Therefore get wisdom.
Though it cost you all you have,
Get understanding.
Proverbs 4:7
In many ways as I sit down to write this today, my heart is hurting. The divorce situation I wrote about in A Heavy Heart and A Prayer continues to stir up controversy. Much of it has to do with misunderstanding and plain, ugly, sinful gossip. People know part of the truth and make judgments based on their own opinions. People who have never had to submit to the authority of spiritual leadership are now dealing with those very issues: authority, submission, learning to live spiritually healthy lives. And clouding everything is a bigger issue that humanly speaking seems impossible to resolve. Yes, only God can deal with this situation and His timing is not our timing, His ways are not our ways.
Yet – I am thankful for that! Oh, what a worse mess the world would be if everything were handled the way I think it should be handled! I am glad, from the bottom of my very being! that God is the one in control and not a mere human! He knows what is good, what is best, what is just, what is perfect in every situation. He alone knows the perfect time for anything and everything to take place. When things look dark to me, and possibly growing darker, He knows all of the facts plus the whole future and the reasons and His purposes behind all that is happening. In full confidence, I can cling to the promises of His Word.
One of my favorite passages in the Word is Proverbs 1-4. The very subject of this passage thrills my heart. It sounds kind of funny…what is there about getting wisdom and understanding “to thrill the heart?” I think it has to do with the promises connected with getting wisdom and understanding. It also has to do with the rebuke in chapter 1.
How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?
If you had responded to my rebuke,
I would have poured out my heart to you
And made my thoughts known to you.
Proverbs 1:22,23
To know the thoughts of God! To hold in my hand the Word of God, His thoughts put down in written form, for me to read and savor, to study and cherish… what could be more wonderful than that?
But I am weak. I am lazy. I am so often counted among the ‘simple ones,’ ignoring the Word, reading a novel, playing on the computer, working at some craft with my hands instead. Any of these things are good things when done appropriately, but when I put them first in my life, they become simply a distraction, an evidence of my foolishness. Too often I am ‘simple,’ or a ‘fool.’
Father God in heaven, help me! Give me cravings impossible to ignore for the pure and simple and nourishing milk of your Word. Help me to overcome the many distractions in my life and to focus on You and Your Word. I am lazy in my self, but there is a part of me, the part You created in me, that longs for wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver,
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom,
And from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:1-6
