The best advice

Exodus 25; Proverbs 1; John 4; 2 Corinthians 13

Much advice is flying around the world. In the last twenty-four hours I’ve read how to avoid coronavirus, how to self-medicate, how to save yourself if you have a heart attack, how to protect your home from radon, what to do if you travel, and a long list of other things that are much less helpful.

The most interesting example for dealing with the pandemic was on the news this morning. People in Italy are isolated and quarantined but standing on their balconies with musical instruments and loudly singing. Filling the air with joyful song is keeping their spirits up!

Sometimes the best choices are simple and they usually come from God’s Word. He knows what we should be doing for daily life as well as during personal and global crises. His wisest spokesperson, King Solomon, wrote these words:

To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:2–7)

A few verses later, the Lord adds: “but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” (Proverbs 1:33)

In my mind, staying calm and without fear is certainly the best frame of mind for receiving wisdom from God. I cannot judge the people around me though. I’ve no idea if they are stocking up on staples because they are being wise. Or because they are terrified. We went to a major chain grocery store yesterday for milk. I got the last jug. There was not one spud in the store. Bare shelves everywhere. The meat department said they expected “nothing left” by the end of the day. In my calm heart, I felt this was not what God wanted us to do.

Reading the familiar story of the woman at the well in John 4 was encouraging and gave me good advice for my day:

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him . . . . Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”  . . . . And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:28–42)

Her impact on her world at that time was simply to share with others that Jesus had told her all about herself, that He knew her. He knew her needs and thoughts and was able to speak directly to both. Because she was willing to share that with others, they were drawn to check out Jesus for themselves and when they did that, they believed in Him because He did the same thing for them.

APPLY: It is easy to doubt that anyone reads or cares about my daily experiences with Jesus. Like the woman in this story, I’ve a past that needed forgiveness and now an incredible hope and faith for today and the future, undeserved but a blessing. Like her, I have dropped my ‘water jar’ — representing everything that previously was important. God gave me a more important task and I’m simply to trust His wisdom and enjoy His amazing gifts such as living in security and peace without dread of disaster and telling others He will do the same for them.