definitions lies in the church’s adaptation of secular thought into Divine principles; it is not merely in a disagreement of vocabulary. Through a Thomistic-inspired Greek lens, we have gelded the awesome magnitude of Biblical Wisdom. For neither definition accounts for the incalculable value bestowed on wisdom through the Biblical text:

“... seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures,” Pr 2:4 NASB

“she is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her.” Pr 3:15 NASB

Accoding to the Bible, wisdom is the benchmark of personal and societal value, because it surpasses not only what society considers valuable (riches), but it supplants the pinnacle standard for societal interaction: finance. It has to bigger than these two prior definitions. Thankfully, the Biblical Worldview uncovers key qualifications and attributes of wisdom, and in the process unveils its immense holistic and transforming value. In Proverbs 8 we are given a historical account of wisdom:

“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth… When He set for the sea its boundary, So that water should not transgress His command, When he marked out the foundations of the earth; Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him.” Pr 8:22-23, 29-30 NASB

Through this poetic monologue, it appears that a finely contiguous and nearly hidden secret is unearthed:

Wisdom existed PRE-FALL.

The passage above states that wisdom was established from the ‘earliest times of the earth;’ it was the ‘master workman’ at creation. In other words, wisdom did not merely fashion the earth; it fashioned the earth in its perfect, pre-fall state. The next passage not only echoes this discovery, it affixes even greater significance to wisdom. For wisdom was there…

“While He had not yet made the earth and the fields, nor the first dust of the world.” Pr 8:26, NASB (bold mine)

Why is this passage so critically important? According to the Bible, God made man from dust. If there was no dust, then logically there was no man. So we discover that wisdom not only existed pre-man, but she (described metaphorically in the feminine) helped fashion mankind: For she was also there:

“Rejoicing in the world, His earth, and having my delight in the sons of men.” Pr 8:31 NASB

Wisdom did not merely assist in the creation of mankind; wisdom formulated mankind in his pre-fall, and therefore, his perfect state. This passage in Proverbs reveals clearly just how powerful and precious wisdom actually is. It is not merely “knowledge applied” or a “right choice” outside of an obvious moral distinction. Instead we might suppose:

Wisdom is the culmination of the foundational laws, principals and regulations governing all fields of natural existence and humanity in their perfect, pre-fall state.

We can now objectively understand why wisdom is declared to be more valuable than gold and silver, why we must seek it above jewels and search for it as buried treasure. If wisdom constitutes the principles required for the perfection of all fields of existence, then it is something impossible to buy at any price. The world, operating wholly in a post-fall state, does not have it to offer. Post-fall man cannot purchase pre-fall wisdom. This also solidifies why God would grant wisdom to “anyone who asks.” Wisdom is the Creator’s blueprint for His original and always-intended agenda:

“There I was beside Him, as a master workman, and I was daily His delight.” Pr 8:30 NASB (bold mine)

In Proverbs, we also learn another distinction for this blueprint; it is referred to as His “way.” The same passage states that: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before his works of old.” (Pr 8:22 NASB) What works? The creation of the world “from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth” (Pr 8:23 NASB). God’s “way” is a systematic movement back toward the creation of the world in its perfect state. Wisdom is the beacon lighting humanity toward that way.

We can take this new understanding back to the wisest man to ever exist, the man that penned the very wisdom literature referenced here. Using this definition for wisdom, Solomon did not appeal to God for the mere wisdom of man, such as the vast intelligence of men like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. Instead, his request was to be given the principles through which the earth was created pre-Fall. In his doing so, he made “silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the lowland.” (2 Chron 1:15 NASB). But it was more than wealth that Solomon uncovered. We can discover the reality and correlation of the second term in Solomon’s famous wisdom-petitioning prayer:

“So give Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people to discern (understand) between good and evil.” I Kings 3:9 (parentheses and bold mine)

It is from that scripture that we can now unlock “knowledge.”

go to part II