The wise the men that came to see Jesus while He was still young, experienced life with an expectation and gave honor towards those who reflected wisdom (Matthew 2:7-12). Expectation and honor are things many of us aspire to experience, but maybe more times than not we aimlessly go through life missing one discipline that allows us to experience high levels of expectations and honor. This one discipline that enables that type of opportunity is practice of gaining wisdom.
These wise men knew how the night sky looked and continued to pay attention to it. Even if they didn’t pay attention to it every night, they were familiar enough to know when something different and new was present. It is not that we can’t identify things that are new and different, but when we have wisdom we will be more equipped to experience and respond to something that is different and new. This may be the reason why the Jews knew of a Ruler to come from God but didn’t know what to pay attention to in order to help guide them to identify the Ruler. The Magi were probably keen to Numbers 24:17 and and gave an expectation to the new star and lead them to Jesus, who was from God.
The Bible puts gaining wisdom in high regard. Solomon who wrote many things about wisdom, said that “Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.” (Ecclesiastes 7:19) and that “Wisdom is better than weapons of war” (Ecclesiastes 9:18). Maybe the one we should remember the most is found in Proverbs 4:7. He wrote “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom whatever you get, get insight.” Where ever you may leading your life today, make sure your expectation and honor are guided by His Word.