Life certainly has a way of getting in the way of good intentions! That said, 2016 has not been as productive so far as I’d imagined it would. All the plans of productivity for the year came to a delay by the end of the third day. It all started off great! A quiet peaceful beginning on Friday, and enjoyable gathering with some church family who love to write on Saturday afternoon and an amazing first service of the year on Sunday. A few of us girls get together on Sunday afternoons to catch up and study the Word together and that is when it started…a nagging tickle in the throat with a few coughs…really only an annoyance, honestly. Otherwise, we had a very nice time.
Monday morning was pretty typical, just taking care of routine stuff like making phone calls and making plans for a carpet cleaning on Tuesday. Afternoon, I began notice the tickle turning to a cough and allergy symptoms but this is no time to be feeling bad; accessories and small furniture must be moved out of the way for the carpet cleaners. Sounds productive enough…healthy dinner prepared… Tuesday, yep it’s a cold! Still no time for this; carpet must be cleaned, dry, and furniture returned to it’s proper place!! Ok, maybe I can finish tomorrow, I’m beat. Wednesday it hit full force, not allergies or a little cough; but a full fledged, two week long head cold with a deep cough that continues to linger despite the vitamins, medications and home remedies! Enough! Fourteen days just basically gone. I am declaring war on this detour hijacking 2016 and saying NO MORE!
Today, as I began getting back on track with my morning study/quiet time, I read Proverbs 8. No rhyme or reason, it was just where I landed. It is all about wisdom so maybe that is where my 2016 studies should resume. We certainly can use all the wisdom we can get; especially when coming off a two week detour from where you thought you were going in 2016!!
Just a few words about wisdom:
Wisdom (Biblical) is defined according to christainbiblereference.org as “the ability to judge correctly and follow the best course of action, based knowledge and understanding.” quoted from Lockyer Page. 1103
Webster’s defines it as “knowledge gained by having many experiences; natural ability to understand things that most others do not understand; and knowledge of what is proper and reasonable.”
Cambridge Dictionary says “the ability to make good judgements based on what you have learned from experience or the knowledge and understanding that gives you this ability; the quality of being a good judgment.”
- James 1:5-6 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it. But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind.” NABRE
- Proverbs 8:12-14 “I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence and useful knowledge I have. [The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil;]Pride, arrogance, the evil way,and the perverse mouth I hate. Mine are counsel and advice; Mine is strength; I am understanding.” NABRE
- Proverbs 8:17-21 “Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, wealth that endures, and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold, and my yield than choice silver. On the way of righteousness I walk, along the paths of justice, Granting wealth to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.” NABRE
- James 3:17-18 “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.” HCSB
- Proverbs 4:5-9 “Get wisdom, get understanding; don’t forget or turn away from the words of my mouth. Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you;
love her, and she will guard you.
Wisdom is supreme—so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding.
Cherish her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you.
She will place a garland of grace on your head; she will give you a crown of beauty.”
- Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 “There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him? For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.” HCSB
- 1 Corinthians 1:18-25“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts. Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” HCSB
Just in the above verses, the Word of God tells us that wisdom is much more than knowledge, intelligence, understanding, experience or experiences. Proverbs 8:21 tells us God is the source of wisdom: ““The Lord made me at the beginning of His creation, before His works of long ago. I was formed before ancient times, from the beginning, before the earth began. I was born when there were no watery depths and no springs filled with water. I was delivered before the mountains and hills were established, before He made the land, the fields, or the first soil on earth. I was there when He established the heavens, when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean, when He placed the skies above, when the fountains of the ocean gushed out, when He set a limit for the sea so that the waters would not violate His command, when He laid out the foundations of the earth. I was a skilled craftsman beside Him. I was His delight every day, always rejoicing before Him. I was rejoicing in His inhabited world, delighting in the human race.”
Perhaps wisdom in the greatest sense of the word is the compilation of knowledge, intelligence, understanding, experience of both successes and failures, what we have learned from those experiences and from our study of God’s Word; generously mixed together and submitted to God in prayer. It is in His hands that it can be sorted, tested and tried while we patiently await the true wisdom we so desperately need. He alone is the sure source of true, impartial and untainted wisdom.
Grace and Peace to you!
“Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still;
teach a righteous man, and he will learn more.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:9-10
Living in His Grace 