Jeremiah 4:22 describes the folly of a people who do not know God and who, despite their cunning to do evil, do not know how to do good. This reflection seeks to delve into the truth that human wisdom, when not anchored in God's truth, can become corrupted and turn into an instrument of evil. In everyday life, we see people who accumulate knowledge, techniques, and strategies to advance, but without spiritual discernment; they use their wisdom to justify lies, exploitation, or violence. The passage invites us to consider that intelligence without reverence for God becomes disoriented, drunken with pride, and ends up separated from true love, which always seeks the good of others and the glory of God. As believers, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to purify our wisdom so that it is not a friend of evil, but an instrument of redemption.
If wisdom can be used for evil, then true wisdom requires constant course correction in the face of the temptation of power and self-sufficiency. The call is to a wisdom that is born from relationship with God, that learns to listen to the Word and to obey it despite the pressure to be “intelligent” in the eyes of the world. In our relationships, work, and decisions, biblical wisdom must translate into justice, patience, truth, and service. It is not enough to understand concepts; the wisdom of God manifests in the compassion that corrects, in the honesty that protects the vulnerable, and in the humility that recognizes that only God is the source of what is good.
Our prayer must be accompanied by action: to seek wisdom that is humble, that loves the truth, and that discards tools that harm. As a community, let us exhort one another to examine our methods, our motivations, and our practices, so that the knowledge gained does not become a weapon against good. May every decision, no matter how small it seems, be permeated by the presence of God, so that our wisdom becomes a channel of joy, justice, and peace. If we lose ourselves in technical detail and forget the neighbor, let us remember that the true criterion is not the world's cunning, but the love that sacrifices and the obedience that honors God. Let us then raise a practical commitment: to cultivate a wisdom that points toward reconciliation, that corrects with grace, and that strengthens faith to live the good with constancy and hope.