24 August 2008

idunno

as my good friend annie has noted, "God and I--we work in themes" and our current theme seems to be wisdom. in the past few weeks, i have heard two different people preach on gaining wisdom--who did in the bible, who listened to the people with wisdom, and how the whole thing turned out for God's glory, even when it looked rather desperate for the person/ nation at the time--and have come across three bible verses about wisdom. interesting...

andy stanley preached on wisdom being one of the main messages he would give in his series, letters to the next president--an extra-earth-shatteringly-awesome sermon series... love it.

and these are the verses i've come across in my quiet times lately:

solomon's wisdom:
"God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man... and his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life... He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fist. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom."
1 kings 4: 29-34.

Wisdom with a capital "W":
"Listen as Wisdom calls out! Hear as Understanding raises her voice!... Choose my instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For Wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it."
proverbs 8:1, 10-11.

prophecy of jesus:
"And the Spirit of the Lord with rest on him--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited... He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment."
isaiah 11:2-5.

and my personal favorite:
"The Lord our God hasn't explained the present or the future, but He has commanded us to obey the laws He gave us and trust in Him." Deuteronomy 29:29.

i feel like in this world and in school and in the socio-political circles we exist in, it's often viewed as stupid or ignorant to just admit "i don't know" so we people create and invent things--statistics, plans for the future, relationships, conflict, even fake-resolution--to convince ourselves and others that we have it together, that we are intelligent and well-educated, and that we are in control. but we're not. we never were. what i'm realizing more and more is that God doesn't think we're stupid for saying "i just don't know," "i don't have all the answers," "i'm not in control of that [insert here]"--He chooses to see us as obedient, waiting for His will in our lives. we still, of course, must be proactive in discovering his will (not potato-couch-slug-christians), but simply accepting that we don't know and submitting to God brings him glory. and when we do it, other people notice. waiting on the Lord, fearing and trusting the Lord, being submissive and obedient to a God i haven't met in a world that is not The Kingdom--these are my toughest spiritual battles. and they involve a lot of mental debates that i usually lose with myself, as well. i'm sick of trying to reason it out or out-think God. and this--admitting that "i don't know"--i think is the beginning of Wisdom. so i'm currently cleaning house, throwing out all the things i thought i knew, and relearning the spiritual lessons and disciplines again with a focus on gaining wisdom. we'll see what happens. i'm kinda excited, but what do i know ;)

i still don't know where God's taking my with this one, but i'm open to instruction and ready to learn of this obedience, knowledge, truth, and, of course, wisdom.

2 comments:

Grant said...

letters to the next president was an amazing series...hopefully those letters will be making their way to McCain

Grant said...

i don't know is hard to say...and i think you are right that that could be the beginning of wisdom...