We read that "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." Prov. 4:7. There is no wisdom apart from Christ; He is the wisdom of God. When He is the controlling Object, every effect is wise. "If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Matt. 6:22. As the star guided the wise men, so we are guided by the One who absolutely controls us; we do not move without Him, and we are sure to find the wise way. The way of wisdom is pleasantness and peace. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after...to behold the beauty of the Lord." Psalm 27:4.
Thus Mary Magdalene was led into wisdom. She was in great distress, and there appeared to be no way out of it, but she persisted in the one thing. She wanted her Lord, and could not do without Him. "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him." John 20:13. She loved intensely, and she proved, "I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me." Prov. 8:17. She allows neither angels nor apostles to divert her from her one Object. She proved that wisdom will "bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her." Prov. 4:8.
Thus Mary of Bethany sat at His feet and heard His word; He was her Object. Martha loved Him, but she was occupied with her service toward Him, and thus lost the good part which shall not be taken away. When we find the Lord, we find our Solomon. We see His wisdom-heavenly things. His things are revealed to us as we are in communion. We are in the circle of all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; we are colored and formed in this association to see clearly what suits Him. It is true wisdom when I can see the course for Him in a scene of darkness, pretension, and the form of godliness. I cannot know what suits Him in this scene if I have not been in company with Him, where everything is suited to Him, where wisdom is unhindered in its influence. Then I come into this scene, not occupied with or distracted by the things here, but, like Moses coming down from the mount, or Mary of Bethany from His feet, or Mary of Magdala from His side, to declare and present that which is suited to Him, introducing an entirely new order of things into the midst of the confusion and disorder here.
No one has wisdom now but the one who knows what suits "the Christ." No one can truly be wise now according to God unless he has definitely before him the mystery of God in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
When the Lord is the one Object of the soul, not only is one led to act in every step for Him, but there is a very marked effect in oneself. With Israel, where the cloud was, there was the manna. They watched for the cloud, and then they surely found the manna. So it is with us. The more the Lord is before my heart, the more I am rewarded by His present favor. If I can say, "My soul followeth hard after Thee," I can surely add, "Thy right hand upholdeth me." And that is not all. I become a body of light; I become characteristic and demonstrative of the peace that governs me in my conduct and ways. I have "the wisdom that is from above...first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." Surely, blessed Lord, we can say of Thy wisdom, "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her." Prov. 3:18.